Beneath the surface: A new northern species of Trogloraptor (Araneae: Trogloraptoridae), genetic diversity and natural history

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  Beneath the surface: A new northern species of Trogloraptor (Araneae: Trogloraptoridae), genetic diversity and natural history Abstract We present a morphological description of a recently discovered species of spider in the family Trogloraptoridae from the Columbia River Gorge in northwestern Oregon. The family was previously monotypic (Trogloraptor marchingtoni) and only known from populations near the southwestern Oregon—northern California border. Trogloraptor tulishpun sp. nov. retains the key family synapomorphy, distinctive subsegmented raptorial tarsi, and an oblique membranous division of the basal segment of the anterior lateral spinnerets. Trogloraptor tulishpun is distinguished from T. marchingtoni by its color pattern, clypeal height, vulvar and palp structure. We have found T. tulishpun in four localities in the Columbia River Gorge, which show little mitochondrial sequence divergence from one another, but are highly genetically distinct from T. marchingtoni. Troglo...

Two New Species of Scorpions (Scorpiones: Chactidae) from Northernmost Brazilian Amazon

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Two New Species of Scorpions (Scorpiones: Chactidae) from Northernmost Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Amid an ongoing environmental crisis marked by high deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon, two new species of chactid scorpions are herein described. Cayooca puchus sp. n. is described from an inselberg in the municipality of Mucajaí, state of Roraima, northern Brazilian Amazon. The new species resembles Cayooca venezuelensis but differs by denser body granulation and strongly costate, scattered granular ventromedian and ventral prosubmedian carinae. Brotheas cernii sp. n., described from the same locality, resembles Brotheas granulatus and B. subgranulatus but differs by smaller body size, granular ventral carinae on metasomal segment I, strongly granular pedipalp chelae, and spinoid granules on ventral metasomal carinae of segments III–V. These findings reinforce the Amazon as a major center of biodiversity and highlight the likelihood that numerous species remain undescribed.

Lira, A. F., González-Santillán, E., Santos-da-Silva, A. P., Brescovit, A. D., Melo-dos-Santos, G., Rocha, A. M., Melo-dos-Santos, G., Frezarin-da-Silva, E., Leite, T. M., Cardoso, I. C., Santos, K. D., & Pucca, M. B. (2026). Two New Species of Scorpions (Scorpiones: Chactidae) from Northernmost Brazilian Amazon. Diversity, 18(6), 345. https://doi.org/10.3390/d18060345