Scorpion Systematics Research Group

México (Pacific coast): 2 weeks (21 May–2 June, 2006), partially funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. Oscar F. Francke, Jesus Ballesteros, Hector Montaño, and Alejandro Valdez traveled south from Mexico City to the state of Guerrero, where they collected in diverse habitats from deciduous tropical scrub near sea level to pine forests at 2,200 m. Conditions where very dry and collecting was not a good as hoped. Centruroides (Buthidae) and a few Vaejovis (Vaejovidae) were collected nonetheless. This part of the trip specifically targeted a small coastal vaejovid, Vaejovis acapulco (and its junior synonym Vaejovis zihuatanejensis) but unfortunately failed to find them, necessitating a future visit after it has rained in the region. From Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, the team traveled northwest along the coast into Michoacan and Colima, which were equally dry and unproductive. During the course of three days, they attended the meetings of the Mexican Entomological Society in Manzanillo, Colima, all presented papers at a Lacandonian Arachnids Symposium: Francke on the scorpions; Ballesteros on a new species of vinegaroon (Uropygi); Montaño on a new palpigrade; and Valdez on spiders. The original plan was to continue north along the coast to Jalisco and Nayarit after the meetings but, given the prevailing drought, the team decided instead to travel inland into Michoacán, Jalisco, Guanajuato and Queretaro. The rains had started in those states and collecting was more successful. Several rare taxa were obtained including Vaejovis dugesi and Vaejovis pococki, along with a possible new species of the Vaejovis mexicanus group from Jalisco.

México (Veracruz: Xalapa Region): 3 days (6–9 May, 2006), partially funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. Dr Oscar Francke and Jesus Ballesteros (undergraduate, Instituto Politecnico Nacional) travelled east from Mexico City, stopping to collect at the type locality of Vaejovis maculosus, where samples were obtained samples for DNA isolation. In the city of Xalapa, Francke and Ballesteros were joined by Mr. Pablo Berea, with whom they collected during the following two days in parched dry semi-deciduous scrub forest. Despite failing to confirm a 1932 record of Vaejovis intrepidus for the region (this species is known to inhabit along the Pacific coast of Mexico in the states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco), two species of Diplocentrus and two species of Centruroides were collected.

México (Hidalgo, Queretaro: Huasteca Hidalguense Region): 3 days (27–30 April, 2006), partially funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. Dr Oscar Francke, Gabriel Villegas (Ph.D. student, IBUNAM), Ricardo Paredes (M.S. student, IBUNAM) and Alejandro Valdez (undergraduate, IBUNAM) travelled approximately 985 km, the Mexican status of San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Hidalgo. Collections were made at altitudes ranging 100-2300 m in semidesert and tropical forest. More than 70 scorpion specimens, in three genera and four species, were collected, including two species of the Vaejovis nitidulus complex required for DNA analysis, and previously known from a only few specimens each. Adequate samples of these taxa were secured, in addition to samples of a rarely collected species of Centruroides.

México (Guanajuato: Sierra de los Agustinos): 3 days (20–23 March, 2006), partially funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. Dr Oscar Francke, Gabriel Villegas (Ph.D. student, IBUNAM), Hector Montaño and Alejandro Valdez (undergraduates, IBUNAM), and Carlos Santibáñez (undergraduate, Instituto Tecnológico del Valle de Oaxaca) travelled ca. 600 km through the Mexican states of Guanajuato and Michoacan in altitudes ranging 2000 to 2500 m. The dominant vegetation during the trip included pine and oak-dry forest. Approximately 90 specimens, including three genera and four species of scorpions, were collected. Of particular interested were small isolated populations of the Vaejovis pusillus group on various mountain-tops which apparently show the same inselberg pattern of differentiation observed in their northern relatives of the Vaejovis vorhiesi complex.

México (Oaxaca): 6 days (1–5 December, 2005), partially funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. Dr. Oscar Francke, accompanied by Hector Montaño and Alejandro Valdez (undergraduate students at IBUNAM), and Carlos Santibañez (undergraduate, Instituto Tecnológico del Valle de Oaxaca) collected in Oaxaca. Although the weather was too cold in the mountains for nite collecting with black-lights, daytime rock-rolling and log-peeling revealed several interesting scorpions and a possible new species of palpigrade.

México (Puebla, Oaxaca): 6 days (3–11 November, 2005), partially funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. En route to the First World Diversitas in Oaxaca City, Dr. Oscar Francke, Milagros Córdova and Abigail Jaimes (undergraduates at the Universidad Autónoma de Morelos), and Griselda Montiel-Parra (technician at the Mexican National Acarology Collection), collected for three days in Puebla and northern Oaxaca. After the meetings they were joined by Carlos Santibañez (undergraduate, Instituto Tecnológico del Valle de Oaxaca) for another three days of collecting in the mountains of northern Oaxaca. Several new and rare species of Vaejovis and Diplocentrus were collected.

México (southern Veracruz, Chiapas): 2 weeks (26 August–9 September, 2005), largely funded by the Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, with additional support from NSF REVSYS project. REVSYS collaborator, Dr Oscar Francke, accompanied by undergraduate students Milagros Córdova and Abigail Jaimes (undergraduate students from Universidad Autónoma de Morelos) and Alejandro Valdez and Hector Montaño (undergraduate students from the Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM), conducted another trip to survey arachnids at the Lacandona Forest Biosphere Reserve, digressing to visit other localities along the way. Eleven orders of living arachnids were collected during the trip! Buthids are the most abundant scorpions in this part of Mexico, and several species from various groups were collected, including rare (and possibly new) species in the Centruroides thorelli complex. At least one more new diplocentrid was collected at the La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve. The rediscovery of an undescribed species of Vaejovis in the eusthenura group, previously known a single specimen, was also of particular interest.

Northern México (Durango, Chihuahua): 2 weeks (29 July–15 August, 2005), funded by the NSF REVSYS project. This expedition was undertaken by two teams. Dr W. David Sissom (West Texas A&M University), co-PI of the REVSYS Vaejovidae project, travelled south from Texas, accompanied by former graduate students, Kari McWest and Chad Lee, and an undergraduate student, Lee Jarvis. REVSYS collaborator, Dr. Oscar Francke travelled north from Mexico City with Cesar Duran (former graduate student, IBUNAM), Hector Montaño (undergraduate student at UNAM), and Jesus Ballesteros (undergraduate student, Instituto Politecnico Nacional). The two teams met Chihuahua City and spent the next two weeks traversing mountains and deserts in the northern Mexican states of Durango and Chihuahua. Vaejovid scorpions are diverse in the region and greatly outnumbered buthids and diplocentrids. Among the interesting material obtained for the REVSYS project are species of Paruroctonus, Pseudouroctonus, Serradigitus, as well as members of the eusthenura, mexicanus, and punctipalpi groups of Vaejovis. Several potential new species await further study.

Central and western México (Estado de México, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima): 12 days (23 July–4 August, 2005), funded jointly by the NSF REVSYS Vaejovidae grant and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, AMNH-CUNY Ph.D. Student Edmundo González and Scientific Assistant Randy Mercurio travelled ca. 3,000 km through Estado de México, Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima states of central and western Mexico. Collections were made in deciduous tropical forest, oak-pine forest, and rainforest from 50–2,000 m. Approximately 300 scorpions (3 genera and 14 species), including several new species of Vaejovis belonging to the mexicanus and eusthenura groups, the unknown female of V. nayarit, possible new species of Centruroides, and a new species of Diplocentrus, were collected, in addition to ca. 200 amblypygids, uropygids, solpugids, myriapods and spiders.

Central and western México (Michoacan, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Colima): 2 weeks (30 June–14 July, 2005), funded jointly by the NSF REVSYS project and the Instituto de Biología, UNAM. REVSYS collaborator Dr. Oscar Francke led this expedition to the Mexican states of Michoacan, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Jalisco, and Colima, accompanied by Dr. Javier Ponce (Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo), Milagros Córdova and Abigail Jaimes (undergraduate students from Universidad Autónoma de Morelos), Vinicius Capovilla (undergraduate student, Universidad Estadual de Campiñas, Sao Paulo, Brazil), and Gabriela Francke (undergraduate student, Universidad Católica, Lima, Perú). This trip covered ca. 4,000 km and visited the type localities of several scorpion species to obtain important material for DNA analysis, e.g. Paruroctonus gracilior, Vaejovis monticola, and V. punctatus spadix. About 1,000 scorpions were collected, including several potential new buthids, diplocentrids and vaejovids.

México (Baja California, Baja California Sur): 3 weeks (29 June–19 July, 2005), funded jointly by the NSF REVSYS Vaejovidae grant and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. Grant PI Lorenzo Prendini, Ph.D. Student Edmundo González, AMNH Scientific Assistant Randy Mercurio, and REVSYS Collaborator Warren Savary returned to the Baja California peninsula, to collect vaejovid scorpions for morphological study and DNA isolation and survey more generally the arachnid fauna of this arid desert peninsula. The expedition was undertaken by two teams in separate vehicles. Prendini and Savary embarked from Oakland, California, stopping to collect scorpions in Monterey County, before meeting in Tijuana with Mercurio and González, who had returned from the Pinacaté Desert in northwestern Sonora. Both teams traveled south in convoy until reaching Guerrero Negro, near the where they split up, leap-frogging at various stations on the way down to Cabo San Lucas along the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast. From Cabo San Lucas, the teams turned northward and traveled a figure-of-eight along the Pacific coast and the Sea of Cortez as far as San Felipé before returning to Tijuana along the U.S. border. Despite low points (vehicle accident, breakdown, three flat tires, twice stuck in the sand), the trip, which covered more than 8,000 km from the top to the bottom of the peninsula in three weeks, yielded over 1,000 specimens, including all (14) genera and most (42) species of scorpions recorded from the peninsula, as well several solifuges, amblypygids and spiders. Highlights included a new Serradigitus and potential new Paruroctonus and Vaejovis that await further study.

Southern México (Chiapas): 2.5 weeks (21 May–7 June, 2005), mostly funded by the Instituto de Ecología and the Instituto de Biología, UNAM, augmented with funds from the REVSYS Vaejovidae grant. REVSYS Collaborator Dr Oscar Francke undertook a three-part trip during these dates. The first week, Francke was accompanied by three undergraduate students, Milagros Córdova and Abigail Jaimes (both from Universidad Autónoma de Morelos), and Jesús Ballesteros (Instituto Politecnico Nacional), spending several days at the El Ocote Biosphere Reserve collecting arachnids, and in particular a new Vaejovis, a rare Diplocentrus and some Centruroides species. The second part of the trip included other graduate and undergraduate students in arachnology involved in the Lacandona Forest survey, who met in Tapachula to attend the Mexican Entomological Society Congress, and presented papers and posters on the results obtained thus far. The final part of the trip returned to the Lacandona Forest to continue collecting arachnids and service pit fall traps set on the previous trip. Griselda Montiel Parra (Technician, National Acarology Collection), Gabriel Villegas (Ph.D. student, IBUNAM), and Susana Rubio (undergraduate student, Instituto Politécnico Nacional) accompanied Dr. Francke on this trip, and collected numerous arachnids including four different species of scorpion.

Southern México (Chiapas): 8 days (5–12 April, 2005), mostly funded by the Instituto de Ecología, UNAM. REVSYS Collaborator Dr. Oscar Francke travelled with undergraduate students Alejandro Valdez (UNAM) and Jesús Ballesteros (Instituto Politecnico Nacional) to Frontera Corozal, in the Lacandona Rainforest Biosphere Reserve, where he is involved in a survey of arachnid diversity in conjunction with the Instituto de Ecología, UNAM. Incidental expenses charged to REVSYS Vaejovidae helped collect additional samples of scorpions (3 species), amblypygids (2 species), uropygid (1 species), schizomids (2 species), palpigrades (2 species), several Opiliones and spiders.

Southern México (Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco): 2 weeks (31 October–15 November, 2004), funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. REVSYS collaborator Dr Oscar Francke travelled ca. 4,800 km through xerophytic scrub, tropical deciduous scrub forest, mixed oak-pine forest, pine forest, and tropical rainforest, from 45–2,600 m altitude, in the Mexican states of Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Tabasco, collecting spiders, opiliones, palpigrades, schizomids, scorpions, acari, pseudoscorpions, and Onychophora for the ATOL and REVSYS projects. Francke was accompanied, during the first week, by Gabriel Villegas (Ph.D. student) and Ricardo Paredes (M.S. student), both from the Instituto de Biologia, UNAM, and, during the second week, by Adolfo Ibarra (Technician, Entomology Collection, Instituto de Biología, UNAM) and Hector Montaño (B.S. student in the Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM). Approximately 500 specimens, were collected, including 2 palpigrade species, one schizomid species, one onychophoran species, a new Diplocentrus species and possible new Centruroides species.

Mexican Caves (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca): 2 weeks (11–26 September, 2004), funded by the NSF ATOL grant. Ph.D. student, Edmundo González, REVSYS collaborator, Dr Oscar Francke, and professional speleologists, Andrew Gluesenkamp, Peter Sprouse, and Charles Valdez, travelled ca. 4,850 km through the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Puebla, and Oaxaca, located and entered 17 caves, and surveyed the surrounding pine forest, rainforest, tropical savanna, and xerophytic scrub habitats, for arachnids for the ATOL Spider Phylogeny and REVSYS vaejovid projects. Approximately 400 specimens were collected, including many rarely collected blind, depigmented troglobitic amblypygids, crustaceans, insects, opilionids, myriapods, pseudoscorpions, schizomids, scorpiones, spiders, and uropygids.

México (Baja California Sur): 3 weeks (5–24 July, 2004), funded by the NSF REVSYS grant. AMNH Ph.D. student, Edmundo González, REVSYS collaborators Dr Oscar Francke, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (UNAM), and Warren Savary, FDA and California Academy of Sciences, and Alejandro Valdez, an undergraduate student and amateur speleologist from the Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, travelled ca. 6,000 km, from Nayarit on the Mexican mainland, throughout the desert and oak forests of Baja California Sur. This trip included a mule ride to the pine forest on top of Sierra de La Laguna to collect endemic vaejovid scorpions for the REVSYS project. Collectively, ca. 2,370 specimens where collected in three arachnid orders (Amblypygi, Scorpionida, Solifugae). Six families, 12 genera and 31 species of scorpions were collected, including a new Paruroctonus and two new Vaejovis species.

Southwestern U.S.A. (Arizona, New Mexico), México (Baja California, Baja California Sur): 2 weeks (16–31 May, 2004), funded by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. AMNH Scientific Assistant, Randy Mercurio, joined Dr Michele Nishiguchi (University of New Mexico, Las Cruces), colleagues and students for a trip of ca. 5,300 km through the desert and semidesert of Arizona, New Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur. Mercurio collected ca. 250 myriapods, scorpions and spiders, including some important endemic genera and species for the REVSYS grant.

Mainland México (Distrito Federal, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca; Estado de México, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Hidalgo): 3 weeks (15 July–7 August, 2002), supported by the AMNH. Two trips, totalling ca. 5,000 km were undertaken by Lorenzo Prendini. The first proceeded southeast (through the states of Distrito Federal, Puebla, Veracruz and Oaxaca) with Dr Javier Ponce Saavedra (Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo), Dr Oscar Francke (Curator of Arachnida, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México [UNAM]) and Edmundo Gonzaléz (formerly at UNAM, but now based at the AMNH/CUNY). The second proceeded northeast (through the states of Distrito Federal, Estado de México, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas and Hidalgo) with Francke, Gonzaléz and José Soriano (a professional speleologist). Both trips targeted cavernicolous arachnids for my molecular systematic projects on scorpions and minor arachnid orders. Although no troglobitic scorpions were found, numerous troglobitic amblypygids, opilionids, schizomids and myriapods were obtained. In addition, five genera and 37 species of scorpions were collected in epigean habitats. The total collections numbered ca. 450 specimens.