Abstract
A new species of the vorhiesi group of Vaejovis C.L. Koch, 1836, Vaejovis brysoni sp. n., is described from the Santa Catalina Mountains in southern Arizona. Vaejovis deboerae Ayrey also inhabits this mountain range, making this the first documented case of two vorhiesi group species distributed on the same mountain. When compared to all other vorhiesi group species, Vaejovis brysoni sp. n. is distinct based on several combinations of morphological characters and morphometric ratios.
Highlights
For over 50 years, only four species of montane scorpions in the specious genus Vaejovis were known from the topographically complex states of Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora
That number has more than doubled over the past six years, with a total of 13 species known, all belonging to the Vaejovis vorhiesi group (Soleglad and Fet 2008)
Vaejovis jonesi Stahnke (1940) inhabits rocky juniper woodlands on the Colorado Plateau, and Vaejovis lapidicola Stahnke (1940) is distributed across pine-oak woodlands along the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. These ecological communities overlap across the rim of the Mogollon Plateau, yet to date V. jonesi and V. lapidicola have not been found syntopically
Summary
For over 50 years, only four species of montane scorpions in the specious genus Vaejovis were known from the topographically complex states of Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora. That number has more than doubled over the past six years, with a total of 13 species known (see Graham et al 2012), all belonging to the Vaejovis vorhiesi group (Soleglad and Fet 2008). Vaejovis deboerae Ayrey (2009) was recently described from the high pine-oak forests of the Santa Catalina Mountains in southern Arizona. M. DeBoer-Ayrey 3 ♂, 5 ♀, paratypes (RFA).
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