Revision and phylogenetic analysis of the scorpions of the genus Ananteris Thorell, 1891 (Arachnida: Scorpiones, Buthidae)

Abstract

Within the family Buthidae, the genus Ananteris Thorell, 1891 was originally proposed to accommodate the type species, Ananteris balzanii. It is distributed primarily in the Neotropical region, but due to a possible association with Old World other Buthidae genera it may show a Gondwanan pattern of distribution. The genus was taxonomically revised in 1982, and in recent years, many new species were described. Currently the genus includes 85 known species. Some of these descriptive studies contributed with new taxonomically useful morphological traits. Nevertheless, most were never included in any phylogenetic study and the monophyly and internal relationships of the genus remain unresolved. Thus, the aim of this study is to test monophyly of the genus Ananteris and propose a relationship hypothesis for its species based on the results of a cladistic analysis using morphological characters. (AU)