On the southernmost high Andean scorpion species, with the identification of a cryptic new species of Brachistosternus (Bothriuridae) through morphology, molecular data and species distribution models

Abstract

In this contribution we describe Brachistosternus diaguita n. sp. from the Argentinean central Andes, which is closely related to Brachistosternus montanus Roig-Alsina 1977, also from the same region. To corroborate reciprocal monophyly of the species, Bayesian inference was carried out on a selection of taxa, for which three mitochondrial (16S rDNA, 12SrDNA and COI) and two nuclear (28S rDNA and 18S rDNA) gene fragments had previously been sequenced for previous contributions on this genus by our group. Finally, we explored the potential distribution of Argentinean high Andean species of this genus using Maxent.