REVSYS: Revisionary Systematics of the North American Scorpion Family Vaejovidae

DEB 0413453修订版：北美蝎科的修订系统学PI：Lorenzo Prendini，美国自然历史博物馆Co-PI：W。大卫西索姆，西得克萨斯农工大学虽然包括一个小组成部分的陆地节肢动物的多样性，蝎子是相当大的兴趣，科学家和外行一样。蝎子毒液蛰入是某些地区发病率和死亡率的重要原因，例如墨西哥，每年发生100，000例蝎子蜇伤，800人因此死亡。蝎子是最古老的节肢动物之一，“来自生活在志留纪的水生祖先，超过400 Mya”，但现代物种的形态几乎没有从化石形式改变。蝎子分布在除南极洲以外的所有大陆，从热带雨林到炎热的沙漠，从海平面到海拔4,600米，从潮间带到世界上最深的洞穴。它们通常在适宜的生境中数量丰富，在生态食物网中很重要，例如在控制昆虫种群方面。蝎子在节肢动物中是不寻常的，因为所有物种都能生育活的幼崽，有些物种不需要受精就能繁殖（单性生殖）。蝎子与大型脊椎动物相似，繁殖速度慢，寿命长。许多人对环境退化很敏感。它们也越来越受到栖息地破坏和外来宠物贸易的威胁。小产仔数，世代时间长，大多数蝎子的生存率低，再加上它们特定的栖息地要求和有限的范围，加剧了它们因人类活动而灭绝的风险。查明其多样性和分布情况是保护工作的一个优先事项。许多蝎子科和属从未被修订分类学和新的物种和分布记录继续被发现，即使在以前认为调查良好的地区。仅限于北美的Vaejovidae家族是该大陆上最多样化的蝎子群，包括10属（45%）和约10属。150种（64%），但一旦对所有栖息地进行彻底调查，可能会识别出所描述的物种数量的两倍。在生命之树的蝎分支中，蝎科的位置尚不清楚，蝎属的分类混乱，鉴定蝎种的检索表也不可行。这个REVELT项目，涉及六名美国和墨西哥专家，一名墨西哥博士，学生，美国和墨西哥本科生和K-12学生，将通过基于形态学和分子（DNA序列）数据对所有vaejovid属和种进行系统发育分析和分类修订来纠正这种情况。利用现有的博物馆材料和在美国西南部和墨西哥的13次实地考察中收集的新材料，将为每个物种制作新的自动诊断和描述，伴随着习性和诊断特征的数字图像，以及GIS制作的分布图绘制所有已知的记录。一个网站与互动地图和说明的关键vaejovid亚科，属和种，简明的分类学处理，说明它们之间的系统发育关系，可搜索的标本数据库，和其他可下载的产品，将提供。这一修订和vaejovid辐射的发生也将有助于更广泛地了解蝎子的发生，适应干旱的节肢动物的进化和物种形成，以及北美西南部干旱区的多样性，植物地理学和保护。

DEB 0413453REVSYS: Revisionary Systematics of the North American scorpion family Vaejovidae PI: Lorenzo Prendini, American Museum of Natural History Co-PI: W. David Sissom, West Texas A&M University Although comprising a small component of terrestrial arthropod diversity, scorpions are of considerable interest to scientist and layman alike. Scorpion envenomation represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in some regions, e.g. Mexico, where 100,000 scorpion stings occur annually and 800 people die as a consequence. Scorpions are among the most ancient arthropods "derived from aquatic ancestors that lived in the Silurian, more than 400 Mya" but the morphology of modern species has hardly changed from fossil forms. Scorpions occur on all continents except Antarctica, from tropical rainforests to hot deserts, from sea level to 4,600 m elevation, and from the intertidal zone to the world's deepest caves. They are often abundant in suitable habitat and important in ecological food webs, e.g. in controlling insect populations. Scorpions are unusual among arthropods in that all species give birth to live young and several reproduce without fertilization (parthenogenesis). Scorpions resemble large vertebrates in their slow reproductive rates and remarkable longevity. Many are sensitive to environmental degradation. They are also increasingly threatened by habitat destruction and harvesting for the exotic pet trade. The small litter sizes, long generation times and low survivorship of most scorpions, taken together with their specific habitat requirements and restricted ranges, exacerbates their risk of extinction due to human activities. Inventorying their diversity and distribution is a priority for their conservation. Many scorpion families and genera have never been revised taxonomically and new species and distribution records continue to be discovered, even in regions previously thought well surveyed. The family Vaejovidae, restricted to North America, is the most diverse group of scorpions in the continent, comprising 10 genera (45%) and ca. 150 species (64%), but double the number of described species may be recognised once all habitats have been thoroughly surveyed. The position of Vaejovidae within the scorpion branch of the Tree of Life is unclear, the classification of vaejovid genera is a shambles, and the keys for identifying vaejovid species are unworkable. This REVSYS project, involving six US and Mexican specialists, a Mexican Ph.D. student, US and Mexican undergraduates and K-12 students, will rectify this situation by undertaking a phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of all vaejovid genera and species based on morphological and molecular (DNA sequence) data. Using existing museum material and new material collected during thirteen fieldtrips to the southwestern US and Mexico, new, automated diagnoses and descriptions will be produced for each species, accompanied by digital images of habitus and diagnostic characters, and GIS-produced distribution maps plotting all known records. A website with interactive maps and illustrated keys for identification of vaejovid subfamilies, genera and species, concise taxonomic treatments of each, cladograms illustrating phylogenetic relationships among them, a searchable specimen database, and other downloadable products of this research, will be provided. This revision and phylogeny of the vaejovid radiation will also contribute to the broader understanding of scorpion phylogeny, the evolution and speciation of arid-adapted arthropods, and the diversity, biogeography and conservation of the arid zone in southwestern North America.