Diversidade genética em escorpiões Tityus (Archaeotityus) paraguayensis (Buthidae)

Abstract

Scorpions are arachnids of the order Scorpiones Koch, 1837, and have inhabited the planet for about 350 million years. Tityus (Archaeotityus) paraguayensis Kraepelin, 1895 belongs to the Buthidae family, the species addressed in this study. This species is distributed in the Brazilian Pantanal, also occupies environments referred to as Chaco. Genetically, the few studies carried out with T. (Archaeotityus) paraguayensis are related to chromosomal characterization, location of ribosomal genes and telomeric sequences, which showed a diploid number variation - 2n=16, 2n=17 and 2n=18 - in different Brazilian populations. The aim of this study is to understand the taxonomic limits of T. paraguayensis using cytogenetic and molecular approaches. In this work, a cytogenetic and molecular study was carried out for the first time, comparing populations of T. paraguayensis. Cytogenetic analyzes showed that T. paraguayensis populations present cells with diploid number 2n=16, holocentric chromosomes, synaptic and achiasmatic behavior without the occurrence of intraspecific and interpopulational variability. The cytogenetic analyzes showed that the populations T. paraguayensis present cells with diploid number 2n=16, holocentric chromosomes, synaptic and achiasmatic behavior without the occurrence of intraspecific and interpopulational variability. Using fragments of the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase I, the maximum likelihood tree (ML) was generated, showing that individuals from each of the analyzed populations form distinct clades according to the locality, with the exception of the Poconé population. The greatest genetic distance found between the populations was between Guaíra and Campo Grande, being 17.14%, and the smallest distance recorded, 1.84%, between the populations of Poconé and Mimoso. The results show that individuals from the population of Campo Grande correspond to an independent taxonomic unit, although the results are satisfactory, it is necessary to expand the analyzes and add to the data the correct taxonomic identification of the populations studied.