New record and occurrence map of Tityus serrulatus Lutz & Mello , 1922 ( Scorpiones , Buthidae ) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul , southern Brazil

The Brazilian scorpion Tityus serrulatus is recorded for the first time in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, thus filling a gap of 567 km in its distribution. A specimen of the scorpion was collected in the urban area of the municipality of Santa Maria (29°43′51.31′′ S, 053°48′5.74′′ W) on 31 June 2014. A map was generated with the points of occurrence of the species in the state.

Tityus serrulatus is a scorpion with nocturnal and discrete habits.It measures about 50-70 mm long when adult, and has pale yellow colored legs and pedipalps, but with a darker shade of yellow, tending to brown on the trunk, fingers and tip of the tail.The tail is intensely serrated with four or five teeth on its fourth segment (Almeida 2010;Bortoluzzi et al. 2007).The species produces a large amount of venom, very active in vertebrates, and is the main cause of severe scorpion accidents in Brazil (Cupo et al. 1994;Eickstedt et al. 1996;Freire-Maia et al. 1994).
The first record of the Brazilian scorpion in Rio Grande do Sul was reported by Torres et al. (2002).The specimen was discovered at a supermarket in Porto Alegre (30° 00′22.32″S, 051°09′22.90″W), after stinging the hand of an employee who was handling fruit.At the time of this accident he was handling a load of fruit coming from the southeast region of Brazil.The second occurrence in the state was made by Bortoluzzi et al. (2007) in Uruguaiana (29°45′18″ S, 057°05′16″ W).Two individuals were found on the premises of a trucking company.
In this study, we notify the encounter of a specimen of T. serrulatus (Figure 2) in the municipality of Santa Maria, in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul.On 31 June 2014, one individual was found in the warehouse of a supermarket located on the BR392 highway (29°43′51.31″S, 053°48′05.74″W), in the urban area of the municipality of Santa Maria.The specimen was found climbing the wall of the warehouse.
After the encounter, the scorpion was sacrificed and preserved in 70% ethanol, and later identified under a stereomicroscope.The specimen was 55 mm in total length, and had the typical coloring of the species, being determined as an adult of T. serrulatus (Dos Santos et al. 2014).The specimen was deposited in Scorpiones collection of the Instituto Butantan, and accessioned as IBSP 6746.
This record fills a gap of about 567 km in the distribution of the species, in a region midway between the two points where the species had been previously recorded.All records of T. serrulatus in the state are related to transport zones, or places of potential activity for the dispersal of the species.Thus, we can infer that the distribution of this scorpion has not increased naturally to the state of Rio Grande do Sul, but through human activities.Over 12 years, only three encounters of the species have been reported, and one can assume that the species probably does not have established populations in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.