Centruroides limbatus (Pocock, 1898)

Figures: 3; 6 A; 7 C, D; 10 B, D; 11 B; 14 B; 16 C, D; 20 A, B.

Tables: 3, 6.

Centrurus limbatus Pocock, 1898: 387.

References subsequent to Fet & Lowe (2000: 111): Centruroides limbatus (Pocock, 1898).

Montoya & Armas, 2002: 157 (first report from Panama); Teruel & Cozijn, 2011; Miranda, 2011; Borges et al., 2012; Miranda et al., 2014; Miranda et al., 2015; Salazar et al., 2018; Davidson et al., 2020; Escudero-Sanjur et al., 2022; Lezcano et al., 2022; Armas & Cubas-Rodríguez, 2023: 3–11, figures 1–11; Díaz et al., 2025.

Type material: Male holotype: Costa Rica, Talamanca, Sirirea (NHMUK). Francke & Stockwell (1987: 11), recognized Centruroides rubricauda (Pocock, 1898) as a junior synonym of C. limbatus.

Material examined.

BOCAS DEL TORO: Almirante: Almirante, 1 female, 20 August 1963, coll. R. Hinds (CoZEM-ICGES, LCG-044); Almirante, 1 female, 1 April 1964, coll. R. Hinds (CoZEM-ICGES, LCG-057); Loma Azul: 1 male, 9 August 2011, coll. R. Miranda, I. Murgas (CoZEM-ICGES); Loma Azul, 2 females, 8 males, 4 juv., 9 May 2018, coll. R. Miranda, I. Murgas, J. Lezcano (CoZEM-ICGES); Los Higuerones, Centro de Salud, 6 males, 9 May 2018, coll. Los Higuerones Health Center staff (CoZEM-ICGES); Milla 3, 1 juv., 15 June 2021, coll. W. Patiño (CoZEMICGES); Quebrada Pita, 1 juv., 31 May 2019, coll. E. Jaén (CoZEM-ICGES); Río Hondo, 3 females, 1 male, 2 juv., 30 November 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Valle de Riscó, 2 juv., 24 October 2013, coll. R. Miranda (CoZEMICGES); Valle Riscó, 2 females, 1 male, 2 juv., 24 November 2013, coll. R. Miranda (CoZEM-ICGES); 1 juv., 26 November 2013, coll. R. Miranda, A. Valderama, N. Jaén (CoZEM-ICGES); Quebrada Riscó, 1 juv., 31 May 2019, coll. E. Jaén (CoZEM-ICGES). Bocas del Toro: Isla Bocas del Toro, 1 female, 10 July 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Bocas del Toro Island, 5 females, 3 males, 17 November 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Boca del Drago, 1 male, 14 December 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP). Changuinola: El Empalme, 1 female, 26 May 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); El Empalme, 1 juv., 10 June 2018, coll. Alvares, Stonesstreet (CoZEM-ICGES); Finca 4, 7 females, 5 males, 2 juv., 10 September 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Teribe mountainous region, 1 female, 24 May 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); San San Drury, 1 juv., 29 February 2012, coll. A. Santos (MIUP); Changuinola, IRHE field camp, 1 female, 17 January 1980, coll. A. Herrera (MIUP); Changuinola, 12 females, 11 males, 9 December 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Playa Changuinola, 1 female, 1 July 2003, coll. J. Rodríguez (MIUP); Finca 41, 1 male, 1 juv., 26 June 1986, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Finca 30, 2 males, 1 juv., 18 June 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Guabito, 1 male, 5 May 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Guabito, 6 females, 2 males, 1 juv., 19 September 1980, coll. D. Quintero, R. Carranza; California, 1 female, 4 juv., 22 July 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); La Gloria, 6 females, 4 males, 2 November 2008, coll. R. Cambra (MIUP); La Gloria, 2 females, 5 males, 31 October 2008, coll. R. Cambra (MIUP); Junco, 10 females, 2 males, 11 November 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP); Río Teribe, 2 females, 1 male, 24 November 1984, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP). Chiriquí Grande: Cañazas, 3 females, 5 males, 1 juv., 8 May 2018, coll. R. Miranda, I. Murgas, J. Lezcano (CoZEM-ICGES); Rambala. 1 female, 1 male, 2 juv., 8 May 2018, coll. R. Miranda, I. Murgas, J. Lezcano (CoZEM-ICGES); Peninsula Valiente, 1 female, 3 males, 6 juv., 12 January 1985, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP). Isla Colón District: Colón Island, 2 juv., 2 December 1982, coll. A. Araúz (MIUP). NGÄBE-BUGLÉ COMARCA: Kusapín: Kankintú, 4 females, 2 males, 30 August 2007, coll. A. Santos (MIUP); Kankintú: 10 females, 3 juv., 40 projuv., 12 January 1985, coll. R. Barraza (MIUP). VERAGUAS: Santa Fe: El Pantano, 2 juv, 5 April 2017, coll. D. Archibold (CoZEM-ICGES).

Diagnosis. Follows Francke & Stockwell (1987) and own data. Total body length ranges from 85 to 105 mm. Colouration: this is a highly polymorphic species. Its colouration varies, with morphs generally appearing in light yellow, reddish, dark brown, or even blackish; the ocular tubercle, the marginal carinae of the carapace, the carinae of the metasoma, telson, segment V of the metasoma, and the digits of the pedipalps are blackish. Carapace: granulation is sparse and fine. Lateral ocular tubercles with three macro-ocelli each. Ocular tubercle with a pair of smooth granular superciliary carinae projecting above the median ocelli. Lateral ocular carinae weak, finely granular. Posterior median carinae are present and weakly granular. Anteromedian furrow is moderately deep; posteromedian furrow is narrow and deep posteriorly; posterolateral furrows are moderately deep and slightly curved; posteromarginal furrow is shallow and wide. Pectines: pectinal tooth count in females varies between 18 to 29 teeth, while males have between 19 and 31; basal plate square. Mesosoma: finely and sparsely granular. Median carinae present in all tergites, weak in tergites I and II, moderate in III-V and fine granular in VI and VII. Tergite VII pentacarinate. Pedipalp: orthobothriotaxic, type A, only sparsely hirsute. All carinae of femur and patella weak to extremely weak granular; internal faces of femur and patella weakly tuberculate. The chela is thin, 4.5 to 5.0 times longer than wide; The chela is almost as wide as the patella, it can be up to 1.3 times wider than the patella. Chela with five carinae: dorsal secondary, dorsal marginal, and ventroexternal carinae weak, feebly granulose; dorsal internal vestigial, granular; digital carina vestigial to obsolete, present as a few basal granules; all other carinae obsolete. Nine main rows of granules in fixed and movable fingers. Fingers of the chela with basal lobe/notch combination moderate. Metasoma: segments of the metasoma with 10-8-8-8-5 carinae consisting of very fine and widely spaced granules. Intercarinal surfaces smooth. segments II–IV with two pairs of ventrolateral macrosetae. The segment V of the metasoma is 2.4 to 2.6 times longer than wide in females and 3 to 3.5 times in males. Telson with vesicle ovate in females, and oval elongate in male. Subaculear tubercle moderate spiniform directed toward the apex of the aculeus.

Variation: This species exhibits considerable variability in colouration, total body length, and pectinal tooth count. Reported total body lengths range from 55 to 110 mm (Francke & Stockwell, 1987; Blasco-Aróstegui et al., 2020; Armas & Cubas-Rodríguez, 2023). The male holotype measures 100 mm in total length (Pocock, 1898). In the present study, specimens ranged from 75 to 102 mm in total length. According to Pocock (1898), Francke & Stockwell (1987), Montoya & Armas (2002), and Armas & Cubas-Rodríguez (2023), pectinal tooth counts vary from 18 to 29 in females and from 19 to 31 in males. In the material examined for this study, pectinal tooth counts ranged from 24 to 26 in females and from 25 to 27 in males.

Distribution: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. This includes the island territories of Panama (Bocas del Toro Archipelago) and Honduras (Utila Island), both in the Caribbean Sea (Montoya & Armas, 2002; Armas & Cubas-Rodríguez, 2023). Centruroides limbatus has been reported mostly in secondary forests and areas impacted by human activity throughout its distribution (Blasco-Aróstegui et al., 2020). It is frequently found in banana and oil palm plantations common in the region, in pasture fences, and even in the surroundings and inside human dwellings.

Remarks: Centruroides limbatus was compared to Centruroides gracilis since its description (Pocock, 1898). In Panama, Lourenço & Méndez (1984) identified some specimens of C. limbatus from Bocas del Toro as C. gracilis, which we corroborated through a partial review of this material deposited in the CoZEM-ICGES. Montoya & Armas (2002) were the first to report the presence of C. limbatus in Panama, specifically in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago. For their part, Escudero-Sanjur et al. (2022), through phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial genes (COI and 16S), obtained that C. limbatus grouped closely with Centruroides gracilis and with C. panamensis.

Reproductive biology: Davidson et al. (2020) reported a female of C. limbatus with more than 30 second-stage juveniles from Utila Island in April 2020. In addition, Lezcano et al. (2022) reported that in captivity, C. limbatus produces litters of 34 ± 5 hatchlings (n =7 births) in May and December.

Natural history: Prey records for C. limbatus are diverse, and includes: insects (Orthoptera, Blattodea), centipedes (Geophilomorpha, Scolopendromorpha), spiders (Lycosidae, Araneidae, and Theraphosidae).Interactions with other scorpions include reports of intraguild predation on two Tityus species (Miranda et al., 2015; Blasco-Aróstegui et al., 2020) and cannibalism (Blasco-Aróstegui et al., 2020; Armas & Cubas-Rodríguez, 2023). Brown & Arrivillaga (2019) mention a case of cohabitation of a female C. limbatus with the gecko Phyllodactylus palmeus Dixon, 1968 on Utila Island, in the Caribbean of Honduras.

Venom and scorpionism: The most abundant fractions of C. limbatus venom display neurotoxic effects when injected intracranially into mice and cause paralysis in insects; however, they are not lethal to mice when administered intraperitoneally (Salazar et al., 2018). Díaz et al. (2025) reported that the venoms of C. limbatus and C. bicolor are very similar and share numerous protein components, including several putative ion channel-modulating toxins. However, they found differences in the efficacy of their venoms against various insect species. Furthermore, these researchers discovered that C. limbatus venom also shares biochemical similarities with that of C. gracilis. Despite its widespread distribution, little is known about envenomations caused by C. limbatus (Borges et al., 2012). Bush (1999) describes a case of grade II envenomation (of a four-stage scale) that occurred in Orange County, California, which is quite far from the natural distribution of C. limbatus.