New Fossil Scorpion from the Chiapas Amber Lagerstätte

<div><p>A new species of scorpion is described based on a rare entire adult male preserved in a cloudy amber from Miocene rocks in the Chiapas Highlands, south of Mexico. The amber-bearing beds in Chiapas constitute a Conservation Lagerstätte with outstanding organic preservation inside plant resin. The new species is diagnosed as having putative characters that largely correspond with the genus <i>Tityus</i> Koch, 1836 (Scorpiones, Buthidae). Accordingly, it is now referred to as <i>Tityus apozonalli</i> sp. nov. Its previously unclear phylogenetic relationship among fossil taxa of the family Buthidae from both Dominican and Mexican amber is also examined herein. Preliminarily results indicate a basal condition of <i>T</i>. <i>apozonalli</i> regarding to <i>Tityus geratus</i> Santiago-Blay and Poinar, 1988, <i>Tityus (Brazilotityus) hartkorni</i> Lourenço, 2009, and <i>Tityus azari</i> Lourenço, 2013 from Dominican amber, as was <i>Tityus (Brazilotityus) knodeli</i> Lourenço, 2014 from Mexican amber. Its close relationships with extant Neotropic <i>Tityus</i>-like subclades such as <i>‘Tityus clathratus’</i> and the subgenus <i>Tityus (Archaeotityus)</i> are also discussed. This new taxon adds to the knowledge of New World scorpions from the Miocene that are rarely found trapped in amber.</p>