Mesotityus vondangeli González-Sponga, 1981

(Figs. 1, 5, 9, 14, 16, tables 1–4)

Mesotityus vondangeli González-Sponga, 1981:5–14, 23, figs. 1–9, table; González-Sponga, 1984:67-69, fig; González-Sponga, 1996:130–131, figs. 298–303; Kovařík, 1998:115 (citation only); Fet & Lowe, 2000:181; González-Sponga, 2001a:30, 42, 50.

Type data. Male holotype (MCNC-784), one female paratype (MCNC-785), and one male paratype (MAGS-3629), Hacienda La Trilla (10º27’N, 67º24’ W), Parque Nacional Henri Pittier, Distrito Girardot, Estado Aragua, Venezuela. Note: Holotype and paratype, supposedly deposited in the MCNC, were not found in that institution. We only examined male paratype MAGS-3629 .

Distribution. Only known from type locality and another neighboring one (Fig. 16).

Diagnosis. Total length, 24–31 mm. Pedipalp neobothriotaxic type A-α (d 2 positioned on internal face of femur, d 2 absent on patella, and Eb 3 absent on chela); fixed finger with 12 or 13 rows of denticles; movable finger with 13 or 14 (Table 1). Pectines with 12–14 teeth in female, and 13–15 in male (Table 2). Other characters same as in the genus. Measurements, see Tables 3–4.

Natural history. According to González-Sponga (1981, 1996) this species was found under stones, and the litter of humid tropical forest (200 m a.s.l.), sympatrically with species of the genera Tityus, Microtityus, and Ananteris . In “Rio Catá” (6 km E of “Hacienda La Trilla”) it was found in a similar habitat at 100 m a.s.l., sympatrically with Tityus clathratus, Títyus pittieri González-Sponga, 1981, Tityus melanostictus Pocock, 1893, Tityus sp., Microtityus sevciki González- Sponga 2001, and Chactas ferruginosus González- Sponga, 1982. In this last locality specimens were collected at night (22:00 hr) with help of UV light, on shrubs and branches of small trees, at 10–50 cm over the surface. The female:male ratio observed in this locality on April 2006 was 1:0.33.

Specimens examined. Three males and 14 females (MHNLS), two males (IES), two females (MAGS- 6413), two females and one male (MBLUZ), Río Catá (± 100 m a.s.l.), upstream from the dam, Parque Nacional “Henri Pittier”, Estado Aragua, Venezuela, 6 April 2006, F. J. M. Rojas-Runjaic .