Diagnosis.  - Members of this genus are distinguished from other vaejovid scorpions by the presence of a row of stout spiniform setae on each side of the ventromedian row of telotarsal spinulae (see below).  Such spiniform setae are lacking in other vaejovids (L).  Members of Uroctonites are further distinguished from other vaejovids except Uroctonus mordax, Uroctonus franckei, Uroctonus grahami, and Vaejovis lindsayi by the absence of prolateral keels on the pedipalp brachium.  They are further distinguished from members of Uroctonus by the lack of distinct denticles on the ventral margin of the movable finger of the chelicera (L), by the presence of ony two trichobothria on the ventral surface of the pedipalp brachium (L), by the relative proximity of trichobothrial pairs et/est and eb1/eb2 (L), and by the linear termination of the ventromedial keel of the fifth metasomal segment (L).  Members of Uroctonus bear denticles on the ventral margin of the movable finger of the chelicera, have three trichobothria on the ventral surface of the pedipalp brachium (L), have trichobothrial pairs et/est and eb1/eb2 widely separated (L), and have a Y-shaped caudal divergence of the ventromedian keel of the fifth metasomal segment (L). 

Click on the L symbol to view an illustration

Uroctonites Williams & Savary 1991: Table 1, Figs 1, 3-5, 7, 9-12, 13, 15-18.

Uroctonus (in part): Gertsch & Soleglad 1972: 553, 557, 559, 561, 564-565 (key), 573-575, 589-592, Figs. 10, 36, 37, 64-67, 116-118, Tables 2, 5, 8; Stahnke 1974: 129, 130.

Vejovis (in part): Stahnke 1974: 119 (key), 130, 132-136, Table 1.

Vaejovis (in part): Williams 1976: 2, Table 1. 

Subordinate taxa. - The genus Uroctonites includes four species: Uroctonus giulianii Williams & Savary 1991, Uroctonites huachuca  (Gertsch & Soleglad 1972), Uroctonites montereus (Gertsch & Soleglad 1972), and Uroctonites sequoia (Gertsch & Soleglad 1972).

Distribution. - Coast ranges and Sierra Nevada of California and mountains of southeastern Arizona.  The genus is represented in California by the following taxa:

Remarks. - Members of this genus are found on exposed rock surfaces and talus slopes, and are occasionally encountered in caves.   They are distributed as two species pairs, which are separated from one another by the intervening crest of the Sierra Nevada.  The most common species, Uroctonites montereus, occurs in the California coast ranges from San Mateo County south to Los Angeles County, while its sister species, U. sequoia, occurs on the western side of the Sierra Nevada from Plumas County south to Tulare County.  Both of these species have a single subdistal tooth (rarely two) on the dorsal tine of the movable cheliceral finger (L)(a synapomorphy) and seven supernumerary denticles on the movable finger (L)(a symplesiomorphy).  The ventral series of trichobothria on the pedipalp chela is compressed, with the distance between trichobothria Vt and Vst usually equalling less than two-thirds of the distance between Vb and Vsb (L).  The absence of Uroctonites from the San Joaquin Valley, which lies between the known ranges of these species, and a possible association of U. sequoia with caves and limestone outcrops, suggest that both geographical and ecological isolation have played a role in their speciation.
     The sister species U. giulianii and U. huachuca are distributed to the east of the Sierra Nevada crest, with U. giulianii restricted to the Inyo Mountains and White Mountains, and eastern Sierra Nevada of southeastern California, and U. huachuca limited to the Huachuca Mountains and Santa Rita Mountains of southeastern Arizona.  Both have two subdistal teeth (rarely one) on the dorsal tine of the movable cheliceral finger (L)(a symplesiomorphy) and have six supernumerary denticles on the movable finger of the pedipalp chela (L)(a synapomorphy).  The ventral series of trichobothria on the pedipalp chela is not as compressed in these species as it is in the western species pair, and the distance between chelal trichobothria Vt and Vst usually equals more than two-thirds the distance between Vb and Vsb (L).  These two species appear to be montane relicts.

Literature. - 

Williams, S. C. and W. E. Savary.  1991.  Uroctonites, a new genus of scorpion from western North America (Scorpiones: Vaejovidae).  Pan-Pacific Entomologist 67(4): 272-287. 

Gertsch, W. J. and M. E. Soleglad. 1972. Studies of North American scorpions of the genera Uroctonus and Vejovis (Scorpionida, Vaejovidae).  Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, No. 148: 549-608.

Stahnke, H. L. 1974.  Revision and keys to the higher categories of Vejovidae (Scorpionida, Vaejovidae).  Journal of Arachnology, Volume 1: 107-141.

Williams, S. C. 1976.  The scorpion fauna of California. Bulletin of the Society of Vector Ecologists, Volume 3: 1-4.