First record of invasive Stenochrus portoricensis Chamberlin, 1922 (Arachnida: Schizomida: Hubbardiidae) from the Southern region of Brazil

. Herein we report for the first time a schizomid for the Southern region of Brazil, Stenochrus portoricensis Chamberlin, 1922 (Schizomida: Hubbardiidae), found in association with termite nests. This is the southernmost record of any schizomid for the Neotropical region. We hypothesize that the species was recently introduced by the sudden population growth of Florianópolis – along with the intense touristic activity – which might have contributed to the inadvertent transportation of this species.

Herein, we report the southernmost record of Schizomida in the Neotropical region, and the first record of a schizomid -Stenochrus portoricensisin the Southern region of Brazil, in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Specimens were collected from leaf litter and wood debris colonized by termite Nasutitermes sp.(Blattodea: Termitidae) in an anthropized forest fragment (Fig. 1E) at Santa Catarina Island (Florianópolis, Santa Catarina state, Brazil).The region is located in the Atlantic Forest biome with a moist subtropical climate.The specimens were stored in 80% ethanol, and the adult was put in 30% lactic acid at room temperature for 24 hours for clearing and visualization of the spermatheca.The voucher specimens are deposited at Zoological Collection of Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC).The distribution map was created using SimpleMappr (Shorthouse, 2010).1E).

Diagnosis:
The main distinguishing features of S. portoricensis include: propeltidium with anterior process bearing one pair of setae medially (longitudinally) aligned and two setal pairs (Fig. 1B); a short spur present on trochanter of pedipalps (Fig. 1C); flagellum short with 3 annuli; metapeltidium entire; spermathecae with two pairs of wrinkled lobes, the outer lobes shorter, and laterals about 4-5 times shorter than the median ones (Fig. 1D).
According to Reddell & Cokendolpher (1995), S. portoricensis is facultatively parthenogenetic, with males being rare or even absent from numerous populations.Presumably, this reproductive strategy has facilitated the introduction of this species worldwide.It has been previously found in association with ants (Reddell & Cokendolpher, 1995) and termite nests (Santos et al., 2008).
Florianópolis is a popular touristic destination in Brazil, currently attracting thousands of visitors from various parts of the country and around the world each year.Furthermore, over the past 33 years, the city's population has doubled (DATASUS, 2023).It is possible that S. portoricensis was inadvertently introduced by the recent population growth, in addition to the intense touristic activity, which might have contributed to the casual transportation of this species.
The specific location where these specimens were collected used to function as a composting center for the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).For many years, this center collected organic waste from gardening activities across the entire campus.Additionally, other factors like agricultural practices, the sale of ornamental plants and soil materials, in addition with the parthenogenetic strategy of the species, might also have contributed to the introduction of Stenochrus portoricensis further south in the neotropics.

:
FH, LP: Data curation, Investigation, Writing -original draft.FH, LP, JC: Writing -review & editing.All authors actively participated in the discussion of the results; they reviewed and approved the final version of the paper.CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Authors declare there are no conflicts of interest.FUNDING INFORMATION: This project did not use any external financial support.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: To Jana Christophoryová (Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Slovakia) and Kátia R. Benati (Universidade Católica do Salvador -UCSAL, Salvador, Brazil) for sharing important information and literature.