PONE-D-22-27368Description of Bothriurus mistral n. sp., the highest-dwelling Bothriurus from the western Andes (Scorpiones, Bothriuridae), using multiple morphometric approachesPLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The manuscript submitted describes a new cryptic species of Bothriurus from an unexplored locality in the Chilean Andes. The description is comprehensive and includes high-quality pictures, including photos under UV light, and photos of the male hemispermatophore. I have a few suggestions that could be easily fixed. One potential relevant issue is to incorporate an explanation on how the landmarks where defined in the segment V of both species (e.g., using carinae, macrosetae, relative position etc.). This way other authors could replicate the landmarks across additional species in further contributions.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript “Description of Bothriurus mistral n. sp., the highest-dwelling Bothriurus from the western Andes (Scorpiones, Bothriuridae), using multiple morphometric approaches” represents an important and interesting contribution to the knowledge of the diversity of scorpions in the region of the north-central Andes. The study not only provides the highest elevational discovery for Bothriurus in the western slopes of the Andes, but also uses the geometric morphometrics analyses for the first time to delimit a recent species within this order of arachnids. It is a great pity that the authors failed to add at least the basic characteristics and variability of genetic markers to the morphometric analyzes of the studied species (B. mistral n. sp. and B. corciareus). In that case, the results would have an even better informative value.

It is a relatively short manuscript that is carefully prepared. I have only a few comments about it, which can contribute to a better use of the presented data in possible subsequent studies.

The results represent interesting original data. In my opinion, this manuscript should be accepted for publication in Plos One after correction of some details.

Comments/recommendations:

Material and Methods

Studied material

Lines 111-119: Please add GPS coordinates also to the material of Bothriurus coriaceus.

Nomenclatorial acts

Lines 146-156: I do not understand this whole long passage. In my opinion, it is clear that the code must be followed and that the name is registered in ZooBank. This entire paragraph can only be replaced by the specified internet link to the registered name.

Geometric morphometric approach

Line 175: Seventeen landmarks are mentioned (Fig. 3). However, 20 points are shown in the Fig. 3. It is not clear; how did you define landmark 13 and 14. The position is clearly different between species.

Results

Line 203: Specify the registration collection number of holotype.

Lines 205-206: What does it mean: “J. Pizarro-Araya, F.M. Alfaro, J. Calderón, A. Castex (MNHN)”. All mentioned persons are owners of the collection or collected (leg.) the samples? Please, clarify this information (in the whole Type material).

Line 206: What does it mean: “Conglomerate no. 41141“. It seems to like registration collection number. In this case I don’t understand that this material may be located in different collections (SIMEF-Project, MACN, MZUC, LEULS). Please, clarify this information and add the real registration collection numbers.

Lines 229-230: Specify separately the measurements for holotype and paratypes (include separately this information also in Table 1). The values of Total length from the text do not correspond to the data in Table 1.

Line 234: The holotype is only one individual (male in this case). Please correct the legend.

Table 1. – Here is no variability of the measurements. The morphometric information seems to be important for the characteristic of species. Please present the minimal, maximal, and mean values for all measurements. And separately for holotype and all paratypes.

Line 238: Duplication of Line 234.

Line 240-278: More then one page of color description seems to be very precise description of this characteristic. However, the coloration may be variable, and it is difficult to navigate in a long text. Moreover, the Figs 2A and 4A–4D are not informative in this case. The pigment pattern is used as important diagnostic characteristics. It is a reason I fully recommended to add more detailed pictures (photographs or drawing) of described coloration (with visible pattern, not as in Figs 2A and 4A–4D). it would be best to also add comparison with B. coriaceus.

Line 397: Terms “shorter and wider“ are quite confusing. Please add specific values in both species.

Please, control the formal style of Figure references all over the text. It is mix of “Fig” and Fig.” Moreover “Figure” is not abbreviated in the figure legends. I assume that the formatting of the text will be subject to an even more detailed check by the editorial team.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Jairo A. Moreno-González

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-22-27368-1.pdf

Description of Bothriurus mistral n. sp., the highest-dwelling Bothriurus from the western Andes (Scorpiones, Bothriuridae), using multiple morphometric approaches

PONE-D-22-27368R1

Dear Dr. Ojanguren-Affilastro,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Michael Schubert

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: The authors have carefully edited the manuscript based on all the comments and recommendations. For this reason, the article can now be fully supported for acceptance and publication in the journal PLOS ONE.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Jairo A. Moreno-Gonzalez

Reviewer #2: No

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