SCIENTIFIC NOTE NOTEWORTHY RECORDS OF BRACHYPELMA (ARANEAE: THERAPHOSIDAE) FROM PENINSULA OF YUCATAN, MEXICO 1 Carlos Arisqueta-Chablé, 2 Pablo Manrique-Saide, 2 Miguel Angel Pinkus Rendón, ,3 and Virginia Meléndez Ramírez 2 ABSTRACT: We report new distribution records of two tarantula species from the genus Brachy- pelma (Simon 1891) within the Peninsula of Yucatan: B. vagans (Ausserer 1875) and B. epicureanum (Chamberlin 1925). B. vagans distribution is confirmed for the Mexican state of Yucatan. We also provide zoogeographical information from specimens deposited in the Colección Entomológica Regional at the Campus de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán. KEY WORDS: Tarantula, Brachypelma, Peninsula of Yucatan The genus Brachypelma (Simon 1891) is distributed from México to Costa Rica (Valerio, 1980; Smith, 1994). It includes 20 species, 13 inhabiting the Mexican territory (West, 2005; Platnick, 2008; Rudloff, 2008). The species of tarantulas from the genus Brachypelma (Simon 1891), are well appreciated as pets and are listed on the appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) to prevent illegal traffic which could eventually threaten their wild populations (Locht et al., 1999). Two Brachypelma (Simon, 1891) species have been reported from the Peninsula of Yucatan (PY) (18° 50' N, 89° 7' W): B. vagans (Ausserer, 1875) the Mexican redrump tarantula, distributed in the low deciduous and medium evergreen forests from south of PY at the Mexican states of Quintana-Roo and Campeche (West, 2005) and B. epicureanum (Chamberlin, 1925) the Yucatan rustrump tarantula, a species restricted to the north of the PY. This species was apparently the only one associated with the low deciduous and low deciduous thorny forests in the Mexican state of Yucatan (Smith, 1994; Locht et al., 1999; West, 2005). This paper provides new records of Brachypelma species from the PY based on examination of specimens from donations and nonsystematic collections within different localities in the PY from 2005-2007, and currently, these spiders are deposited in the Colección Entomológica Regional from Campus de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (CER- 566 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS ______________________________ 1 Received on August 15, 2008. Accepted on November 9, 2008. 2 Departamento de Zoología, CA Bio-Ecología Animal, Campus de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecu- arias, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, México. Km. 15.5 Carr. Mérida-Xmatkuil s.n., Merida, Yucatán, MEXICO. E-mails: (CAC) kcarlo5@hotmail.com, (PM-S) msaide@uady.mx, (VMR) virmelen@uady.mx 3 Centro Peninsular en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Calle 43 S/N Col. Industrial. C. P. 97150, Merida, Yucatán, MEXICO. E-mail: mapinkus@ humanidades.unam.mx Mailed on December 13, 2010