BIHAREAN BIOLOGIST 13 (2): 85-88 ©Biharean Biologist, Oradea, Romania, 2019 Article No.: e181203 http://biozoojournals.ro/bihbiol/index.html First record of Androctonus bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828 (Arachnida: Scorpiones) with scorpion records Dhi Qar Province, Iraq Azhar Mohammed AL-KHAZALI1 and Ersen Aydın YAĞMUR2,* 1. Department of Science / Branch Biolgy, College of Basic Education, University of Sumer, Dhi Qar, Iraq 2.Alaşehir Vocational School, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey., *Corresponding author, E.A. Yağmur, E-mail: [email protected] Received: 28. February 2018 / Accepted: 18. July 2018 / Available online: 28. July 2018 / Printed: December 2019 Abstract. This study reports on the collection of scorpions from Dhi Qar province (South of Iraq). A total of 21 scorpion specimens were collected in 2017, and identified; all specimens belong to six species: Androctonus bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828, Buthacus macrocentrus (Ehrenberg, 1828), Compsobuthus matthiesseni (Birula, 1905), Mesobuthus phillipsi (Pocock, 1889), Orthochirus iraqus Kovařík, 2004, and Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807). All species except the latter are recorded for the first time from Dhi Qar province. Androctonus bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828 is recorded for the first time from Iraq. Key words: Fauna, Scorpiones, Buthidae, Dhi Qar, Iraq. Introduction province. The records of M. eupeus probably refers to M. phil- lipsi and O. scrobiculosus probably refers to Orthochirus iraqus. The scorpion fauna of Iraq is one of re is poorly known. Only few reports on the Iraq scorpion fauna. To date, the follow- ing species have been reported from Iraq: Androctonus crassi- Material and Methods cauda (Olivier, 1807) (Peters 1861, Penther 1912), Buthacus The field expeditions were carried out between May 2017 and Au- macrocentrus (Ehrenberg, 1828) (Kovařík 2005), B. leptochelys gust 2017 by the first author. Twenty-one specimens were collected (Ehrenberg, 1829) (Whittick 1955, Pringle 1960), Buthus occi- from four different localities in Dhi Qar Province: Al-Refai district tanus (Amoreux, 1789) (Kovařík 1992), Compsobuthus matthi- (31°36'36"N, 45°58'46"E, 8 m a.s.l.), Al-Nasr town, (31°29'27"N, esseni (Birula, 1905) (Pringle 1960), C. schmiedeknechti Vachon, 45°54'55"E, 8 m a.s.l.), Al-Shatrah district (31°27'17"N, 46°13'04"E, 9 m 1949 (as Compsobuthus judaicus) (Vachon 1966), C. jakesi a.s.l.) and Al-Nasiriyah town (30°41'14"N, 46°25'52"E, 23 m a.s.l.) Kovařík, 2003 (Kovařík, 2003), Mesobuthus caucasicus (Nord- (Fig. 1). Scorpions were collected by hand from under stones during the day time. The specimens were identified using a Leica EZ4 ste- mann, 1840) (Penther 1912), M. eupeus (C.L. Koch, 1839) reomicroscope. Identifications were made after Hendrixson (2006), (Whittick 1955, Pringle 1960), M. phillipsi (Pocock, 1889) (as Kovařík (2004, 2005), Kovařík et al. (2011), and Sissom & Fet (1998). Buthus eupaeus mesopotamicus) (Penther 1912), Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) (Simon 1880, Pringle 1960), H. judaicus (Simon, 1872) (Al-Azawi 2017), H. scaber (Ehrenberg, 1828) (Khalaf, 1963), H. mesopotamicus Lourenço & Qi, 2007 (Lourenço & Qi, 2007), H. schach (Birula, 1905) (Vachon 1966), H. zagrosensis (Kovařík, 1997) (Al-Azawi 2017), Leiurus quinquestriatus (Ehrenberg, 1828) (Fet & Lowe 2000), Odonto- buthus bidentatus Lourenço & Pezier, 2002 (Lourenço & Pezier, 2002), Orthochirus scrobiculosus (Grube, 1873) O. iraqus Kovařík, 2004 (Kovařík, 2004) (Buthidae), Bothriurus nendai Ojanguren Affilastro & Garcia-Mauro, 2010 (Al-Azawi 2017) (Bothriuridae), Euscorpius italicus (Herbst, 1800) (Fet & Kovařík 2003) (Euscorpiidae), Hemiscorpius lepturus Peters, 1861 (Pringle 1960) (Hemiscorpiidae), Calchas anlasi Yağmur, Figure 1. Map showing the four scorpion sampling localities sites in Soleglad, Fet & Kovařík, 2013 (Yağmur et al. 2013). (Iuridae), Dhi Qar province, southern Iraq. Scorpio maurus Linnaeus, 1758 (Penther 1912) (Scorpionidae). According to us the records of Buthus occitanus, Buthacus lep- Results tochelys, Bothriurus nendai, Compsobuthus schmiedeknechti, Lei- urus quinquestriatus, Mesobuthus caucasicus, M. eupeus, Hotten- A total number of 21 scorpion specimens were collected. Six totta scaber, H. judaicus, H. zagrosensis and Orthochirus scrobi- species and 5 genera belonging to family Buthidae were culosus require clarification. Hottentotta mesopotamicus and identified. Orthochirus iraqus were described recently and are endemic in Iraq (Lourenço & Pezier, 2002; Kovařík, 2004). Family Buthidae C.L. Koch, 1837 Dhi Qar province is located in the south of Iraq and its scorpion fauna has not been studied in detail until now. Androctonus bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828. Figure 2 A. Only some records have been reported by Pringle (1960), Distribution: A. bicolor is known from Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, namely Androctonus crassicauda, Mesobuthus eupeus, and Or- Israel, Jordan, Lebanon?, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia thochirus scrobiculosus from the town of Nasiriyah in Dhi Qar Yemen (Fet & Lowe, 2000) and Iraq (Present study). 86 A.M. Al-Khazali & E.A. Yağmur Figure 2. Dorsal and ventral views of the scorpions. A: Androctonus bicolor. Juvenile; B: Androctonus crassicauda. Female; C: Buthacus macrocentrus. Male; D: Compsobuthus matthiesseni. Male; E: Mesobuthus phillipsi. Male; F: Orthochirus iraqus. Fe- male. Material examined: 1 juv., Abu Gar (Al-Nasiriyah town), Probably, these species do not exist in Iraq and these records 15.08.2017, 30°41'14"N, 46°25'52"E, 23 m. concern A. bicolor. Comments: A. bicolor is a new record from Iraq. A. bicolor Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807) Figure 2 B. is already known from Jordan and Syria (El-Hennawy 1988, Distribution: A. crassicauda is known from Armenia, Azerbai- 1992) and its existence was expected for Iraq. A. bicolor dif- jan, Bahrain, Egypt (Sinai), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, fers from its congeners present in the Middle East with its Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates thin chela manus and long and yellow chela fingers. Al- and Yemen (Fet & Lowe 2000, Hendrixson 2006). A. crassi- Azawi (2017) recently published a paper on the scorpions of cauda was recorded from Balad and Al-Shirqat towns (Salah Iraq. Among the species, pictures of Hottentotta zagrosensis, AL-Dine), Tel-Afar town (Nineveh), Nasiriyah town (Dhi H. judaicus and B. nendai as appear similar to A. bicolor. Qar), Rawa and Rutba towns (Anbar), Aqra and Sulaf towns First record of Androctonus bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828 with scorpion records Dhi Qar Province, Iraq 87 (Dohuk), Ain Al-Tamr town (Karbala), Khanaqin and (2011). Mesobuthus eupeus records reported from Iraq proba- Baqubah towns (Diyala), Badra town (Wasit), Amara town bly belong to M. phillipsi; M. eupeus does not exist in Iraq. (Maysan), Baghdad, Hilla and Basra Provinces in Iraq (Peters Therefore, the records of Mesobuthus eupeus are accepted as 1861, Penther 1912, Whittick 1955, Pringle 1960, Khalaf 1962, records of M. phillipsi in this study. M. phillipsi is recorded Khalaf 1963, Al-Azawi 2017). for the first time from Dhi Qar province. Material examined: 1 ♂, Abu Gar, (Al-Nasiriyah town), Orthochirus iraqus Kovařík, 2004 Figure 2 F. 15.08.2017, 30°41'14"N, 46°25'52"E, 23 m; 4 ♀, 2 ♂, Al- Caar Distribution: This species is endemic to Iraq. It is known region (Al- Nasr town), 12.08.2017, 31°29'27"N, 45°54'55"E, 6 only in Najaf (Kovařík 2004) and Dhi Qar province (Present m. study). Comments: A. crassicauda was recorded from Dhi Qar Prov- Material examined: 1♀, Al Masifa village (Al-Rifia dis- ince (Nasiriyah town) by Pringle (1960) previously. This spe- trict), 15.09.2017, 31°36'36"N, 45°58'46"E, 8 m; 1♀, Al-Caar cies is widespread in Iraq. region (Al- Nasr town), 18.08.2017, 31°29'27"N, 45°54'55"E, 6 m. Buthacus macrocentrus (Ehrenberg, 1828) Figure 2 C. Comments: O. iraqus was described by Kovařík (2004) Distribution: B. macrocentrus is recorded for the first time from Najaf Province. This species was reported as O. scrobi- from Dhi Qar province. Some Buthacus leptochelys records culosus by Khalaf (1962) and Khalaf (1963) from southern originate from Iraq but B. leptochelys probably does not occur Iraq. Kovařík (1992) recorded O. innesi from Iraq but this re- in Iraq and these records belong to B. macrocentrus. There- cord was corrected by Kovařík (2004) and this population fore, the records provided for B. leptochelys were accepted as was reported as O. iraqus. Besides, the O. scrobiculosus record B. macrocentrus in this study. by Al-Azawi (2017) as appears to be O. iraqus. It is probable Material examined: 2 ♂, Al-Caar region (Al-Nasr town), that all records of O. iraqus from southern Iraq were reported 12.08.2017, 31°29'27"N, 45°54'55"E, 6 m. as O. scrobiculosus. This species had been known from one Comments: B. macrocentrus is known from Bahrain, Iran, locality up to now, which is its type locality. It has been re- Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and ported for a second time since it was described and is a new United Arab Emirates (Fet & Lowe 2000, Kovařík 2005, record for Dhi Qar province. Lourenço 2006). It is known from Mosul, Makhmur, Tel Afar towns, (Ninawa), Al-Shirqat town (Salah AL-Dine provinces in Iraq) (Whittick 1955, Pringle 1960, Khalaf 1962, Khalaf Discussion 1963). Although there are many records of scorpion species from Compsobuthus matthiesseni (Birula, 1905) Figure 2 D. Iraq (Penther 1912, Kovařík 2005, Pringle 1960, Vachon 1966, Distribution: C. matthiesseni is known from Iran, Iraq, Tur- Kovařík, 2003, Khalaf, 1963, Lourenço & Qi, 2007, Lourenço key, Syria (Birula 1905, Pringle 1960, Farzanpay & Pretz- & Pezier, 2002, Kovařík, 2004, Yağmur et al. 2013), some of mann 1974, Farzanpay 1988, Sissom & Fet 1998, Kovařik these records are doubtful. According to us, Androctonus 1996, 2003). It is known from Khanaqin and Baqubah towns crassicauda, Buthacus macrocentrus Compsobuthus matthiesseni, (Diyala), Baghdad, Kirkuk and Salah Al-Dine provinces in C. jakesi, Mesobuthus phillipsi, Hottentotta saulcyi, H. mesopo- Iraq (Penther 1912, Whittick 1955, Pringle 1960, Khalaf 1962, tamicus, H. schach, Odontobuthus bidentatus, Orthochirus iraqus, Khalaf 1963).