New locality records and future habitat suitability of Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in the Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan arid belt

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  New locality records and future habitat suitability of Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in the Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan arid belt Abstract This study reports new locality records from Iran and a climate-based habitat suitability assessment for Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in the Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan arid belt. We document new specimens from Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, with an updated distribution map and illustrations, and we model the species' potential distribution across south-eastern Iran and adjacent parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Habitat suitability was associated mainly with precipitation seasonality, precipitation of the wettest month, precipitation of the driest month, and slope. In an arid setting these rainfall variables are unlikely to indicate a need for moist habitat; they more plausibly track seasonal productivity and the terrain features that provide shelter. Present-day suitable areas...

New data on some African tarantulas including palpal bulb morphology in Pterinochilus Pocock, 1897 (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

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New data on some African tarantulas including palpal bulb morphology in Pterinochilus Pocock, 1897 (Araneae: Theraphosidae)

Abstract
We catalogue the theraphosids of the subfamilies Harpactirinae and Stromatopelminae housed in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg. The first record of Pterinochulus raygabrieli Gallon, 2009 from Ethiopia is presented with discussion on the bulb morphology of this species, alongside faunistic data on Eucratoscelus constrictus (Gerstaecker, 1873) and Pterinochilus murinus Pocock, 1897 in Kenya, Idiothele nigrofulva (Pocock, 1898) in South Africa, and Stromatopelma calceatum (Fabricius, 1793) in Guinea. 

Bariev, Timur & Sherwood, Danniella. (2025). New data on some African tarantulas including palpal bulb morphology in Pterinochilus Pocock, 1897 (Araneae: Theraphosidae). rej. 34. 58-63. 

Special thanks to Danni Sherwood for providing this paper via ResearchGate