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...

Androctonus ishtar sp. n. from Dohuk and Nineveh provinces, Iraq (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

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Androctonus ishtar sp. n. from Dohuk and Nineveh provinces, Iraq (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

ABSTRACT

A new species, Androctonus ishtar sp. n., is described and illustrated from the Dohuk and Nineveh provinces of Iraq. This new species was previously misidentified as A. crassicauda Olivier. Androctonus sumericus Al-Khazali and Yağmur, and A. turkiyensis Yağmur, are distributed in territories close to those of A. ishtar sp. n. The new species differs from A. crassicauda in the morphology of the fifth metasomal segment, from A. sumericus in its elongate chela, and from A. turkiyensis in the trichobothrial arrangement on the fixed fingers of the chela.

Yağmur, E. A., Kachel, H. S., Al-Khazali, A. M., Al-Jubouri, M. A. K., & Ali, F. R. (2025). Androctonus ishtar sp. n. from Dohuk and Nineveh provinces, Iraq (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Journal of Natural History, 59(25–28), 1757–1773. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2025.2496290