New widow spider record of Latrodectus dahli Levi (Araneae: Theridiidae) extends known range in Northern Saudi Arabia

Posted by
  Image Credit: iNaturalist Photo 400937400, (c) Kian, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Kian, https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/400937400 New widow spider record of Latrodectus dahli Levi (Araneae: Theridiidae) extends known range in Northern Saudi Arabia ABSTRACT Researchers have documented the first confirmed occurrence of Dahl’s widow spider ( Latrodectus dahli vn Saudi Arabia’s Ha’il Region, extending the species’ known range into the country’s north. The finding fills an important gap in the spider’s Middle Eastern distribution and highlights how even medically important species remain under-documented in parts of the Arabian Peninsula. L. dahli Levi is a medically significant widow spider that is found in North Africa, Cyprus, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Middle East, Iran and Central Asia. Prior to our work, there had been no records of it in northern Saudi Arabia although it had been found in central regions of Saudi Arabia such as Al Duwadimi, Riyadh and ...

Morphological Study and Parametric Values of Mesobuthus phillipsii (Pocock, 1889) (Arachnida: Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Iran, Autumn 2023

Posted by

 


Morphological Study and Parametric Values of Mesobuthus phillipsii (Pocock, 1889) (Arachnida: Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Iran, Autumn 2023

Abstract


Background and Objective: The family Buthidae is the largest scorpion family, which, in addition tohaving a wide distribution worldwide, includes the most dangerous species. Scorpions of the genus Mesobu-thus belong to the family Buthidae and are distributed throughout all regions of Iran, being the dominantspecies in most provinces.The present study was conducted in autumn 2023 to investigate the morphometriccharacteristics of Mesobuthus phillipsii in Rudan County, southern Iran.

Methods: A total of 40 adult male and female M. phillipsii scorpions (20 males and 20 females) were col-lected around the clock from the plain and mountainous areas. Then, the most important morphometric indi-ces were measured using a graduated caliper. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using Excel. TheMann-Whitney test was used to compare the quantitative variable between the two groups (male and female).A P-value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

Findings: More than half of the morphometric indices were significantly different between male and fe-male M. phillipsii scorpions. The sizes of various body parts were larger in female scorpions compared totheir male counterparts (except for the length and number of teeth of the pectin organ). The number of pectinteeth was (20±1.41) in females and (25±0.06) in males. The number of pectin teeth, as one of the importantsensory organs in scorpions, is used to distinguish between sexes and to identify species.

Conclusion: This study, focused on examining the morphometric traits of the scorpion species M. phil-lipsii, revealed that females exhibited higher average values for most measured morphometric characteristicscompared to males, except for the number of pectin teeth, which did not differ significantly between thesexes.

F. Kamali, H. Kassiri*, A. Kasiri, A. Kasiri, R. Kasiri, M. Lotfi and S. M. Hosseininejad, "Morphological Study and Parametric Values of Mesobuthus phillipsii(Pocock, 1889) (Arachnida: Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Iran, Atumn 2023," Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences, 17 4 (This issue is currently in preparation) (2025): 1-9, doi: 10.22118/jjhs.2025.231433