Scorpion Fauna and Scorpionism in Zakho Province of Northern Iraq

Abstract

Information regarding scorpion diversity and their envenoming within Iraq in general, and the Northern Iraq in particular, is limited. The number and distribution of scorpion sting cases and some details of the scorpion fauna of Zakho province were reported for the first time in this study. Overall, 2675 scorpion sting cases were reported between 2008 and 2017 consisting of 1362 male victims (51%) and 1313 female (49%). The highest percentage of victims was between 15 and 49 years old and accounted for 59% of the overall incidence. The highest incidence of scorpion sting cases occurred in the summer, particularly in July when 537 cases were reported. In total, 85 scorpions belonging to two families (Scorpionidae and Buthidae) were captured in the present study. Of the collected samples, Scorpio maurus 47 (55%) was the most abundant followed by Hottentotta saulcyi 28 (33%), and Androctonus crassicauda 10 (12%).

Redescription of Scorpio Kruglovi (Birula, 1910) (Scorpiones, Scorpionidae) From Thi Qar Province, South of Iraq

“…The Genus was previously recorded for the first time from Mosul Province as Scorpio maurus (Penther, 1912 andKhalaf, 1962). Pringle (1960) reported that S. maurus is found in Duhok Province, then Al-Azawi (2016) recorded it in Najaf Province also as S. maurus, as well as Kachel (2020) in Zakho Province. While Ahmed (2015) recorded it as a subspecies, Scorpio maurus kruglovi (Birula, 1910) in Erbil Province, Northern Iraq.…”

“…This was confirmed by Al-Azawi (2016) who observed the presence of differences in the measurements taken among individuals of the same species, and recorded S. maurus with a total length 49.02 mm and described Chela as being very wide and the body color was golden to yellow. Whereas Kachel (2020) reported that the color was yellowish brown with dark brown in mesosoma. Ahmed (2015) described S. maurus kruglovi which was found in Erbil city-northern of Iraq to be 6-8 cm in length.…”

“…Scorpions in Iraq have not received much attention, as the history of these studies began in the 19th century by Peters (1861), Simon (1880) and Kraepelin (1899). Iraqi researchers did not enter this field until after a long time, as some of them conducted taxonomic studies on scorpions in some areas such as, Khalaf (1962Khalaf ( , 1963, Tahir et al (2014), Al-Azawi ( 2016) Kachel (2020), Hussen and Ahmed (2020) and Kachel et al (2021). Speaking of southern of Iraq, there are a few studies dealt with the scorpions.…”

“…While only from Thi Qar Province, Al-Khazali and Yağmur (2019) recorded six species of scorpions. Kachel (2020) recorded Scorpio maurus (Linnaeus 1758), Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807) and Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) in Zakho (Dohuk Province). Hussen and Ahmed (2020) published a new data of scorpion fauna, specimens were collected from three provinces (Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah) and they were identified as: Scorpio maurus, H. saulcyi, A. crassicauda, Orthochirus fomichevi (Kovařik et al, 2019), Compsobuthus matthiesseni (Birula, 1905), Hemiscorpius lepturus (Peters, 1861), Mesobuthus phillipsii (Pocock, 1889) and Buthacus macrocentrus (Ehrenberg, 1828).…”

Epidemiological Characterizations, New Localities, and a Checklist of the Known Scorpions in the Kurdistan Region, Northern Iraq

“…According to recent publications, 4162 scorpion stings were recorded in primary health care centres in the Kurdistan Region in 2017 and 2018 ( 9 ). Based on the envenomation epidemiological data of the neighbour countries, Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807), Androctonus bicolor (Ehrenberg, 1828) and Hemiscorpius lepturus (Peters, 1861) are considered the most dangerous scorpions among the known species in Iraq and they are responsible for the most death cases related to scorpion stings ( 10 – 11 ).…”