Scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpions) are one of the medically important oldest arthropods. They have been one of the humans’ interests in terms of special morphology, painful stings, mortality, and behavioral attractions for many years. Diagnosis of scorpions is based on morphological characteristics and molecular methods. But, one of the most important and fundamental problems of identifying the Iranian scorpions is the lack of a comprehensive method. Due to the fact that a relatively long time has not passed since the classification of scorpions in Iran and there are no definitive divisions about the genera and species in the country, the current pictorial key was provided to identify the Iranian scorpions. In this study, various methods were used to catch the scorpions. For preparing the pictorial key, different genera of scorpions were collected from urban, rural, plain, and mountain areas in different parts of Iran as well as some archived specimens from the medical arachnid's Museum of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were used from 2010 to 2020 collection boxes. The key presented in this study was prepared only based on morphological features. It was necessary to remind a few points about this key and its use. Considering the above-mentioned points, this key was provided for 16 genera, 64 species, and 3 families of Iranian scorpions, and the results of other researchers are included in it. The study of various aspects of scorpion life, especially faunistic studies has been recently considered in Iran. Various methods such as molecular methods and composition of scorpion venom can be used for classification, the most common of which are morphological features that have a long history. Therefore, the need to provide a key to detect scorpions in the country has a special priority.
Azizi, K., Ebrahimi, M., Amin, M. et al. Taxonomy and new pictorial key of Iranian scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpionida). Int J Trop Insect Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-024-01194-9