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Figure S3. a-Orthochirus aristidis (Wadi Al-Tarfa); b-O. innesi (Siwa); c-O. scrobiculosus (Ain Khodra); d-Parabuthus leiosoma (Halayeb); e-Nebo hierichonticus (Gabal Yalg); f-Scorpio maurus (El-Hammam).
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The taxonomy and diversity of the scorpion fauna of Egypt was examined based on a
large collection from most parts of the country and in view of recent revisionary systematics. We assessed the validity of listed records in light of new taxonomic findings
and geographic distribution data and present a new list and an identification key to the
scorpi...
Citations
... Little is known about how climatic factors affect the distribution of scorpion species in Egypt, but a plausible hypothesis is that differences in water availability indirectly shape the spatial distribution of scorpion species by constraining the establishment of an important resource for these arachnids -the scarce patches of vegetation that might be used as shelters. Such patches of shrub-like plant species across the deserts in Egypt are believed to be important to provide suitable microclimates for scorpion species, as is the case at least for the species Androctonus australis (Linnaeus, 1758) and Compsobuthus egyptiensis Lourenço, Sun & Zhu, 2009(Badry et al. 2018. In that sense, the vegetation represents a keystone structure regulated by the climate (e.g. ...
Drylands correspond to ca. 40% of the world’s land surface. Because of their ecological importance, these areas are regularly considered for agricultural purposes. Scorpion assemblages often exhibit higher levels of species diversity in dry habitats and are beneficial indicators in ecological studies in such environments. In this study, we investigated the effects of climatic and spatial predictors on beta diversity patterns among scorpion assemblages distributed in the drylands of Egypt. Scorpion occurrences were compiled from the scientific literature. For each location, we created a set of climatic variables related to precipitation, temperature, and solar irradiation, as well as spatial predictors. A total of 134 scorpion occurrences were obtained, comprising 21 species grouped into three families. Climatic and spatial variables together influenced the patterns of scorpion diversity in Egyptian landscapes. Species replacement accounted for 69% of the total beta diversity. In addition, species replacement was positively affected by climatic and spatial variables. Our results suggest a reciprocal link between the region’s ecological history and the patterns of beta diversity observed in scorpion assemblages from Egyptian drylands.
... Both A. amoreuxi and A. australis were classified as omnipresent species during the study period. The former was also reported as omnipresent in Morocco [86] and Egypt [80,87], but it was ranked as very accidental species (Occ = 8.33%) in the North of Libya [88]. The second species was as omnipresent in all previous countries. ...
In desert ecosystems, arthropods such as scorpions are understudied, and sufficient information is still lacking regarding their biodiversity. Specimen collection was carried out over 24 months (2016–2017). This study assessed the phenology, abundance, richness and diversity of scorpion species in arid ecosystems of the Sahara desert of Algeria (Ghardaïa). It examined the potential influence of climate parameters (precipitation, temperature and wind) on activity density, diversity
and the phenological distribution of the species among seasons. We identified eight Buthidae species: Androctonus aeneas, Androctonus amoreuxi, Androctonus australis, Buthacus samiae, Buthacus spinatus, Buthacus elmenia, Buthus saharicus and Lissothus chaambi. Androctonus amoreuxi and Androctonus australis were the most abundant and omnipresent species, comprising 54.41% and 33.82% of all
species found, respectively. Shannon’s index and the evenness index demonstrated a very poor diversity of scorpions in this region and a poor balance between the number of sampled species. Seasonal variation and climate parameters, i.e., temperature and wind, influenced the number, distribution, and the diversity of scorpions. The number of species found in Ghardaïa Province represent more than 20% of the scorpion species reported in Algeria.
... The same situation is noted in Egypt, where two species (A. amoreuxi and L. quinquestriatus) appear to have high ecological tolerance and have been reported from all Egyptian eco-geographical regions (Saleh et al. 2017) in sandy areas with a shrubby vegetation cover (Badry et al. 2018). In Morocco, this species is omni-The results of canonical correspondence analysis show that the Eigenvalues of species and environment scores on canonical axis 1 and 2 were 29.82% and 23.64% of the constrained inertia, respectively (Fig. 2). ...
... Zourgui et al. (2008) and Suliman et al. (2013) reported that this species was found in rocky areas of the costal and southern parts of Libya. A. australis is an opportunistic species (Sadine 2012), it was reported as the most widespread species in the northern Algerian Sahara (Sadine 2018;Sadine et al. 2020). Also, this species is widespread in different eco-geographical regions in Egypt (Saleh et al. 2017), particularly in rocky habitats with a relatively rich desert vegetation cover (Badry et al. 2018). Nevertheless, in Morocco, the presence of A. australis remains unconfirmed (Vachon 1952;Broglio and Goyffon 1980;Lourenço 2005). ...
... A. bicolor is classified as a very accidental species (Occ = 41.67%) because it was captured from several localities: the Misurata Airport, Zurayk, Assuita, Al Sekat 1, and Saso stations with rocky and sandy habitats and a very sparse vegetation cover. Similarly, in Egyptian arid regions, this species prefers rocky habitats with patches of sand and the cover of scrub vegetation (Badry et al. 2018). Sadine et al. (2011Sadine et al. ( , 2012, reported that A. aeneas C. L. Koch, 1839 (synonym of A. bicolor in Algeria) is negatively correlated with the dense forest vegetation and prefers sites with stony substratum. ...
The scorpion fauna of Libya is varied and endemic, but little explored. Our work is a contribution to the study into the ecology and distribution patterns of scorpions from the Misurata region (North Libya). Investigations were carried out at 12 sites between June 2019 and December 2020 using ultraviolet light. We sampled 96 adult specimens belonging to nine species: Androctonus amoreuxi (relative abundance “RA” = 2.08%), Androctonus australis (RA = 31.25%), Androctonus bicolor (RA = 9.33%), Buthacus arenicola, Buthacus sp. 1 and Buthacus sp. 2 (RA = 3.13%), Buthiscus bicalcaratus (RA = 10.42%) Buthus adrianae (RA = 18.75%) and Buthus orientalis (RA = 19.79%). This region is characterized by great scorpion diversity and high community evenness.
Among the specimens belonging to the above-mentioned nine species, we noted two species of Egyptian Buthus: B. adrianae and B. orientalis, representing a new record for Libya, and classified as a very accidental species (Occ = 50%). By frequency of occurrence, the other species were assigned to different categories ranging from very accidental to the common ones. The Canonical Correspondence
Analysis (CCA) performed to detect gradients in species composition and species-environment relations confirmed the existence of a close relationship between some species and their biotopes, i.e., scorpions of the genus Buthacus were associated with sandy habitats, while A. amoreuxi and A. australis were associated with desert conditions (scarce vegetation, low precipitation and elevation). However, the ecological preferences of B. bicalcaratus remain uncertain.
... Death due to scorpion envenomation is a common health problem especially in the developing countries. There are about 1,500 scorpion species worldwide; of which only 50 subspecies are dangerous for humans and Buthidae scorpion families are considered the most lethal species. 1 An Egyptian study revealed that Leiurus quinquestriatus and Androctonus crassicauda scorpion species are responsible for most scorpion stings in upper Egypt. 2 Badry et al. 3 recorded Leiurus quinquestriatus, A. amoreuxi, Orthochirus innesi, and Buthacus leptochelys species at different locations in Egypt. Most clinical manifestations of scorpionenvenomed cases are local while systemic manifestations evoked by autonomic storm as fever, sweating, vomiting, and hypertension occur in lesser frequency. ...
Scorpion envenomation is a life-threatening emergency and causes serious health problems in tropical and subtropical regions. The aim of this study was to correlate the serum levels of biochemical parameters at admission in children with scorpion envenomation with subsequent morbidity and mortality. It was a prospective, observational, and descriptive study conducted for scorpion-envenomed children who presented to emergency and intensive care units between April 2019 and September 2019. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings of patients were recorded and tabulated. Routine investigations were done for all patients in addition to blood levels of lactate, free fatty acids (FFA), and insulin. All patients were compared according to outcome as survivors and nonsurvivors and according to glucose level as normoglycemic and hyperglycemic groups. There were 62 scorpion sting cases; their mean age was 8.6 ± 3.2 years. Patients aged more than 6 years (74.2%), and males (66.1%) were more affected than others. As regards severity, 25.8% were suffering organ dysfunction, 40.3% suffered systemic manifestations without organ dysfunction, and (33.9%) with only local manifestations. Serum glucose and FFA were significantly higher in nonsurvivors compared with survivors. Shock, convulsion, coma, heart failure, and pulmonary edema were significantly more common in hyperglycemic than normoglycemic group. Hyperglycemia, and raised FFA were associated with severe scorpion envenomation. Raised FFA was well correlated with presence of heart failure, leucocytosis, and hyperglycemia. Adding serum glucose and FFA to monitoring parameters of scorpionism severity can help the prediction of high-risk patients.
... Therefore, most of the epidemiological data that were previously assigned to L. quinquestriatus must be reexamined, a situation which makes it very hard, if not impossible, to provide precise epidemiology data for different species of this genus [83]. Scorpions currently classified as L. quinquestriatus are restricted to Egypt and Sudan [109]. In upper Egypt, L. quinquestriatus, together with A. crassicauda, has been responsible for severe, even lethal envenomings. ...
The Middle East and Northern Africa, collectively known as the MENA region, are inhabited by a plethora of venomous animals that cause up to 420,000 bites and stings each year. To understand the resultant health burden and the key variables affecting it, this review describes the epidemiology of snake, scorpion, and spider envenomings primarily based on heterogenous hospital data in the MENA region and the pathologies associated with their venoms. In addition, we discuss the venom composition and the key medically relevant toxins of these venomous animals, and, finally, the antivenoms that are currently in use to counteract them. Unlike Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, scorpion stings are significantly more common (approximately 350,000 cases/year) than snakebites (approximately 70,000 cases/year) and present the most significant contributor to the overall health burden of envenomings, with spider bites being negligible. However, this review also indicates that there is a substantial lack of high-quality envenoming data available for the MENA region, rendering many of these estimates speculative. Our understanding of the venoms and the toxins they contain is also incomplete, but already presents clear trends. For instance, the majority of snake venoms contain snake venom metalloproteinases, while sodium channel–binding toxins and potassium channel–binding toxins are the scorpion toxins that cause most health-related challenges. There also currently exist a plethora of antivenoms, yet only few are clinically validated, and their high cost and limited availability present a substantial health challenge. Yet, some of the insights presented in this review might help direct future research and policy efforts toward the appropriate prioritization of efforts and aid the development of future therapeutic solutions, such as next-generation antivenoms.
... Scorpions were collected at daytime by random searching their hiding places, mostly under rocks and other favorable shelters (Williams, 1968). The collected specimens were kept individually in plastic containers at 25-28 o C. The specimens were examined with a stereoscopic binocular microscope and taxonomically identified to the species using the morphological description keys (Vachon, 1966;El-Hennawy, 1987;and Badry et al., 2018). Scorpion venom was obtained by electric stimulation (20 Volt) in the articulation of the telson according to Sarhan et al. (2012). ...
The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is widely distributed in the world. It is the most destructive pest of honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), throughout the world. The present study was conducted to estimate the disturbance of main body metabolites in the tissues of 5th and 7th instar larvae, as well as early-, mid- and late-aged pupae of G. mellonella, by certain arthropod venoms. The 3rd instar larvae were treated, via an artificial diet, with LC50 of death stalker scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus venom, oriental Hornet (wasp) Vespa orientalis venom, or Apitoxin of honey bee Apis mellifera (3428.9, 2412.6, and 956.16 ppm, respectively). The important results could be summarized as follows. The total protein content in larvae was drastically reduced in larvae, regardless the tested venom or the larval instar. Also, all venoms predominantly prevented the successfully developed pupae to attain normal protein level. All venoms exhibited prevalent inducing effects on larvae to gain more lipids than control congeners of both 5th and 7th instars. Also, all tested venoms unexceptionally enhanced the pupae to gain more lipids than the control congeners. Treatment of the 3rd instar larvae with each of the tested venoms resulted in a dramatic reduction of carbohydrate content in 5th and 7th instar larvae. The carbohydrate content in treated pupae had been drastically reduced, regardless the tested venom or the pupal age.
... The scorpion fauna of Egypt is represented by four families: Buthidae, Euscorpiidae, Hemiscorpiidae and Scorpionidae [10]. Valuable, recent knowledge about scorpion fauna of Egypt and the region has been compiled, reviewed and edited by several authors (e.g., [10][11][12]. Moreover, numerous works were carried out to elucidate composition, ecology and biogeography of Middle Eastern scorpions, including Egypt (for examples, see [13][14][15][16][17]). ...
(1) Background: Scorpions (Arthropoda: Arachnida) represent a diverse group of invertebrates, accounting for a significant proportion of earth´s predators and ecosystems´ modulators. Sur-viving mostly in hardly reachable nests, and representing key hazards to human health, they at-tracted major interest for characterizing their eco-, morpho-, and genotypes. (2) Methods: four scorpion species were collected from the New Valley governorate in Upper Egypt, where high level of scorpionism and related neurological symptoms are found, that were Leiurus quin-questriatus, Androctonus amoreuxi, Orthochirus innesi, Buthacus leptochelys. They were DNA bar-coded, genetically and phylogenetically analyzed through PCR amplification and sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene hypervariable 5´ region. (3) Results: New, morphologically-authenticated scorpions´ barcodes could be added to the barcoding data-bases. Yet, several discrepancies and barcode database inadequacies could be revealed. Morover, taxon-specific patterns for nitrogenous bases distribution could be identified, resulting in signif-icantly high percentage of COI barcode guanine in scorpionids, in comparison to araneids and opilions. (4) Conclusions: For a group of animals where both cryptic speciation and high risk of human envenomation are evident, the findings of the current study strongly recommend con-tinuous and comprehensive research efforts dealing with morphogenetic authentication for dif-ferent species of scorpions.
... Scorpions were collected at daytime by random searching their hiding places, mostly under rocks and other favorable shelters (Williams, 1968). The collected specimens were kept individually in plastic containers at 25-28 o C. The specimens were examined with a stereoscopic binocular microscope and taxonomically identified to the species using the morphological description keys (Vachon, 1966;El-Hennawy, 1987;and Badry et al., 2018). Scorpion venom was obtained by electric stimulation (20 Volt) in the articulation of the telson according to Sarhan et al. (2012). ...
Article Info © 2021 Mohammad Tanani et al. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Abstract The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is widely distributed in the world. It is the most destructive pest of honey bee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), throughout the world. The present study was conducted to estimate the disturbance of main body metabolites in the tissues of 5 th and 7 th instar larvae, as well as early-, mid-and late-aged pupae of G. mellonella, by certain arthropod venoms. The 3 rd instar larvae were treated, via an artificial diet, with LC 50 of death stalker scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus venom, oriental Hornet (wasp) Vespa orientalis venom, or Apitoxin of honey bee Apis mellifera (3428.9, 2412.6, and 956.16 ppm, respectively). The important results could be summarized as follows. The total protein content in larvae was drastically reduced in larvae, regardless the tested venom or the larval instar. Also, all venoms predominantly prevented the successfully developed pupae to attain normal protein level. All venoms exhibited prevalent inducing effects on larvae to gain more lipids than control congeners of both 5 th and 7 th instars. Also, all tested venoms unexceptionally enhanced the pupae to gain more lipids than the control congeners. Treatment of the 3 rd instar larvae with each of the tested venoms resulted in a dramatic reduction of carbohydrate content in 5 th and 7 th instar larvae. The carbohydrate content in treated pupae had been drastically reduced, regardless the tested venom or the pupal age.
... Scorpions were collected at daytime by random searching their hiding places, mostly under rocks and other favorable shelters (Williams, 1968). The collected specimens were kept individually in plastic containers at 25-28 o C. The specimens were examined with a stereoscopic binocular microscope and taxonomically identified to the species using the morphological description keys (Vachon, 1966;El-Hennawy, 1987;and Badry et al., 2018). Scorpion venom was obtained by electric stimulation (20 Volt) in the articulation of the telson according to Sarhan et al. (2012). ...
The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is widely
distributed in the world. It is the most destructive pest of honey bee, Apis mellifera
(Hymenoptera: Apidae), throughout the world. The present study was conducted
to estimate the disturbance of main body metabolites in the tissues of 5th and 7th
instar larvae, as well as early-, mid- and late-aged pupae of G. mellonella, by
certain arthropod venoms. The 3rd instar larvae were treated, via an artificial diet,
with LC50 of death stalker scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus venom, oriental Hornet
(wasp) Vespa orientalis venom, or Apitoxin of honey bee Apis mellifera (3428.9,
2412.6, and 956.16 ppm, respectively). The important results could be summarized
as follows. The total protein content in larvae was drastically reduced in larvae,
regardless the tested venom or the larval instar. Also, all venoms predominantly
prevented the successfully developed pupae to attain normal protein level. All
venoms exhibited prevalent inducing effects on larvae to gain more lipids than
control congeners of both 5th and 7th instars. Also, all tested venoms
unexceptionally enhanced the pupae to gain more lipids than the control
congeners. Treatment of the 3rd instar larvae with each of the tested venoms
resulted in a dramatic reduction of carbohydrate content in 5th and 7th instar
larvae. The carbohydrate content in treated pupae had been drastically reduced,
regardless the tested venom or the pupal age.
... The distribution maps for each species were created using QGIS 3.14 (https:// qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html). The subsequent are identification key is compiled based on those by Hendrixson, (2006), Kovařík (2007), Badry et al., 2018;Barahoei et al., 2020;Kovařík, 2012b,a;Lourenço and Qi, 2006;Lowe, 2010Lowe, , 2018Lowe et al., 2014. ...
... However, Kovařík 2007, noted that the records from Egypt and Iraq should be considered dubious. However, Badry et al. (2018), refer to such biogeographical pattern observed belong to several elements of the fauna and flora makes its occurrence plausible. Alqahtani et al. (2019) reported the first definitive distribution in the southwestern parts of Saudi Arabia. ...
A checklist of the scorpion fauna of Saudi Arabia was reviewed and scrutinized published scorpion records considering new taxonomic findings and geographical distribution data. A new checklist to the scorpion fauna of Saudi Arabia is presented. The listed species consisting of 26 species belong to 15 genera and the four families Buthidae (12 genera, 21 species), Diplocentridae (one genus, one species), Hemiscorpiidae (one genus, one species), and Scorpionidae (one genus, three species). The list is dominated by members of the family Buthidae C. L. Koch, 1837 (85.3% of total species) and the genus Compsobuthus is the most species-rich taxon. In addition, a total of 10 dubious records were removed from the list and listed separately pending validations by specimens collected in the country. A dichotomic identification key to the Saudi Arabia scorpion species has been provided.
