Wilson Lourenco has recently published a new article describing a new species of Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Buthidae) from Kuwait. This is the most easterly recorc of this genus.
Leiurus kuwaiti Lourenco, 2020
No data are available on the medical importance of the new species, but it should be regarded as potential dangerous as many of the other species in the genus.
Abstract:
A new species of buthid scorpion belonging to the genus Leiurus Ehrenberg is described based on a single female collected in the region of Al-Abraq – Al-Khabari farms in Kuwait. The new species, Leiurus kuwaiti sp. n., shows affinities with Leiurus hebraeus (Birula, 1908) species distributed mainly in Jordan and Israel. The populations from Kuwait and Jordan/Israel apparently are totally isolated by a large and dry region now occupied by the An Nafud desert. Therefore in account of the disrupted distribution and some minor morphological differences presented by the two populations, a new species is proposed to accommodate the population from Kuwait. Further investigations should bring more precise conclusions about the status of these two populations. The type locality of the new species represents the most easterly record of the genus Leiurus in the North range of the Arabian Peninsula and represents the first confirmed record of the genus for Kuwait.
Reference:
Lourenco WR. First record and description of a new species of Leiurus Ehrenberg from Kuwait (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Serket. 2020;17(2):143-9.
Thanks to Serket editor Hisham K. El-Hennawy for sending me this article!
Family Buthidae
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