''Leiurus'' is a genus of scorpion of the family Buthidae. The most common species, ''L. quinquestriatus'', is also known under the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

Deathstalker. It is distributed widely across North Africa and the Middle East, including the western and southern

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

and southeastern Turkey. At least one species occurs in West Africa (northern Cameroon).

Taxonomy

The genus was introduced in 1828 by

C.G. Ehrenberg Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795 – 27 June 1876) was a German Natural history, naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopy, microscopist. Ehrenberg was an Evangelicalism, evangelist and was considered to ...

(in Hemprich & Ehrenberg 1828), originally as a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

of the genus ''

Androctonus Fattail scorpion or fat-tailed scorpion is the common name given to scorpions of the genus ''Androctonus'', one of the most dangerous groups of scorpion species in the world.Hendrixson, B. E. 2006. Buthid scorpions of Saudi Arabia, with notes ...

''. It was finally elevated to genus rank by M. Vachon in 1949. The genus was long considered to be monotypic, containing a single species, ''L. quinquestriatus'', but research since 2002 has shown that there are indeed several species.

Diversity

Currently five species are recognized within this genus, but their validity is under discussion. F. Kovařík (2007) suspected that ''L. jordanensis'' and ''L. savanicola'' are possible

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

s of ''L. quinquestriatus''. *'' Leiurus abdullahbayrami'' Yagmur, Koc & Kunt, 2009 *''

Leiurus hebraeus ''Leiurus hebraeus'', the Hebrew deathstalker, is a species of scorpion, a member of the family Buthidae. It is also known as the Palestinian yellow scorpion, It was once considered as a subspecies of '' Leiurus quinquestriatus'' but recently it ...

'' Lowe, Yagmur & Kovaric, 2014Lowe G, Yagmur EA, Kovarik F. A Review of the Genus Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) with Description of Four New Species from the Arabian Peninsula. Euscorpius. 2014 (191):1-129
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*'' Leiurus jordanensis'' Lourenço, Modry & Amr, 2002 *'' Leiurus nasheri'' Kovařík, 2007 *''

Leiurus quinquestriatus The deathstalker (''Leiurus quinquestriatus'') is a species of scorpion, a member of the family Buthidae. It is also known as the Palestine yellow scorpion, Omdurman scorpion, Naqab desert scorpion and by many other colloquial names, which gen ...

'' (Ehrenberg, 1828) ( type species) *'' Leiurus savanicola'' Lourenço, Qi & Cloudsley-Thompson, 2006

General characteristics

Members of ''Leiurus'' are generally moderately sized scorpions that show a typical buthid habitus with gracile pedipalp

chelae A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer (biology), pincer-like organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through New Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are ...

and a slender metasoma. The vesicle is bulbous and proportionally large in some species. The

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

and mesosoma shows distinct granulation. Characteristically the tergites of the mesosoma bear five distinct, longitudinal carinae (ridges). The base color is generally yellow with brown to blackish areas extending over various parts of the animal, depending on species.

Toxicity

The venom of ''L. quinquestriatus'' is among the most potent scorpion toxins. It severely affects the cardiac and pulmonary systems. Human fatalities, often children, have been confirmed by clinical reports. The

median lethal dose In toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD50 (abbreviation for "lethal dose, 50%"), LC50 (lethal concentration, 50%) or LCt50 is a toxic unit that measures the lethal dose of a toxin, radiation, or pathogen. The value of LD50 for a substance is the ...

of venom (LD₅₀) for this species was measured at 0.16 - 0.50 mg/kg_mice.
The toxicity of the other species is also potentially high to life-threatening, but reliable data are currently not available.

Habitat

Most species live in semi-arid to arid regions, including the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

and Arabian deserts. At least one species occurs in

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

environment. Sparsely vegetated and sandy or rocky substrates are preferred. The scorpions live in shallow burrows in sand or beneath rocks.

In captivity

Members of the genus ''Leiurus'' are often bred in captivity and traded. Due to their extreme toxicity, keeping these species is strictly recommended to only very experienced and/or professionally trained people.

References

External links

* Images of ''Leiurus quinquestriatus''
Exotics.nl
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2713793 Buthidae Scorpion genera Scorpions of Africa Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg