Orthochirus iraqus Kovařík, 2004 Orthochirus mesopotamicus Birula, 1918

Kovařík, František, Yağmur, Ersen Aydin, Fet, Victor & Hussen, Fenik Sherzad, 2019, A review of Orthochirus from Turkey, Iraq, and Iran (Khoozestan, Ilam, and Lorestan Provinces), with descriptions of three new species (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Euscorpius 278, pp. 1-31 : 12-19

Orthochirus iraqus Kovařík, 2004

( Figs. 83–87, 156, 158, 165, 176)

Orthochirus iraqus Kovařík, 2004: 14–15 , table 1; Kovařík & Fet, 2006: 8.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE DEPOSITORY. Iraq, Najaf Province, Ash-Shabakah (Shabachah, Shabicha ), Geophysics Brno base camp, 150 km SW of An-Najaf (Najaf), 262 m asl, 31°06'N 43°95'E ; FKCP.

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. Iraq, Najaf Province, Ash-Shabakah (Shabachah, Shabicha ), Geophysics Brno base camp, 150 km SW of An-Najaf (Najaf), 262 m asl, 31°06'N 43°95'E, X.-XII.1978, leg. O. Jakeš, 1♂ (holotype, originally cited incorrectly as a female) 1♂ (paratype), FKCP ; Baghdad, 1929-1932, leg. V. Kálalová, 1♂ (paratype), NMPC .

EMENDED DIAGNOSIS. Total length of adults 23–36 mm. Trichobothrium d 2 of pedipalp femur dorsal surface absent or reduced. Median tibial spurs present on legs III and IV. Pectinal teeth number 18–22 in both sexes. Movable and fixed fingers of pedipalps with 7–8 rows of denticles, with internal and external denticles and 4–5 subterminal denticles. Dorsal carinae on pedipalp patella smooth. Metasoma I with 10 carinae, metasoma II with 8 carinae. Metasoma ventrally punctate with ventrolateral carinae present on metasoma I– II and partly on metasoma V; spaces among punctae smooth, without granules. Whole metasoma smooth without granules, punctate and bumpy, only metasoma V dorsal mesially with several granules. Sternite VII rather smooth without granulate carinae developed. Pedipalp, metasoma and telson very sparsely hirsute, rather glabrous. Tarsomere I of legs with bristlecombs composed of 5–6 bristles.

DISTRIBUTION. Iraq.

Orthochirus mesopotamicus Birula, 1918 , stat. n. ( Figs. 88–116, 157, 160, 167, 176)

Orthochirus scrobiculosus mesopotamicus Birula, 1918: 35 – 42; Birula, 1928: 83; Vachon, 1966: 214; Levy & Amitai, 1980: 94; Fet, 1989: 116; Fet, 1994: 530; Kovařík, 1998: 116; Fet & Lowe, 2000: 199; Kovařík, 2004: 19, 20.

Orthochirus iranus (in part): Navidpour et al., 2008a: 15–20 , figs. 4, 19, 24–26, 27–30, 31, 97–100, table 2; Navidpour et al., 2008c: 11, 8, 10, 50–53.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE DEPOSITORY. Iran, Khoozestan Province, Karun River, Kut-e-Gazaie, camp of Sheikh Gazal near Ahvaz; ZISP.

TYPE MATERIAL EXAMINED. Iran, Khoozestan Province, Karun River, Kut-e-Gazaie, camp of Sheikh Gazal near Ahvaz, 14.II.1904, leg. N. Zarudny, 1♂ (lectotype, designated here, Figs. 88–90; see Notes), ZISP No. 684. Paralectotypes: Iran, Khoozestan Province, Shuster [now Shushtar], 22.III.1904, leg. N. Zarudny, 2♀, ZISP No. 683; Karun River, near Nasrie [now Naseri] and Ahvaz, Jebel-Tebe [now Jabal-Tube] hills, 25.II.1904, leg. N. Zarudny, 1♀, ZISP No. 685.

OTHERTYPEMATERIAL(NOTSEEN).Paralectotypes:“Mesopotamia inferior”, now Iraq, Wasit Province, Baksai, 5-14 (18-27). III.1914, leg. P. Nesterov, 1sbad♂1sbad♀, ZISP; Gengir [now Gangir] River, 31.III (13.IV).1914, leg. P. Nesterov, 1sbad♂, ZISP; upper Abi-Neft River, 7-8(20-21).IV.1914, leg. P. Nesterov, 1sbad♀, ZISP; Kanibis, 9(22).IV.1914, leg. P. Nesterov, 1♀, ZISP.

OTHER MATERIAL FROM THE REGION( FIG.176)EXAMINED. Iraq, Basra Province, Basra (ca. 30°48'N 47°34'E), 2017, leg. Mohammed Morad, 5♂1♀, FKCP. Iran, Ilam Province, Dashte Abbas, Ein Saleh village, 32º25.24'N 47º43.86'E, 182 m a.s.l. (Locality No. IL-828), X.2007, leg. Navidpour, Masihipour & Bahrani, 2♂2♀, FKCP. Khoozestan Province, Chogha Zanbil (Locality No. CH-95), 2007, leg. Masihipour, Hayader & Bahrani, 1♂, FKCP; Shadegan District, Toopjieh village, 30°39'33"N 48°36'44"E (Locality No. SH-75), 2006, leg. Hayader & Jahanifard, 1♀, FKCP; Shadegan District, Toopjieh village, 30°39'33"N 48°36'44"E, 33 m a.s.l. (Locality No. SH-1 to 4), IV.2007, leg. Navidpour & Jahanifard, 15♂7♀6ims.1juv., FKCP; Omidiyeh, 30°57'49"N 49°31'47"E, 21 m a.s.l. (Locality No. A-OM-1), V.2007, leg. Navidpour & Jahanifard, 1♂, FKCP; near Masdjedsoleyman, 31°38'40"N 48°56'41"E, 54 m a.s.l. (Locality No. A-ma 809), VIII.2007, leg. Navidpour & Masihipour, 4♂2♀, FKCP; Shushtar (Locality No. SHO-014), VIII.2007, leg. Hayder, 2♂1im., FKCP; Hamidiyeh, 31°27'57"N 48° 29'18"E, 13 m a.s.l. (Locality No. A-Ham-812), IX.2007, leg. Masihipour & Navidpour, 4♂1♀, FKCP.

DIAGNOSIS. Total length of adults 26–38 mm. Trichobothrium d 2 of pedipalp femur dorsal surface present, reduced or absent. Median tibial spurs present on legs III and IV. Pectinal teeth number 18–24 in both sexes. Movable and fixed fingers of pedipalps with 7–8 rows of denticles, with internal and external denticles and 4–5 subterminal denticles. Dorsal carinae on pedipalp patella developed and smooth. Metasoma I–II with 10 carinae, metasoma III with 8 carinae. Metasoma IV–V ventrally punctate with ventrolateral carinae present; spaces among punctae sparsely granulate. Metasoma I–III ventrally and laterally granulate. Dorsal surface of metasoma I with several granules, metasoma II–IV smooth, and metasoma V mesially granulate. Sternite VII granulate with granulate carinae present. Pedipalp, metasoma and telson very sparsely hirsute, rather glabrous. Tarsomere I of legs with bristlecombs composed of 4–7 bristles. Ratio length/width of metasoma V in males 1.18– 1.24.

NOTES. Birula (1918) analyzed scorpion collections of the Russian zoologist Pëtr V. Nesterov (1883–1941) from Mesopotamia. An account of Nesterov’s life, work, and tragic end in the Communist Estonia was recently pubished by Shergalin (2011). From February to August of 1914, just before and then during the outbreak of the Great War, Nesterov worked for the Persian-Turkish international delineation commission; he traveled along the modern border between Iraq and Iran, where he collected many valuable zoological specimens.

Earlier, in 1896–1904, another Russian explorer, a great ornithologist Nikolay A. Zarudny (1859–1919), has collected many important scorpion specimens in Iran (then Persia), also published by A. A. Birula, and deposited in ZISP. In his description of Orthochirus scrobiculosus mesopotamicus Birula (1918: 32, 39) explicitly stated that this new subspecies included both Nesterov’s 1914 specimens from “Mesopotamia inferior” (modern Iraq) and Zarudny’s 1904 specimens from the modern Khoozestan Province of Iran, in the valley of the Karun River near Ahvaz (“Mesopotamia karunensis”).

We designate here a male collected by Zarudny on 14 February 1904 (ZISP 684; the only adult male among the syntypes), as a lectotype of this taxon, which we elevate to species status in accordance with the current understanding of the genus taxonomy. A travelogue of Zarudny’s four Persian expeditions has been recently published in English ( Aliabadian et al., 2012). They list (p. 38) Zarudny “reaching the Karun River mouth on 2 Feb[ruary] 1904. On the way back, a longer period was spend in Ahvaz, Naseri, Jabal Tübe and surroundings (15–29 Feb).” Naseri, where one of the paralectotypes was collected on 25 February, is a wetland located north from Khorramshahr (formerly Muhammarah), next to Karun River; in our map ( Fig. 176), we used the coordinates for Naseri (30°45'31"N 48°15'54"E).

A travelogue of Nesterov’s 1914 travel is given by Birula (1918: 2–3) showing that Nesterov’s syntypes were collected in March-April 1914 as his expedition traveled between Basra and Baghdad. We identified the first of his localities as modern Baksai in Iraq (32°53'00"N 46°25'30"E), included in our map ( Fig. 176).

The dates of Zarudny’s 1904 travels are given according to the Old Style (Julian) calendar used in Russia before 1918; the dates of Nesterov’s 1914 travels are given in both Old and New (Gregorian) Style after Birula (1918).

DISTRIBUTION. Iraq, Iran (Ilam and Khoozestan Provinces).