Androctonus crassicauda

Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807)

Specimens. 1 adult ♀, No. 25, 1 adult ♂, No. 31 (SRSN), Aran, 12 August 2000; 1 adult ♀, No. 26, 2 adult ♂♂, No. 27, 28, (SRSN), Aziz Abad, 10 August 2000; 1 adult ♂, No. 29 (SRSN), Aziz Abad, 11 August 2000; 1 adult ♀, No. 30 (SRSN), Aziz Abad, 12 August 2000; leg. V. Vignoli & P. Crucitti.

Comments. The subspecies A. crassicauda crassicauda is known from the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) across the entire Middle East (Israel, Jordan, Syria, Turkey (southeastern Anatolia), Iraq), the Arabian Peninsula, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran (Fet & Lowe, 2000). We found this buthid species only in Aran village and in the desert. In the first locality, the scorpions where found inside farmhouses whereas in the desert (sites with rare bushes present) we collected specimens which exhibited exploratory activity. The extreme anthropotolerance of this species is well known (Crucitti & Cicuzza, 2000, 2001; Crucitti & Vignoli, 2002), but the localized and scattered distribution we noted was curious. We collected seven adult specimens. Five of them were found inside and around Aziz Abad, some between buildings, the other on sandy substrates far away from human settlements. Two specimens were collected in Aran village inside inhabited houses. Our data give evidence of the high adaptation of this species and confirm that this representative of the genus Androctonus is a generalist desert species (Fet et al., 1998). We did not collect live specimens in the suburbs of Kashan city but cuticle pieces of a dead adult specimen were found.