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Scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpions) are one of the medically important oldest arthropods. They have been one of the humans' interests in terms of special morphology, painful stings, mortality, and behavioral attractions for many years. Diagnosis of scorpions is based on morphological characteristics and molecular methods. But, one of the most important and fundamental problems of identifying the Iranian scorpions is the lack of a comprehensive method. Due to the fact that a relatively long time has not passed since the classification of scorpions in Iran and there are no definitive divisions about the genera and species in the country, the current pictorial key was provided to identify the Iranian scorpions. In this study, various methods were used to catch the scorpions. For preparing the pictorial key, different genera of scorpions were collected from urban, rural, plain, and mountain areas in different parts of Iran as well as some archived specimens from the medical arachnid's Museum of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were used from 2010 to 2020 collection boxes. The key presented in this study was prepared only based on morphological features. It was necessary to remind a few points about this key and its use. Considering the above-mentioned points, this key was provided for 16 genera, 64 species, and 3 families of Iranian scorpions, and the results of other researchers are included in it. The study of various aspects of scorpion life, especially faunistic studies has been recently considered in Iran. Various methods such as molecular methods and composition of scorpion venom can be used for classification, the most common of which are morphological features that have a long history. Therefore, the need to provide a key to detect scorpions in the country has a special priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The venom is a mixture of various compounds with specific biological activities, such as the phospholipase A 2 ( PLA 2 ) enzyme present in scorpion venom. PLA 2 plays a key role in inhibiting ryanodine receptor channels and has neurotoxic activity. This study is the first investigation of molecular characterization, cloning, and in silico analyses of PLA 2 from Iranian Scorpio maurus, named Maurolipin. After RNA extraction from S. maurus venom glands, cDNA was synthesized and amplified through RT-PCR using specific primers. Amplified Maurolipin was cloned in TA cloning vector, pTG19. For in silico analyses, the characterized gene was analyzed utilizing different software. Maurolipin coding gene with 432 base pair nucleotide length encoded a protein of 144 amino acid residues and 16.34 kilodaltons. Comparing the coding sequence of Maurolipin with other characterized PLA 2 from different species of scorpions showed that this protein was a member of the PLA 2 superfamily. According to SWISS-MODEL prediction, Maurolipin had 38.83% identity with bee venom PLA 2 with 100% confidence and 39% identity with insect phospholipase A 2 family, which Phyre2 predicted. According to the three-dimensional structure prediction, Maurolipin with five disulfide bonds has a very high similarity to the structure of PLA 2 that belonged to the group III subfamily. The in silico analyses showed that phospholipase A 2 coding gene and protein structure is different based on scorpion species and geographical condition in which they live. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural selection and sexual selection are cardinal factors in shaping the body of animals such as scorpions. Scorpio maurus (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae) has a worldwide distribution. Sexual dimorphism has been reported from this species in a study in Egypt. Morphometry is used to determine the sexual dimorphism between the two sexes. In the current study, scorpions were collected from six locations of the southern and northern provinces of Fars, Iran. In this study, 53 morphological characters of 15 specimens of each sex of Scorpio maurus were studied based on statistical analyses; however, dimorphism was only observed in 21 morphological characters, including chelicerae and carapace length, pedipalp characters, width of the second segment of metasoma, telson and pectin length, number of left pectin teeth, and some of the leg's segments. It means that these characters are in the control of sexual and natural selection. This study was performed for the first time on Scorpio maurus species in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]