An updated checklist of the scorpion fauna of Iran, as well as a brief history of taxonomic research on scorpions of Iran is presented. The checklist is based on records of scorpion species whose presence has been confirmed in Iran through field expeditions, examination of scorpion collections, literature review, and personal communications from researchers. The scorpion fauna consists of 51 sp...

The kappa-KTx family of peptides, which is the newest K⁺-channel blocker family from scorpion venom, is present in scorpions from the families Scorpionidae and Liochelidae. Differently from the other scorpion KTx families, the three-dimensional structure of the known kappa-KTxs toxins is formed by two parallel α-helices linked by two disulfide bridges. Here, the characterization of a new kappa-...

Scorpio Linnaeus, 1758 (family Scorpionidae Latreille, 1802) was considered monotypic for over a century, and comprised a single species, Scorpio maurus Linnaeus, 1758, with 19 subspecies, distributed from West Africa, throughout the Maghreb and the Middle East, to Iran. Two parapatric subspecies, Scorpio maurus fuscus (Ehrenberg, 1829) and Scorpio maurus palmatus (Ehrenberg, 1828), have long b...