Leiurus

Leiurus
Leiurus quinquestriatus (Ehrenberg, 1828)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Class:	Arachnida
Order:	Scorpiones
Family:	Buthidae
Genus:	Leiurus Ehrenberg, 1828
Type species
Androctonus (Leiurus) quinquestriatus Ehrenberg, 1828
Diversity
About 5 species

Leiurus is a genus of scorpion belonging to the family Buthidae. The most common species, L. quinquestriatus, is also known under the vernacular name Deathstalker. It is distributed widely across North Africa and the Middle East, including the western and southern Arabian Peninsula and southeastern Turkey. At least one species occurs in West Africa (northern Cameroon).

The genus was introduced in 1828 by C.G. Ehrenberg (in Hemprich & Ehrenberg 1828), originally as a subgenus of the genus Androctonus. 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.

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 synonyms of L. quinquestriatus.

Members of Leiurus are generally moderately sized scorpions that show a typical buthid habitus with gracile pedipalp chelae and a slender metasoma. The vesicle is bulbous and proportionally large in some species. The cephalothorax 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.

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Wikipedia