A Review of Scorpions Reported in Iran

Background and purpose: Scorpions have always received attention in Iran because of their frequency and venom. In the past 50 years many aspects of scorpion biology have been studied in Iran, including venom. Identifying the species of these predators are of great interest to researchers. This study presents the latest checklist of species of scorpions in Iran. Materials and methods: Electronic databases including Web of Science, Ovid, PubMed, Systematic Review, SID, Iran Medex, Scirus, Google Scholar, and Medline were searched using scorpion, species, family, systematic, and Iran as keywords. Articles published with emphasis on Iran and fauna of scorpion in 1985 to 2016 were investigated. A total of 150 studies was found from which 75 were selected that were mainly about different species of scorpion in Iran. Results: So far, 64 species of scorpions are reported in Iran belonging to Buthidae family (86%), Hemiscorpiidae family (9.5%), and Scorpionidae family (4.5%). These species were found most in tropical regions of Iran. Conclusion: Scorpion species have considerably increased in last three decades, therefore, researchers are expected to provide latest checklist of species of scorpions regularly in Iran.