Spatial Distribution of Medically Important Scorpions in Iran: A Review Article

Abstract

Context: There are three families and 66 species of scorpions in Iran, some of these species are medically relevant, and their sting cause public health problems. Thus, producing of the new geographical distribution of scorpions and the new species is very important. The goal of this study was to produce the distribution maps of Iranian scorpions that are medically important according to the latest information. Evidence Acquisition: This present study included a review of all the articles related to Iranian scorpions published in ISI, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases during 2008 - 2019, using the relevant MeSH keywords. The data were entered in an Excel file, and spatial distribution maps were prepared. Results: From the review of the related published documents, we found that there are 66 scorpion species in Iran, some scorpion names have been changed and new scorpion species have been added to Iranian scorpion fauna and the spatial distribution of some species has become wider. Conclusions: Considering the new distribution maps and data on Iranian scorpions, for scorpion envenomation treatment and control programs, these variations should be regarded.