Leiurus abdullahbayrami is a species of scorpion in the family Buthidae. Its venom is highly toxic to humans, but can be used in medical development.
Taxonomy
Leiurus abdullahbayram was originally considered conspecific with the deathstalker (L. quinquestriatus), but was reclassified in 2009 based on mitochondrial DNA analyses.
Description
Leiurus abdullahbayrami has a brown cephalothorax, yellow legs, head, and tail. One of the very end segments of the tail is brown instead of yellow.
In scientific terms, the background color of the prosoma, mesosoma, and segment V of metasoma is black and the appendages of the Leiurus Abdullahbayrami are yellowish. The centrolateral and posteriomedian carinae (at the end of the pinchers) are fused together and lyre-shaped is formed. It has fixed fingers with 11 oblique granule rows. It has movable fingers of pedipalps with 4 distal and 11 oblique granule rows. The ventrolateral carinae of metasomal segment V have large and rounded granules. The anal arch has 6 small lobes posteriorly and 3 rounded lobes laterally. The pedipalp length/width ratio average differs between the males and the females. In females the ratio is around 4.49, and in males the ratio is around 4.54. Legs I-III have bristlecombs, and legs IV do not have bristlecombs. Their pectinal tooth counts also differ in males and females. In males the tooth count is 37-38, and in females the tooth count is 30-34. Leiurus abdullahbayrami has shorter segments than those seen in the Deathstalker.
Distribution and habitat
Leiurus abdullahbayrami can be found in rocky areas with short and scattered vegetation, in semi-arid regions on dry calcareous soils. They tend to keep away from human settlements. Leiurus abdullahbayrami was found to share the same habitat with Scorpio maurus.
Diet
Scorpions will eat anything they can hold onto long enough to paralyze it. They can eat enough in one meal to not eat again for weeks or months. This means that they can eat small snakes, lizards, or rodents if they can hold onto them long enough to inject their venom and kill them. The most common food scorpions eat in the desert is beetles. They also eat grasshoppers, Locusts, centipedes, spiders, and ants. They hunt their prey by catching or crushing it and then injecting their venom. They are nocturnal, and tend to be more active on moonless nights because birds, bats,and mice prey on them.
Reproduction
Scorpions reproduce sexually. The first phase of the reproduction cycle begins in late spring and early autumn. It begins with finding a mate. The male will leave his den and begin searching for a mature female. The male will dig at the entrance of her den until she appears. The combination of pheromones and vibrations are what makes the female appear. Once she appears, she is not ready for physical contact with the male, and he calms her by injecting slight doses of his venom into her pedipalp or cephalothorax. After this, the male will hold onto her pedipalp and take control of her. They will move in all different directions and look like they are dancing in perfect harmony. The male then find the perfect place on the ground to deposit his spermatophore, and then he guides the female to stand over it to introduce it to her genital opening. After this, the male quickly leaves to avoid being eaten by the female. The scorplings are born after 122–277 days, and the mother can deliver 35-87 of them.