Scorpion Fauna of Duhok Province, Iraq, with New Records for the Country (Arachnida: Scorpiones)

This study of scorpion fauna was conducted in the Duhok province of northern Iraq, from June to October 2024. In this survey 273 specimens were collected from different districts, representing six species: Androctonus sp., Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880), Orthochirus fomichevi (Kovařík, Yağmur, Fet & Hussen, 2019), Compsobuthus matthiesseni (Birula, 1905), Scorpio kruglovi (Birula, 1910), and Mesobuthus faiki (Yağmur, Kovařík & Fet, 2024). Hottentotta saulcyi was the most abundant species (35.9% of total individuals) followed by Orthochirus fomichevi 29.7%. Compsobuthus matthiesseni, Mesobuthus faiki, Androctonus sp. and Scorpio kruglovi, were less frequent (less than 16 % each). A significant finding was the first-time documentation of Mesobuthus faiki in Duhok province, marking it a new record for Iraq.