Phylogenetic study on Orthochirus iranus by using morphological and molecular methods (Scorpiones: Buthidae)
Hedieh Jafari, Fatemeh Saalabi, Abbas Jelodar, Shahrokh Navidpour, Elham Jahanifard, Alireza Forouzan and Behzad Masihipour
Scorpion samples of Orthochirusiranus were collected from Khuzestan province in the southwest of Iran in the summer of 2017. The purpose of this study was morphometric analysis of male and female of orthochirus iranus and phylogenic relationship of this species with other scorpion of buthidae family. The most important character in males and females, along with the position and teeth of the pectin, was the fourth segment of the metazoma, which was taller and wider in males, while the length of the female was higher than males (P<0.05).The 16SrRNA gene fragment of Orthochirus iranus formed a cluster relative with a good bootstrap score. These samples isolated are closely related, as they clustered together as a Cluster. Comparison with the sequences showed that the highest level of identity was scored with Leiurus quinquestriatus (78%), Androctonus australis (75%), Buthus draa (75%).