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Second record of Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) (Araneae: Sicariidae) from Iraq

Authors:
Shurooq Najim at University of Basrah
Shurooq Najim
Mustafa Alfayyadh at University of sumer
Mustafa Alfayyadh
  • University of sumer
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The recluse spider Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) was recorded for the first time from Ninawa, North of Iraq by Reimoser (1913). Now it is recorded for the second time from the locality of Abu-Alkhaseeb in Basrah south of Iraq. Both males and females were collected, their general habitus and genitalia are illustrated. New locality data of this species are also given.
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Serket (2019) vol. 17(1): 7-9.
Second record of Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820)
(Araneae: Sicariidae) from Iraq
Shurooq Abdullah Najim 1* & Mustafa Jawad Al-Fayyadh 2
1 Natural History Museum of Basrah University, Basrah University, Basrah, Iraq
2 Agriculture College, Sumer University, Iraq
* Corresponding author e-mail address: shurooqarachnida@gmail.com
Abstract
The recluse spider Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) was recorded for the first
time from Ninawa, North of Iraq by Reimoser (1913). Now it is recorded for the second
time from the locality of Abu-Alkhaseeb in Basrah south of Iraq. Both males and females
were collected, their general habitus and genitalia are illustrated. New locality data of this
species are also given.
Keywords: Spiders, Sicariidae, Loxosceles, new locality, Basrah, Iraq.
Introduction
The recluse spiders (Sicariidae: Loxosceles) or Mediterranean Fiddle-Back spiders
are cosmopolitan, but most common in the tropics. The medical importance of recluse
spiders is because of their ability to occasionally causing significant skin necrosis called
Loxoscelism (Vetter, 2008). Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) is a cosmopolitan
species that occurs around the entire Mediterranean region, southern Europe, northern
Africa to Iran, introduced to USA, Mexico, Macaronesia, South Africa, India, China,
Japan, Korea, Laos, Thailand, Australia, Hawaii (World Spider Catalog, 2019). The first
record of Loxosceles rufescens from Iraq was given by Reimoser (1913) from Tschil-
Miran Peak in Jabal Sinjar (Ninawa Governorate) (Zamani & El-Hennawy, 2016). We
could find it for the second time from another locality in Iraq: Abu-Alkhaseeb district,
Basrah. Photographs and measurements of male and female genitalia as well as their
habitus are here presented.
8
Material and Methods
The study was based on the specimens collected from the fields of Abu-Alkhaseeb
district, Basrah, south of Iraq (Fig. 1), by using pitfall traps and hand collecting from leaf
litter and under rocks. Twenty specimens were obtained: 6 males and 14 females. All
specimens were preserved in 80% ethanol and deposited in Natural History Museum of
Basrah University.
Specimens were examined and photographed using LEICA EZ 4HD
stereomicroscope. The specimens were identified depending on external morphology and
structure of genitalia using the papers of Lotz (2012, 2017). All measurements are in
millimetres.
Fig. 1. Map of the new collecting locality of Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820), from
Abu-Alkhaseeb district, Basrah, south of Iraq.
Results
Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820)
Collected specimens: 6♂♂, 14♀♀, Abu-Alkhaseeb district, Basrah, south of Iraq
(30º26'28"N, 47º58'21"E), August-September 2018, leg. Shurooq Abdullah Najim.
Descriptive notes: Medium-sized, haplogyne, six-eyed spiders. Male has simple palpal
organs, female without sclerotized epigyne.
Male: (Fig. 2A) total body length 6.5, cephalothorax length 2.8, width 2.6.
Palp: (Figs. 2B-C) tibia is prolonged. Embolus is about as long as the width of the
globular bulb. Measurements of male palp segments: Femur: length 0.8, width 0.1.
Patella: length 0.2. Tibia: length 0.5, width 0.3. Cymbium: length 0.2, width 0.3. Bulb:
length 0.2, width 0.2. Embolus: length 0.2.
Female: (Fig. 3A) total body length 7.6, cephalothorax length 3.2, width 2.9 (Figs. 3B-C).
External genitalia: (Fig. 3D) white, dimpled, its parts are near each other at the midline
and are identified by a single large rounded lobe. Length 0.4, width 0.4.
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Fig. 2. Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) ♂. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B-C. left palp.
B. prolateral view. C. retrolateral view.
Fig. 3. Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) ♀. A. habitus, dorsal view. B-C. Prosoma.
B. dorsal view. C. ventral view. D. External genitalia, ventral view.
References
Lotz, L.N. 2012. Present status of Sicariidae (Arachnida: Araneae) in the Afrotropical region.
Zootaxa, 3522: 1-41.
Lotz, L.N. 2017. An update on the spider genus Loxosceles (Araneae: Sicariidae) in the
Afrotropical region, with description of seven new species. Zootaxa, 4341(4): 475-494.
Reimoser, E. 1913. Echte Spinnen (Araneae) aus Mesopotamien. In: Wissenschaftliche
Ergebnisse der Expedition nach Mesopotamien, 1910. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums
in Wien, 27: 505-506.
Vetter, R.S. 2008. Spiders of the genus Loxosceles (Araneae, Sicariidae): a review of biological,
medical and psychological aspects regarding envenomations. The Journal of Arachnology, 36(1):
150-163.
World Spider Catalog 2019. World Spider Catalog. Natural History Museum Bern, online at
http://wsc.nmbe.ch, Version 20.0, accessed on May 2019.
Zamani, A. & El-Hennawy, H.K. 2016. Preliminiary list of the spiders of Iraq (Arachnida:
Araneae). Arachnida – Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 6: 12-20.
An updated and annotated checklist of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Iraq
Article
  • Aug 2023
  • ZOOTAXA
An updated and annotated checklist of the spiders of Iraq, currently comprising 104 species in 75 genera and 29 families is presented, including six endemic and four subendemic species. Twenty-three records are considered misidentifications and therefore omitted from the checklist. Where possible, the misidentified records are attributed to other species based on their distribution and morphology; as a result of this, three species are recorded in Iraq for the first time: Dictis striatipes L. Koch, 1872 (Scytodidae), Hippasa deserticola Simon, 1889 (Lycosidae) and Latrodectus cinctus Blackwall, 1865 (Theridiidae). The history of studies and the geographical distribution of records are reviewed and discussed. The list is dominated by members of the families Gnaphosidae, Lycosidae, and Salticidae, comprising 15.4%, 13.5% and 10.6% of the total number of species, respectively.
View
An update on the spider genus Loxosceles (Araneae: Sicariidae) in the Afrotropical region, with description of seven new species
Article
  • Nov 2017
In this paper the present state of knowledge of the genus Loxosceles Heineken & Lowe, 1832 from the Afrotropical region is discussed. The distribution of nine of the 16 described Afrotropical species of Loxosceles is updated and the status of the types of L. bergeri Strand, 1906b and L. pilosa Purcell, 1908 are discussed. A further four new species from South Africa: L. cederbergensis sp. nov.; L. dejagerae sp. nov.; L. haddadi sp. nov.; L. makapanensis sp. nov.; and three from Namibia: L. griffinae sp. nov.; L. irishi sp. nov.; and L. maraisi sp. nov., are described. The female of L. smithi Simon, 1897 is described for the first time. A new taxonomic key to all the Afrotropical species is given.
View
Present status of Sicariidae (Arachnida: Araneae) in the Afrotropical region
Article
  • Oct 2012
  • ZOOTAXA
In this paper the present state of knowledge of the family Sicariidae in the Afrotropical region is discussed. The Sicariidae in the Afrotropical region, as it stands at present, consists of two genera, viz. Sicarius Walckenaer, 1847 (subfamily Sicariinae) with six species: S. albospinosus Purcell, 1908, S. damarensis Lawrence, 1928, S. dolichocephalus Lawrence, 1928, S. hahni (Karsch, 1878), S. spatulatus Pocock, 1900, and S. testaceus Purcell, 1908 and Loxosceles Heineken & Lowe, 1835 (subfamily Loxoscelinae) with 13 species: L. fontainei Millot, 1941, L. foutadjalloni Millot, 1941, L. lacroixi Millot, 1941, L. meruensis Tullgren, 1910, L. neuvillei Simon, 1909, L. pallidecolorata (Strand, 1906), L. parrami Newlands, 1981, L. rufecens (Dufour, 1820), L. smithi Simon, 1897, L. speluncarum Simon, 1893, L. spinulosa Purcell, 1904, L. valida Lawrence, 1964 and L. vonwredei Newlands, 1980. Loxosceles parrami Newlands, 1981 is here renamed to L. parramae (Newlands, 1981), as it was named for a Miss Parram. Loxosceles valida Lawrence, 1964 is here transferred to the genus Drymusa Simon, 1893 (Drymusidae) and three species of Loxosceles is revalidated (L. bergeri Strand, 1906, L. pilosa Purcell, 1908 and L. simillima Lawrence, 1927).
View
Spiders of the genus Loxosceles (Araneae, Sicariidae): A review of biological, medical and psychological aspects regarding envenomations
Article
  • Jan 2009
Loxosceles spiders are of concern outside of the arachnological world because their bites can cause occasional necrotic skin lesions and/or systemic complications; these manifestations are known as loxoscelism. Once these spiders became well associated as medical entities, much notoriety was attained through the publication of medical case histories as well as tales of horrific wounds in the general literature. Although most Loxosceles spider bites are unremarkable, require only general supportive care, and often result in excellent outcome, they are an occasional source of severe dermonecrotic injury with long healing times and significant scarring. In rare cases of systemic loxoscelism, serious intravascular, nephrological and/or multi-organ damage can occur, sometimes resulting in death. However, also of concern is that loxoscelism is diagnosed by medical personnel or presumed by the general public in highly improbable scenarios preventing or delaying proper remedy, which can lead to deleterious outcome. Herein, Loxosceles spider biology and medical aspects are reviewed. In particular, an extensive discussion of the distribution of the brown recluse spider, L. reclusa Gertsch & Mulaik 1940, is presented along with life history characteristics, which relate to the medical aspects of the genus. Also presented are manifestations and epidemiology of loxoscelism, misdiagnoses of bites by the medical community, alternative diagnoses confused with recluse spider bites and a discussion of the psychological basis for the proliferation of the myth of loxoscelism by both the general public and the medical community. North and South American species are reviewed because this is where the genus predominates and is the region where the most pertinent research has originated.
View
Echte Spinnen (Araneae) aus Mesopotamien
  • Jan 1913
  • 505-506
  • E Reimoser
Reimoser, E. 1913. Echte Spinnen (Araneae) aus Mesopotamien. In: Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Expedition nach Mesopotamien, 1910. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, 27: 505-506.
Preliminiary list of the spiders of Iraq (Arachnida: Araneae). Arachnida -Rivista Aracnologica Italiana
  • Jan 2016
  • 12-20
  • A Zamani
  • H K El-Hennawy
Zamani, A. & El-Hennawy, H.K. 2016. Preliminiary list of the spiders of Iraq (Arachnida: Araneae). Arachnida -Rivista Aracnologica Italiana, 6: 12-20.