A Redescription of Well-Known Pseudoscorpion Species, Diplotemnus insolitus Chamberlin (Pseudoscorpiones; Atemnidae) Based on the Specimens Collected from Iran

Abstract

Atemnines can be widely found in most regions of the world whereas miratemnines are more restricted to Africa, southern Europe, central Asia, North America and South America. Only nine species belong to six genera of the Family Atemnidae Kishida, 1929 have been since reported from the Middle East and central Asia: Tullgrenius afghanicus Beier, 1959 and Oratemnus afghanicus Beier, 1959 from Afghanistan, Mesatemnus cyprianus (Beier and Turk, 1952) from Cyprus, Paratemnoides insularis (Banks, 1902) from Ecuador and Turkey, Diplotemnus egregius Beier, 1959 from Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Diplotemnus insolitus Chamberlin, 1933 from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, Atemnus letourneuxi (Simon, 1881) from Yemen and Egypt, Atemnus syriacus (Beier, 1955) from Israel, Turkey and Syria and Atemnus politus (Simon, 1878) from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Libya, Kirghizstan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Tajikistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Syria and Uzbekistan.1 Diplotemnus insolitus is the wide species of this family which can be collected from various habitats. This species has been reported from different places around the world those are being mentioned here-under: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Chad, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Slovakia, Spain, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Iran. The first specimens belong to this species were reported from Kabul or Lahore in India (unspecified locality in the north-west Himalayas) by Chamberlin.2 Beier3 has reported Diplotemnus piger (Simon, 1878) from Shiraz-southern Iran for the first time. Now, this species is known as synonym by Diplotemnus insolitus Chamberlin.4,5 In this survey, the nymphs and adults collected from central and southern parts of Iran are shortly redescribed, illustrated and also, their geographical distribution pattern is given.