Iuridae Thorell 1876
Creators: name: Soleglad, Michael E.
name: Fet, Victor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2003
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Scorpiones
Iuridae

description: Family Iuridae Thorell, 1876   Type Genus. Iurus Thorell, 1876.   
 Synonyms.   
 Calchinae Birula, 1917; type genus Calchas Birula, 1899.   
 Composition. The family Iuridae includes two monotypic genera from the Mediterranean region (Greece and Turkey), Calchas and Iurus. Subfamilies are not recognized in Iuridae. The content of Iuridae is restricted here since the former subfamily Caraboctoninae is elevated to family rank. The subfamily Hadrurinae is transferred to Caraboctonidae, and the genus Anuroctonus is transferred to Chactidae (subfamily Uroctoninae).   
 Distribution. Europe (Greece), Asia (Turkey).   
 Taxonomic history. This taxon was first established as a subfamily Iurini in Thorell’s Pandinoidae, and included genera Iurus and Uroctonus (the latter now in Chactidae). Pocock (1893) first recognized Iuridae as a family but expanded it to include also current Chactidae, Chaerilidae, Euscorpiidae, and Vaejovidae. Kraepelin (1905) treated iurids as a monotypic subfamily under Vaejovidae.   
 The genus Calchas Birula, 1899 was for a long time included in Chactidae. To accommodate it, Birula (1917a, 1917b) established a special subfamily Calchinae (under Chactidae). Vachon (1971, 1974) demonstrated that Calchas is very close to Iurus but did not propose taxonomic changes. Francke & Soleglad (1981) reestablished Iuridae as a family, with two subfamilies (Iurinae and Caraboctoninae); they moved Calchas to Iurinae. Their Caraboctoninae (formerly in Vaejovidae) included tribe Caraboctonini (genera Caraboctonus and Hadruroides) and tribe Hadrurini (genus Hadrurus). Later, Stockwell (1992) reestablished the subfamily Hadrurinae, which included Hadrurus and Anuroctonus as first introduced (under Vaejovidae) by Stahnke (1974). Sissom & Fet (2000b) listed three subfamilies (Caraboctoninae, Hadrurinae, and Iurinae) and six genera in Iuridae.   
 Biogeographic history. Details on a possible relict history of Iurus, which ranges from southern Greece to Anatolia, were given in Vachon (1953) and Kinzelbach (1975). The other, vicariant genus Calchas, also seems to be a relict; an account of its ecology and distribution is found in Birula (1917a, 1917b) and Kinzelbach (1980).   
 Diagnosis. Synapomorphies. Chelal trichobothrium  Eb 1  on ventral surface or ventroexternal carina; chelal trichobothrium it on distal aspect of fixed finger; chelal trichobothria ib and it not adjacent; chelal trichobothrium  Et 1  positioned on external surface of palm; presence of additional petite trichobothria on the chela; patellar ventral trichobothrium  v 2  found on external surface; presence of additional petite trichobothria on patella. Important Symplesiomorphies. Ventral edge of cheliceral movable finger with one large denticle; ventral surface of leg tarsus with median row of spinule clusters; stigma oval in shape; chelal trichobothrial series db–dt and eb–et found on distal half of finger; patella ventral trichobothrium  v 3  found on external surface.   
 Discussion. See discussion under subfamily Uroctoninae for the reasons for removing Anuroctonus from Iuroidea.
description: Published as part of Soleglad, Michael E. & Fet, Victor, 2003, High-level systematics and phylogeny of the extant scorpions (Scorpiones: Orthosterni), pp. 1-175 in Euscorpius 2003 (11) on page 110, DOI: 10.18590/euscorpius.2003.vol2003.iss11.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13237351