Turkey - 2007
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) - 2003
Turkey: 2 months (14 May–10 July, 2007),
funded by the NSF BSI Global Survey and Inventory of
Solifugae grant. Alexander V. Gromov (Institute of
Zoology, Almaty, Kazakhstan), Halil Koç and Ersen A.
Yagmur (both from Ege University, Turkey) used
1500–1700 l of gasoline to travel ca. 8,500 km in
search of Palaearctic Solifugae for taxonomic,
morphological and molecular studies related to the
project. Collecting was conducted at ca. 180 localities
in twenty provinces (Ankara, Aksaray, Nevsehir, Nigde,
Kayseri, Adana, Osmaniye, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis,
Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Mardin, Batman, Agri, Igdir,
Bitlis, Van, Sirnak and Hakkari) of central, southern,
south-eastern and eastern Turkey. Although material was
collected mostly using UV F15T8-BLB lamps at night, many
specimens were taken from under stones during the day.
Pitfall traps filled with antifreeze and water were also
used several times; this involved setting arrays of
25–30 glass or plastic 500–1000 ml bottles in
the ground. On several occasions, solifuges were
attracted to white light at night. All materials were
collected and preserved in 95% alcohol. In total, 831
solifuge specimens, representing 18 species in 8 genera
and 4 families, were collected. Two species of
Paragaleodes are new to science. Four species in the
genera Biton, Galeodes, Paragaleodes and Rhagodes were
recorded from Turkey for the first time. In addition,
1331 scorpion specimens, representing 14 species in 10
genera and 3 families were collected. One species of
Orthochirus was recorded from Turkey for the first time.
The material collected during this trip is the largest
sample of Turkish Solifugae and scorpions ever made on
one expedition and among the largest sample of Solifugae
ever made on an expedition.
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan): 7 weeks
(6 May–30 June, 2003), funded by NSF Supplemental
grant (EAR 0313698). During this expedition, Lorenzo
Prendini travelled ca. 15,000 km from Almaty
(Kazakhstan), through the Kyzylkum desert, the
Golodnaya Steppe (Bet-pak Dala Desert), the Babatag and
Karatau Mountains, and the Fergana Valley, principally
to collect endemic scorpions and solifuges. Prendini
was accompanied throughout the trip by Alexander Gromov
(Institute of Zoology, Almaty, Kazakhstan), an expert
on Palearctic Solifugae and theridiid spiders. In
Uzbekistan, Prendini and Gromov were also accompanied
by entomologists, Dr Sergei Chibutarov (Institute of
Physiology, Tashkent, Uzbekistan), with the endorsement
of Dr Pulat Usmanov (Director, Institute of
Physiology). The trip comprised four separate
expeditions (southern Kazakhstan,
Almaty–Tashkent; greater Uzbekistan; Fergana
Valley; central Kazakhstan, Tashkent–Almaty), in
three different 4x4 vehicles, each with a different
driver. The driver in Kazakhstan was Sergei Mozozov, in
greater Uzbekistan, Shukhrat Shanazarov and, in the
Fergana Valley, Asan Asanov. Despite numerous setbacks
(several vehicle breakdowns, flat tyres, stuck in the
sand, stuck in the mud, driver rolling vehicle into a
canal, sickness, culminating in typhoid fever for
Prendini and Gromov), the expedition yielded ca. 3,000
specimens. The monotypic scorpion family
Pseudochactidae (from the Babatag Mountains on the
borders of Afghanistan and Tajikistan) was the most
important target taxon acquired on this trip, but many
other rarely-collected scorpions, solifuges, and
myriapods were also obtained. The material amassed at
the AMNH represents the largest collection of central
Asian arachnids and myriapods outside the former USSR.