Common names:
No common name. This species is divided into two subspecies. I. dufoureius dufoureius, which is endemic to Greece, and I. dufoureius asiaticus, which is endemic to Turkey.

Distribution:
Asia (Turkey) and Europe (Greece (including islands of the Aegean Sea)).

Habitat:
This species is hygrophilic, and is usually found in humid habitats like compost-based forest floor, shielded from the heat. Large stones are usually used as hiding places, but some specimens are located in natural holes. This species hide deep in the ground during the warmest part of the summer (I don't know if this species make its own burrows, or use natural burrows during this period). This species is usually located in the lowlands, but there are reports of specimens located at 1000-1300 meters (Taygetos) and 1680 meters (Ciglikara, Antatolia).

A few habitat pictures from Turkey can be seen HERE.
A collection of habitat pictures from Crete can be seen HERE.

Venom:
No data available, but this species is assumed to be harmless. Sting might be painful.

Selected litterature:
Kinzelbach, R. (1975). Die skorpione der Ägäis. Beiträge zur systematik, phylogenie und biogeographie. Zool. Jb. Syst., vol. 102, pp. 12-50.
Francke, O.F.(1981) Taxonomic and zoogeographic observations on Iurus Thorell (Scorpiones, Iuridae). Bull. British Arachnol. Soc. 5(5):221-224.
Kritscher, E. (1993), Ein beitrag zur verbreitung der skorpione im östlichen Mittelmeerraum. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, vol. 94/95, pp. 377-391.
Facheris, D. 2007. New localities of Iurus dufoureius dufoureius (Brullé, 1832) in the Peloponnese, Greece (Scorpiones: Iuridae). Euscorpius , 52, pp. 1–4 .

On the Internet:
A Review of the Scorpions of Europe.
European scorpions (Dr. Benjamin Gantenbein).

General:
This species is the largest scorpion i Europe. Adults measure up to 100 mm. Body color is dark brown to black. Legs are less dark than the body.

This species is probably not kept in captivity because it is a very rare species.

Little is known about the biology of this species, and no current research is being done.

Iurus dufoureius asiaticus photo by Jan Ove Rein (C)