Notes and Queries

New ostrich shell finds

The range of the Arabian race of the Ostrich Struthio camelus syriacus, the ‘Syrian Ostrich’, extinct for several decades, is known to have extended into the deserts of the United Arab Emirates, although the species probably disappeared from the UAE early this century, if not earlier. Occasional reports of ostrich shell fragments being found in desert areas of Abu Dhabi emirate testify to its former presence. It should be noted, however, that the presence of ostrich shell fragments is not in itself an indication of a former breeding site, since complete shells were formerly used as strong and serviceable containers for liquids by the country’s nomadic population. Human artefacts, or a hearth site at least, almost invariably accompany the finds, so if you find shell fragments always be on the lookout for other items.

New finds have recently been reported by Chris Drew, of Abu Dhabi’s Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency, ERWDA, by Jakub Czastka and Simon Aspinall from the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, ADIAS and Anthony Harris (see p25-27). All are documented here.

In order to keep records up to date, please report any findings to ADIAS, P.O. Box 45553, Abu Dhabi. If possible take a GPS reading. Although this may tell little about the ecology of an extinct2 breed, it may prove of value to continuing archaeological investigations.

Reference

Whybrow, P.J., Hill, A. & Al Tikriti W.Y. (1991). Miocene fossils from Abu Dhabi. Tribulus 1.1:4-9.

1 Late Stone Age (Neolithic) is 5000+years BP

2 Whybrow et al. (1991) reports the finding of fossil ostrich shell of late Miocene Age (5-7 million years BP) in beds of the Baynunah Formation. The shell was of inordinate thic

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New wetland plants for the UAE:
Potamogeton pectinatus L. and Zannichellia palustris L.

In one of the recent Tribulus issues (Tribulus 7.1) I reported about a variety of different wetland systems and plants that occur in the Emirates, both marine and freshwater. The article discussed the lack of botanical knowledge concerning the country’s wetlands. Also a few plant species, previously not known to occur in the UAE, were documented for the first time.

Two other new wetland species, Zannich

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Potamogeton pectinatus L. and Zannichellia palustris L. are to the author’s knowledge not previously reported for the UAE, and are new plant species for the UAE check list. The findings once again confirm the lack of floristic knowledge of the Emirates. Potamogeton pectinatus L. was previously reported for Saudi Arabia (Collenette 1985; Mandaville 1990), and for Oman (Ghazanfar 1992), and Zannichellia palustris L. is known to occur in Saudi Arabia (Collenette 1985; Mandaville 1990), but not for Oman. The species are known to occur in fresh or brackish water.

Sincere thanks go to ERWDA colleague, Dr Ron Phillips, to Dr Shahina Ghazanfar in Muscat, who confirmed our identification, and to Steve Britsch who kindly helped with the water analyses.

References

B’er, B. (1997). New wetland plants in the UAE. Tribulus 7.1 pp. 22-23.
Collenette, S. (1985). An illustrated guide to the flowers of Saudi Arabia. Scorpion Publishing Ltd., London. 514p.
Ghazanfar, S.A. (1992). An annotated catalogue of the vascular plants of Oman. Scripta Botanica Belgica 2. 153p.
Mandaville, J.P. (1990). Flora of Eastern Saudi Arabia. Kegan Paul International, London. 482p.

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First Report of the Scorpion Buthotus jayakari in the UAE

The purpose of this note is to make a record of the presence of the scorpion Buthotus jayakari in the mountains of the United Arab Emirates. B. jayakari is a large scorpion (adults may exceed 8 cm) having a dark red-brown body, pincers and distal tail segments and pale yellow legs. The tail is robust and highly sculptured, like that of the UAE’s more commonly seen large black scorpion, Androctonus crassicauda.

Barbara Tigar has recently written that only 1 family and 6-7 species of scorpions have so far been identified from the UAE, but she noted that Max Vachon, an expert on Arabian scorpions, recognized a total of 2 families and 14 species or subspecies from Arabia generally as of 1989 [1]. She speculates that additional species remain to be “discovered” in the mountains of the UAE.

In fact, Vachon had earlier identified B. jayakari among specimens collected from the Jebel Akhdar region of Oman [2], and although it has not previously been reported in the UAE, its presence here is not surprising. B. jayakari belongs to the Buthid family of scorpions (Buthidae), still the only family confirmed to be represented in the UAE.

The author encountered a 6.5 cm specimen of B. jayakari in February 1998 near sunset in Wadi Mayy, west of Khor Kalba on the East Coast, perched atop a large flat boulder on a wooded gravel terrace at an elevation of about 250 meters. It was in plain view but did not react at all to human presence, giving rise to speculation that it was sick or injured in some way. Even when gently prodded, it reacted only weakly. Photographs were obtained with a close-up lens and flash, and these permitted comparison with photographs and a description of the Jebel Akhdar specimens by Vachon [3], which appear to be identical. Vachon subsequently referred his Jebel Akhdar specimens to the nominate subspecies, B. jayakari jayakari, first described from Muscat in 1895 [4].

A second, smaller specimen was found under a rock at the base of the west flank of Jebel Hafeet in March 1998. This appears to represent a distinct subspecies, B. jayakari salei, first described by Vachon from Dhofar[5], which is distinguished by pale yellow coloration of both the arm and forearm and the first three segments of the tail, as well as a somewhat more slender tail.

References

1 Tigar, B. 1996. Terrestrial Arthropods. In: Natural Emirates. Trident Press, London.
2 Vachon, M. 1977. Scorpions. In: The Scientific Results of the Oman Flora and Fauna Survey 1975, Special Report of the Journal of Oman Studies (Ministry of Information and Culture, Sultanate of Oman, Muscat, 1977).
3 Ibid.
4 Vachon, M. 1980. Scorpions du Dhofar. In: The Scientific Results of the Oman Flora and Fauna Survey 1977 (Dhofar), Journal of Oman Studies, Special Report No. 2 (Office of the Government Adviser for Conservation of the Environment, 1980).
5 Ibid.