Abstract
The highly toxic and medically important scorpionLeiurus quinquestriatusis the most common scorpion species in Egypt and in some regions, is medically problematic for the local population. We studied variation in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene within 12 populations from different ecogeographical regions of Egypt. Our results indicate a high genetic variation amongL. quinquestriatuspopulations with five haplotypes existing. Our data also suggests the existence of a distinct population ofL. quinquestriatusin Sinai which may be a separate species.