Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum

The aim of this study is to survey and make to revision the genera and species of Chloropidae fauna of Iraq. The investigation showed four species belonging four genera, which belongs to two subfamilies, and one unidentified species belonging to the genus Elachiptera Maquart, The specimens were compared with stored insects at Department of Entomology and invertebrates, Iraq Natural History Research Center and Museum.

Nine fish specimens of Thryssa setirostris (Broussonet, 1782) were collected from the Arabian Gulf, during the period from July 2015 to April 2016. Because of the scarcity of this fish and overlapping and ambiguous of its taxonomic characters with other Thryssa spp., a detailed taxonomic study was conducted. The present study includes the most important meristic and morphometric characteristics.
The mean of the total length of the specimens was 149.67 mm; dorsal fin consists of 12 rays, anal fin with 34-37 rays and pectoral fin with 12-13 rays; Gill rakers were 4 upper,1 medial and10 lower. The most important character that isolates T. setiristis from other close Thryssa spp. is the maxilla which is considered very long and reach beyond the tip of the pectoral fin.

The present study was performed to detect the molecular and the phylogenetic identification of species that belonging to the genus of Moniezia Blanchard, 1891 which affected intestines of sheep in Al-Diwaniyah city, Iraq; fifty intestine samples were sought for the infestation of Moniezia spp. from the city slaughterhouse from 1 October to 30 November 2017, this tapeworm was found to infest the intestines of 13 sheep.
For morphological identify the genus of this tapeworm, eggs from one gravid proglottid of the thirteen worms were examined, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the PCR-product-based sequencing were applied on 4 Moniezia tapeworms targeting a specific region of the 18S rRNA gene.
The sequencing has shown 2 species of Moniezia, SP1 and SP2 ,these two species revealed close matching on the phylogenetic tree to an according to the current study findings, Moniezia spp. affect on sheep in the city of Al-Diwaniyah, Iraq, these findings give interesting information about the evolution history of this worm in the studied city.

The examination of gills of the common carp Cyprinus carpio revealed the presence of two species of the family Trichodinidae belonging to the genus Dipartiella (Raabe, 1959) Stein, 1961 namely D. indiana Saha and Bandyopadhyay, 2017 and D. kazubski Mitra and Bandyopadhyay, 2009 for the first time in Iraq from Al-Graiat location on the Tigris River at Baghdad city. This also represents the first record of the genus Dipartiella from fishes of Iraq. The descriptions and measurements of these two parasite species as well as their illustrations were given.

A faunistic review of the genus Chaitophorus Koch, 1854, including four species in Iraq is given; the distribution data of each species and their hosts have been recorded. In this investigation the poplar leaf aphid Ch. populialbae (Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1841) is recorded here for the first time in Iraq on popular trees Populus euphratica Oliv. during the period from November 2016 to April 2017 in Baghdad province.
A brief description for apterous viviparous female of this species is given; and a key to the species of the genus Chaitophorus is constricted.

This study identified the genus Coelastrella Chodat, 1922 which was isolated from a sediment sample taken from the Tigris river in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq. The alga was isolated and cultured in modified Chu 10 media and the morphological features of the isolated algae were observed in light microscopy (LM); it showed some characteristic features of this genus, such as its ellipsoidal or lemon- shaped cells, a visible pyrenoid and the chloroplast parietal. To ensure correct identification of the isolated alga, a molecular analysis using 18S rRNA gene and DNA sequencing revealed a match with C. terrestris (Reisigl) Hedewald & N. Hanagata 2002. This species is a new record in Iraq, and has been registered in NCBI under the accession number MH179121.

A survey of fish species in the Iraqi marine waters was carried out for the period from November 2014 to March 2018. The list included 214 species representing 75 families.
The family Carangidae dominated the marine fishes in Iraq, which was represented by 24 species, followed by Haemulidae with 11 species, and then Serranidae and Sparidae with nine species for each, while 34 families contained a single species only.

The family Pholcidae represented by the species Artema doriae )Thorell, 1881) is recorded in Iraq for the first time.So far, 23 families of spiders have been recorded in Iraq.
In this paper, we add a new family and a description of a species belonging to this family in the checklist of Iraqi spider fauna.

Coral reef area in northwest of the Arabian Gulf was investigated for mineralogy and geochemistry to throw lights on such unique Iraqi Marine Environment; six specimens of two main species of coral reefs, Platygyra pini and Octocoral Menella were collected at two sites. While eight samples of the surrounding sediments are chosen from other two sites. The mineralogy is determined by XRD, and reveals that calcite, low magnesium-calcite, and aragonite are the main minerals that comprise the Octocoral Menella in site 1, whilst aragonite and calcite are dominate in the P. pini coral reef at site 4.
The non–carbonate fractions indicate that these coral reefs contain quartz, anorthite feldspare , halite, and gypsum; the highest content of aragonite was observed in the P. pini compared to calcite. The abundance of carbonate minerals (92.1%) in the P. pini is in contrast to (73.1%) in the Menella. The main minerals in the sediments of site 2 are represented by chlorite and talc, whereas quartz and phengite are the most prominent minerals that diagnose in sediments of site 3; phengite mineral is a first discovery in the sediments of Arabian Gulf, whilst talc is a first detection in Iraqi marine sediments.
The concentration of CaO is the most abundant oxide in all the analyzed specimens of the coral reef followed by SiO2. There are high proportions of calcium oxide in P. pini Chevalier coral (56.65 %) than the Menella (48.81%). There are some special pattern of distribution for major and trace elements in coral reef area based on calcium content. Most of the silica came from quartz, phengite and clay minerals; the highest concentrations of Al2O3, Fe2O3, K2O, Na2O, MgO, SiO2, TiO2, V2O5, Cr, Ni, Cu, Rb and Zr are found in the sediments of site 2 as opposed to the other sites. These results could affect the association of these elements with clay minerals through adsorption or absorption, the highest content of P2O5, Ga, W and As in the sediments of site 3 may reflect the adsorption of these elements on surface of the quartz and phengite; from the other hand, the highest concentrations of Sr, Zn, Br, Sn, Ta, and Pb in the P. pini may indicate the relative effects of the environmental variation within the studied area.

This paper presents the results of the slope failure analyses from fracture distributions and their relation to tectonic activity; the analytical results have indicated that the phenomena of plane failure, wedge failure and toppling failure can occur at almost of the survey sites within the study area.
The statistical data show that the fracture orientation mainly develop in the E-W, N-S and NW-SE due to the influence of tectonic activity. The occurrence of them together with the rock slope surface orientation has formed plane failure on the slope surface of the 3B highway in the E-W direction and the types of wedge failure and toppling failure on the slope surface of the highway in the N-S and NW-SE direction.