Bulletin of the Iraq Natural History Museum

The species Bostrichus capucinus (L.) (Coleoptera:Bostrichidae) was reported as a new record for Iraq. Diagnostic characters and some information are given .

A survey conducted at Dalmaj marsh, Al-Diwaniya Province during 2013 revealed that the marsh encounters a considerable part of the Iraqi vertebrate fauna including 147 species belonging to five classes; Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves and Mammalia. Some species are of globally conservation importance. The present results are discussed with the pertinent literature.

In 2010, the tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) was reported for the first time in Iraq. The larvae can feed on all parts of tomato plants and can damage all the growth stages. The main host plant is tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, but it can also attack other plants in Solanaceae family. In this study it was found attacking alfalfa plants, Medicago sativa in Baghdad Province. This finding reveals that alfalfa also serves as a host plant for T. absoluta in Iraq.

Shiranish has been studied at Hijran section near Erbil city, NE Iraq. Fifty two thin-sections were prepared to study them under polarized microscope, to determine the petrographic component, organic content and digenetic processes. Rock units subdivided into four rock beds, as follows: dolostone, foraminiferal biomicrite, poorly washed biomicrite and micrite. Vertical succession of Shiranish Formation refers to off-shore quite marine environment.

STOMACH NEMATODES OF THE SHOVELER ANAS CLYPEATA LINNAEUS, 1758 (ANSERIFORMES:ANATIDAE) WINTERING IN IRAQ

Surveying 59 references concerning the occurrence of the monogeneans of the family Diplozoidae parasitizing fishes of Iraq showed the occurrence of 15 valid species of this family which included one species of Diplozoon, one species of Eudiplozoon and 13 species of Paradiplozoon. In addition to these species, some unidentified adult and larval (diporpa larvae) specimens of the genus Diplozoon were reported from 12 fish hosts among which four fish species showed no infection with any of the nominated diplozoid species while the others showed mixed diplozoid infections. These diplozoids were reported from 27 fish host species in Iraq. All the diplozoids were recorded from freshwater habitats except one Dipolzoon sp. which was recorded from a marine habitat. Hosts recorded for each of these diplozoids ranged from a minimum of one host in case of both P. ergensi and P. tadzhikistanicum to a maximum of 13 hosts in case of P. kasimii. Among the infected fishes, 13 hosts harboured only one diplozoid species each while a maximum of 10 diplozoid species were reported from both Aspius vorax and Cyprinion macrostomum.

As Albizia lebbeck is one of the important species in Iraq and the region, its wood has subjected to investigation through the assessment of differences in its element dimensions and specific gravity under Baghdad conditions. Variations of fiber length, fiber width, cell wall thickness, vessel diameter, and density of wood were examined along the stem and horizontally. Results showed that fiber lengths were within the normal range, but their widths were narrower than common range of hardwoods. There were little increase in fiber length, width, wall thickness as the height position increased. Vessel diameter has been affected contrarily. No significant effects of height on specific gravity could be observed. Radial variability appeared to be height dependence. While heartwood possessed longest fibers at stem uppermost, maximum value of width and wall thickness have existed in the heartwood too but at lowermost of stem. The substantial difference was in specific gravity when heartwood had the superiority upon sapwood.

The genera and species of Liliaceae show a considerable structural diversity of leaves and especially stems. This paper presents a morphological and anatomical study of the leaves and stems of Asphodelus microcarpus. The results showed that the investigated species had typical morphological characters. and also that it could be distinguished from another plant not only by its morphological but anatomical characters as well.

The aim of this study to survey the leaf miner Phytomyza Fallen of Iraq, many leaf plants which infested by leaf miners were collected from several regions of Iraq. The paper showed there are four species of this genus during the work: Phytomyza horticola Gourear,1840; Ph. atricornis Meigen, 1838; Ph. rufipes Meigen,1830; Ph. ranunculi (Schrank,1803)

A DESCRIPTION STUDY OF TWO LOCAL FISH HIMRI CARASOBARBUS LUTEUS (Heckel, 1843)(CYPRINIFORMES: CYPRINIDAE) AND HISHNI LIZA ABU (Heckel, 1843) (MUGILOIDEI : MUGILIDAE) BY BONES STAINING METHOD

Among a collection of leafhoppers from Erbil Province in Kurdistan/Iraq, a new species of the genus Arboridia Zakhvatkin, 1946 was designated and described here as a new species to the science. The erection of this species was mainly built on the external characters included the male genitalia. Sites and dates of collections so as the host-plants were verified.

Examining of 80 feces samples showed that 31 samples of the house and stray cats harbored either single or mixed infection with eight species of parasites and protozoa with a total infection rate 38.75 %.The results on parasite classes are: Toxocara cati (5%), Ancylostoma tubeforme (3.75%), Capillaria felis(3.75%), Isospora sp.(10%), Cryptosporidium parvum(3.75%), Cryptosporidium muris (6.25%), Toxoplasma gondi (3.75%), Giardia sp.(2.5%) infection from feces of cats that showed single, double and triple infections. Our findings revealed the risk for public health, thus preventive measures should be implemented.