The Life Cycle and Larval Development of Neoechinorhynchus iraqensis (Acanthocephala: Neoechinorhynchidae) in the Intermediate Host

For the first time, the life cycle of Neoechinorhynchus iraqensis, a parasite of Liza abu and other freshwater fishes in Iraq and its larval development in the intermediate host, the copepod Cyclops hyalinus was given. Hatching took place in the intestine of the copepod host within 10 minutes of exposure to the infective eggs. Motile acanthor penetrated the wall of the intestine within 2-4 hr. after exposure and was found free in the hemocoel where it metamorphoses through the acanthella stage. Acanthella stage revealed changes in the entoblast where the anterior section gave rise to brain, proboscis and proboscis receptacle. The posterior section differentiation gave rise to the genital system. By  12 days, development in the copep

 A total of 803 specimens of the mugilid fish Liza abu was collected from different fishing grounds in Al-Najaf province during the period from Octber 1990 till September 1991. Of these fishes, 9.3% were infected with the acanthocephalan Neoechinorhynchus iraqensis with an intensity of 1.8.Changes in percentage incidence coincided with those of mean intensity. Generally, percentage incidence and intensity increased with the increase of fish length (age). Slight monthly changes in the infection were noticed. Changes in infection were attributed to fish length, sex, food, water temperature and antagonism of N. iraqensis with the third larval stage of nematode Contracaecum in the studied fish.

    A total of 54 abu mullet Planiliza abu (Heckel, 1843) were collected from two stations (north and south stations) along the Euphrates River near Samawa City, Al-Muthanna province and were examined during the period from October 2016 till September 2017 for parasites. Six out of 35 examined fishes from the north station (17.1%) and one out of 19 examined fishes (5.3%) from south station were infected with the microcotylid Solostamenides paucitesticulatus Kritsky & Öktener, 2015. The parasite was illustrated and described, and it is considered as a new record for the parasitic fauna of fishes of Iraq.

  The study includes histological structure of  digestive tract of  Liza abu , Anatomical results found that the digestive tract occupied the largest part of  abdominal cavity ,  the mean gut length was (45.5) cm and relative gut length was (2.9) .  esophagus was a muscular tube length (1.5) cm , esophagus wall containing longitudinal  straight unbranched folds numbering (9) . Histological study  results found that the esophagus composed of four tunica : mucosa , submucosa , muscularis and serosa . The results found that the mucosa consists of three layers : epithelium , lamina propria and muscularis mucosa . The epithelial layer was stratified squamous epithelium thickness (139.1) µ containing

  The study current included histological structure of stomach of Liza abu , anatomical results found that stomach represent the expander non-convoluted part of gastrointestinal tract it is located between the end of the esophagus and the beginning of the intestine , the average length of stomach was (1.5) cm , composed of two parts : cardiac stomach which is represent the anterior part and be thin- walled , the other part was pyloric stomach or gizzard and the walls were thick . The internal surface of cardiac and pyloric stomach contain longitudinal folds numbering (7), folds branching to finger shape structures extend inside the lumen . Histological study showed that stomach wall composed of three main histological layers : mucos

 The study includes histological structure of  pyloric caeca , intestine and rectum of Liza abu , the results show that the pyloric caeca are non-branched fingerlings structures numbering (4) and length rate was (0.5) cm , while the intestine of Liza abu was long narrow tube composed of a number of laps , the anterior part of intestine was wider in diameter than the posterior part , the length of intestine was (32) cm , the rectum was straight tube extends from the end of posterior part of intestine to the anus.         The wall of pyloric caeca , intestine and rectum consists of main layers : mucosa , submucosa , muscularis and serosa , lining epithelium of  pyloric caeca , intestin

Spergularia iraqensis sp. nov. is described as a new species from Iraq. This species has been collected from Diyala Province in the central east of Iraq; it is closely related to Spergularia rubra (L.) J. Presl & C. Presl, 1819 and Spergularia bocconei (Scheele) Graebn., 1919.
The distinguishing of the morphological characteristics of the new species alongside the two similar species are discussed with photographs, and an identification key is given for Spergularia iraqensis and other closely related species.

A new species of the family Carabidae, subfamily Harpalinae was introdIle7: (1 or a Acupalpus mesopota¬micus on the basis external morphology and male genctalia. The specimens were compared with a world collection of Acupalptis of the British Museum (N. H.) Holotype was kept at the Iraq Natural History Museum. Other 12 specimens were kept in Iraq Natural History Museum.