The current study is a taxonomic account of three gastrotrich species that belong to Chaetonotidae (Phylum Gastrotricha) namely Ichthydium auritum Brunson, 1950 Lepidodermella squamata (Dujardin, 1841) and Chaetonotus anomalus Brunson, 1950. These species are registered as a new record from Iraq and were collected from several locations along the main outfall drain (MOD) in south of Baghdad, from January to December 2020. The species described in this article were found to be related to Hydrilla and Ceratophyllum and prefer environments rich in detritus and decomposing organic matter. The worms preferred water that is salty, hard, alkaline, and had good oxygen content.

In this study, a total of 209 individuals of leeches were collected from Al-Hindyia River / Babil Province. 116 individuals were identified as Erpobdella octaculata (Linnaeus, 1758), 50 individuals as Erpobdella punctata (Leidy,1870) and  43 individuals as Hemiclepsis marginata (Müller, 1774).  Four samples were collected monthly during a period from February to June 2018. Some physical and chemical water properties were also examined, including air and water temperature, potential of hydrogen pH, Electrical Conductivity EC, Total Dissolved Solid TDS, Dissolved Oxygen DO, and the Biological Oxygen Demand BOD₅.  Air and water temperature were r

    Ziziphora persica Bunge is recorded as a new Study in Iraq. This species has been collected from Jabal Sinjar in Nineveh province in the north western part of Iraq. The morphological characters, habitat and geographical distribution of the species with a key to Ziziphora L. species in Iraq have been provided.

In this paper, the species of the genus of Chlaenius Bonelli, 1810 (Coleoptera, Carabidae) were reviewed, and it was revealed that there are 21 confirmed species in Iraq; among them, the species of Chlaenius hamifer Chaudoir, 1856 was recorded for the first time in Iraq.
Diagnostic characters, a redescription of some of the morphological features, photographs and illustrations are provided for the new record species in this investigation.

Astragalus mesogitanus is a new recorded species for Iraqi flora, from Onobrychium genus section, was collected from Erbil district, all morphological features were described in details as well as some micromorphological character as the trichomes and were provided with dimensions and plates, section key was also updated which illustrated the importance of standard (corolla) trichomes in species identification. Keywords: Astragalus, Fabaceae, Iraq, New record, Onobrychium, Trichomes.

A total of 437 individuals of Turbellarin Platyhelminthes were sorted from benthic samples collected monthly for a period of seven months( April to November 2013 ) from AL-Dalmage lake, a part of middle section for main outfall drain south of Baghdad. They were identified as Gyratrix hermaphroditus, Stenostomum leucops ,Stenostomum unicolar and Stenostomum bryophilum ,The relative abundance of worms decreased during hot season which (May to September) ,where they start rising again. The species were studied alive , the identification criteria were illustrated by photos. G. hermaphroditus was the most abundant species among the four species.

The degree of contamination in the sediments of the Euphrates River (Shatt Al-
Hindiya), for the metals As, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sc Se, Sr, V and Zn has
been evaluated using the index of geo-accumulation (I-geo), Enrichment factor (EF),
Contamination factor (CF) and pollution load index (PLI), whereat the I-geo has
been widely utilized as a measure of pollution in freshwater sediment. Enrichment
factor (EF) is one widely used as approach to characterize the degree of
anthropogenic pollution to establish enrichment ratios, while the pollution load
index (PLI) represents the number of times by which the heavy metal concentrations
in the sediment exceeds the background concentration, and gives a summative
i

Saxifraga afghanica Aitch. & Hemsl. is a new addition to the Saxifragaceae family in Iraq, from Qandil mountain (north-east of Erbil) within Rowanduz district (MRO). The collected specimens have different characteristics. S. afghanica is perennial, herb, with crowded shoots forming cushions, many branched. Leaves sessil, narrowly oblong, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, oblanceolate or sub-spatulate, glabrous, entire, ciliated at lower half, apex leaves aggregated into a rosette, chalk glands (pits at the leaves apex) 5. Bracts cultrate, linear or narrowly oblong, glandular-pubescent. Inflorescence corymbose cyme, flowers (3-5), white-pink, stamens 10, ovary semi-inferior, styles 2, divergent, recurved at the top. Capsule globose-semi glo

    The ciliate species isolated from midgut and hindgut of Rough-tailed gecko Cyrtopodion scabrum (Heyden, 1827), identified as Nyctotherus hardwickii was collected from many regions of Baghdad, Iraq. The current study deals with a description and comparison of the morphology and morphometric characters of this species for the first time in Iraq.