When the guard honey bees, Apis mellifera L., form a clump at the hive entrance or on the flight board, the oriental hornet, Vespa orientails L., either creeps toward the clump or hovers over it in order to take a bee. Once the hornet creeps, only few bees facing the hornet become alert, rock their heads and antennae, open their wings, and take a posture of defense. The rest of the clump stays listless without any signal of concern. However, the clump stays dense and the defending bees do not detach themselves neither from the rest of the clump nor from each other. For this reason, it is very difficult for the hornet to grab a bee unless the latter makes a “mistake” by detaching herself from other adjacent bees. If the hornet grabs such a bee, the other defending bees will not attack the hornet to free that bee even when the latter is one centimeter from the others. The defending bees can capture the hornet only when the latter grabs one of them which stands very close to the others. The hornet seems very “aware” of such a situation; hence she seldom becomes a captive. On the other hand, hovering over the clump makes it easier for the hornet to grab a bee. The hovering puts all the clump, rather than part of it, on alert. If the hornet is persistent, which is not often the case, then the clump will no longer be dense. The bees will panicly disperse all over the flight board; hence the hornet can find a detached bee and grabs it easily. The hornet also waits on wing in front of the hive to capture an outgoing or incoming flying bee but the latter usually maneuver to escape. Also, foraging bees reduce their activity during main hours of hornet presence. Among the main factors reducing the hornet impact are the continuous chasing of hornets to each other and the non-persistent attempts of the hornets when they attack bee clumps.
This paper provides an identification key to the species of Orthetrum Newman, 1833 (Odonata, Libellulidae), including six species that were collected from different localities in Iraq.
The species of O. anceps (Schneider, 1845) is registered as a new record in Iraq; the most important characters which are used in diagnostic key are included
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This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study evaluated the knowledge, attitude and practice towards breast cancer and breast self-examination [BSE] among 387 [302 females and 85 males] educated Iraqis affiliated to 2 Iraqi universities. The participants were categorized into 3 occupations: student [71.3%], teaching staff [10.3%] and administrative staff [18.3%]. About half of the participants had a low knowledge score [< 50%]; only 14.3% were graded as [Good] and above. Almost 75% of the participants believed that the best way to control breast cancer was through early detection and other possible preventive measures. Most participants [90.9%] had heard of BSE, the main source of informatio
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Investigating the heavy metals in soil is important to the life of humans and living organisms. Diyala River Lower Reaches was chosen due to the changes in environmental characteristics that took place in recent years. Twelve sediment samples were collected from four different sites. The physical, and chemical properties and the concentrations of nine heavy metals were indicated. The results showed that the average concentrations of arsenic, copper, chromium, cobalt, iron, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc are 8.5, 45.7, 538.5, 12.2, 5.07, 991.7, 183.5, 16.07, 136.5 ppm, respectively. They reflect contamination with arsenic, chromium, and nickel, while they are free of lead, and zinc contamination, according to the Environmental P
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Trials were carried out in the middle of Iraq ( 3 different sites ) during 2009 to detecation and determined the seasonal occurrence of Agriotes lineatus L. Three YATOR funnel traps were used in each of these sites which baited with the specific pheromone of A. lineatus from the first of March to the end of October in the College of Agriculture - Abu- Ghraib / Provenance of Baghdad and AL-Nile / Provenance of Babylon , while in AL-Radhwania was used through May- June. Pheromone dispenser were changed every 6 weeks in each of these traps . Males of A. lineatus were found in all of the three sites , and the total number capture were 208 , 897 and 57 male / 3 traps / season in College of Agriculture , AL-Nile and AL-Radhwania respectiv
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This study was conducted on a sample of commercial banks in Iraq, chosen according number of considerations for twenty banks, contained two public banks and eighteen private banks. &
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This work deals with the reporting of four helminthes in the rook partridge Alectoris graeca collected in G'ara area west of Iraq. The infection rates of the cestodes, Raillietina alectori and R. tetragona and the nematode. Hartertia gallinarum, and the trematode. Postharmostomum gallinum were 6.38%, 40.43%, 10.63%, and 10.63% respectively. The host relationships were discussed.