The occurrence of two species of the genus Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882 (Myxozoa: Myxosporea) for the first time in Iraq from freshwater fishes.

 Five fish species were collected from Tigris river at Al-Adhamiyah region, Baghdad during the period from September to December 2011. These fishes were examined for ectoparasites. They were infected with 13 species of parasites which included one species of ciliated protozoans and 12 species of monogeneans. Among such parasites, Ligophorus imitans Euzet et Suriano, 1977 is reported for the first time in Iraq. In addition, eight new host records in Iraq were reported in the present study.
 

    Morphological and phonological studies of fungal pathogen infecting alfalfa weevil Hypera postica (Gyllenhal) indicating that infection has been shown to develop along two distinct physiological lines, each culminating in the production of either conidial or resting spores, in host cadavers which are morphologically distinct. The percent of infection and epizootic development appeared to be dependent on host density. Farther evidence to entail proper correlation between conidia and resting spores suggest that these two forms of spores are stages in the development of one pathogen.

      Three monogeneans: Dactylogyrus folkmanovae from gills of Chondrostoma regium, D. reinii from gills of Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi and D. robustus from gills of Leuciscus vorax were collected from Diyala River in Diyala Province. The description, measurements and illustrations of these parasites were given.

A total of 352 freshwater fishes, belonging to three species of the family Cyprinidae were collected from the Greater Zab river in north of Iraq during the period from November 2000 to the end of November 2001. The inspection of their gills revealed the infection of these fishes with three species of monogenetic trematodes belonging to the genus Dogielius. These species included D. mokhayeri from Aspius vorax with a percentage incidence of 37.5%; D. molnari from Cyprinion macrostomum (33.3%) and D. persicus from Barbus luteus (41.2%). The record of this genus and its three above-named species of the present study are considered as the first record on fishes of Iraq.

    Three monogenean species of the genus Gyrodactylus viz. G. cotti Roman, 1956 on gills of Planiliza abu, G. mikailovi Ergens & Ibragimov, 1976 on gills of Chondrostoma regium and G. prostae Ergens, 1963 on gills of Alburnus caeruleus were recorded from Tigris river at Al-Shawwaka region, Baghdad. The description and measurements of these parasites as well as their illustrations where given. All these parasites are recorded here for the first time in Iraq.  
 

    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.