The genus Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805 (Araneae: Theridiidae) is a worldwide distribute genus (Graudins et al., 2001), it includes a group of species commonly referred to as widow spiders. It's considered a taxonomically complex genus as the status of several forms had not been properly evaluated and specific boundaries are not well defined or understood (Levi, 1959; 1967; Garb et al., 2001), therefore, in multiple cases, populations has been uncritically referred to as different taxa. Discriminating between Latrodectus species using morphology has always been problematic (Levi, 1983), it is difficult taxonomically and readily separated from members of other Theridiid genera (Mirshamsi, 2005). The Genus Asagena Sundevall, 1833 was revalidated by Wunderlich (2008), this genus was earlier considered as a junior synonym of Steatoda Sundevall, 1833. The information and knowledge about the widow spiders in Iraq are very limited; in general spider in Iraq was neglected and rarely studied until the last few years, recently the interest in studying of this group was increased because of the emergence of several cases of bites, which was supposed to be caused by black widow spiders, researchers have revealed the existence of three Latrodectus species in Iraq, L. scelio (Abdul-Rassoul et al., 2012), L. hasselti (Al-Hadlag and Najim, 2015), while Zamani and El-Hennawy (2016) rejected these two species from the list of Iraqi spiders fauna and attributed them to L. renivulvatus. The difficulties of diagnosis underlines the importance of molecular characters in creating a valid phylogeny for this genus, this study characterizes the first phylogenetic …
The paper presents an annotated checklist of the Salticidae of Armenia. This study was carried out in 2019-2020 in order to provide an inventory of the Salticidae fauna. Thirteen species are reported for the Armenian fauna for the first time: Afraflacilla epiblemoides (Chyzer, 1891); Aelurillus v-insignitus (Clerck, 1757); Asianellus festivus (C. L. Koch, 1834); Heliophanus dubius C. L. Koch, 1835; Heliophanus kochii Simon, 1868; Heliophanus tribulosus Simon, 1868; Heliophanus curvidens (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872); Macaroeris nidicolens (Walckenaer, 1802); Pellenes diagonalis (Simon, 1868); Pellenes geniculatus (Simon, 1868); Pellenes seriatus (Thorell, 1875); Pellenes tripunctatus (Walckenaer, 1802) and Phlegra fasciata (Hahn, 1826).
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In this study an illustrated key for the identification of the Iraqi species of the genus Chalcophorella Kerr. is given with information about general distribution for each species. Information is also given about period of collection, plants on which the specimens were collected. The real host plant if they are available and known are also given referring to the previous works.
In this study, the genus Xylocopa Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) was revised. There were 4 species registered in our investigations: X. hottentotta Smith, 1854; X. olivieri Lepeletier, 1841; X. pubescens Spinola, 1838 and X. valga Gerstäcker, 1872, the first species was described as being found for the first time for the insect fauna of Iraq, which were obtained from Solanum melogena L. flowers. Key to the species was constructed and supported by figures of the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features, illustrated and compared with other species, which are recorded in the current survey.
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This study is carried out to investigate the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) infections in cattle using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting IS1111A transposase gene. A total of 130 lactating cows were randomly selected from different areas in Wasit province, Iraq and subjected to blood and milk sampling during the period extended between November 2018 and May 2019. ELISA and PCR tests revealed that 16.15% and 10% of the animals studied were respectively positive. Significant correlations (P<0.05) were detected between the positive results and clinical data. Two positive PCR products were analyzed phylogenetically, named as C. burnetii IQ-No.5 and C. burnet
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This research includes a detailed morphological description of the Pollenia mesopotamica sp. nov. in Iraq. Locality, host plant and data of collection were given.
In this study; the genus of Sinoxylon Duftschmid, 1825 (Coleoptera, Bostrichidae) was revised. There were 3 species registered in our investigations: S. anale Lesne, 1897; S. ceratoniae (Linnaeus, 1758) and S. muricatum (Olivier, 1790), the last species was redescribed as being found for the first time for the Iraqi faunal insects. Key to the species were constructed and supported by figures of the main diagnostic characters and some morphological features.
Trialeurodes irakensis sp. n. is describe and illustrated from Iraq. T.vaporariorurn (westwood)
is reported and for the first time for the Iraqi fauna. A ke to species of Trialeurodes found in
Iraq is presented.
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