Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
reportedly
has 181 endemic species of plants (some listed beginning on p. 53
of CBD
pdf file). Plants unique to the country include Fritillaria grandiflora
(Fritillaria
Group), Ornithogalum hyrcanum
(p. 8 of EurAsia
J BioSci 7 MB pdf file),
Onobrychis bakuensis (SEKJ
pdf file),
Alcea sachsachanica
(azerbaijan.tourism.az),
Alcea
lenkoranica (azerbaijan.tourism.az), Pyrus eldarica (azerbaijan.tourism.az), Anabasis eugeniae (azerbaijan.tourism.az),
Acantholimon tenuiflorum (MNHN),
Astragalus bakuensis
(azerbaijan.tourism.az), Astragalus szovitsii (MNHN), Calligonum bakuense
(BGBM), Euphorbia grossheimii
(azerbaijan.tourism.az), Seseli cuneifolium (BGBM), Acantholimon tenuiflorum (Virtual Herbaria), and
Anemone kusnetzowii
(azerbaijan.tourism.az).
Invertebrates known only from Azerbaijan include a butterfly Athamanthia
japhetica (SZMN),
a
longhorned beetle Semnosia
galinae (Cerambycidae),
the ground beetles Omoglymmius
germari (Carabidae
of the World) and Carabus
edmundi (Carabidae
of the World),
a leaf beetle Deocrepis
pubipennis (Chrysomelidae
of Europe), a plant bug Psallus
gidajatovi (Discover
Life), the harvestmen Phalangium bakuensis (European Arachnology pdf file) and Zachaeus
schachdag (J-STAGE
pdf file), a running crab spider Philodromus azcursor
(p. 2 of Caucasian
Spiders pdf file), an endemic genus of
funnel-web spider Azerithonica
hyrcanica (figs. 111-113 on p. 20 of Arthropoda
Selecta pdf file), and a wolf spider Pardosa
pirkuliensis (Caucasian
Spiders).
The only vertebrate species known exclusively from Azerbaijan are the
minnows Pseudophoxinus
sojuchbulagi and the recently rediscovered Pseudophoxinus
atropatenus (both on p. 2 of wetlands.org
pdf file) and
a goby Proterorhinus
semipellucidus (FishBase)
known from a single specimen collected in the Caspian Sea in the 19th
century.
Azerbaijan
forms part of two biodiversity hotspots: the Caucasus (Biodiversity
Hotspots) and the Irano-Anatolian (Biodiversity
Hotspots). The Caspian Sea is also an important
center for endemism (FEOW).