Iraq
Iraq
has two cave fish
representing genera found nowhere else: the Iraq Blind Barb Typhlogarra widdowsoni (FishBase)
and
another blind cyprinid Caecocypris
basimi (Internet
Archive).
Bunn’s Short-tailed Bandicoot Rat Nesokia bunnii (IUCN
Red List) is known only from Qurna in the Iraqi
Marshlands.
The Basra Reed Warbler (Matt Pike) is a near endemic bird.
A leaf-toed gecko Asaccus saffinae (Reptile Database) was described from Kurdistan in 2009.
Insects known exclusively from Iraq include a grasshopper Uvarovistia iraka (SysTax),
a chalcidoid wasp Anagyrus
abdulrassouli (NHM
- London), a darkling beetle Hedyphanes mesopotamicus
(actazool.nhmus.hu
pdf file), a scarab beetle Tanyproctoides
freyi (p. 10 of
ASEF
pdf file), and two plant bugs: Dimorphocoris
seidenstueckeri
(AMNH)
and Yotvata pulcherrima
(AMNH).
Other endemic invertebrates include the freshwater snails Gyraulus huwaizahensis
(p. 5 of malaco.de
pdf file) and Bithynia
hareerensis (malaco.de
pdf file), a salt marsh snail Assiminea
mesopotamica (malaco.de
pdf file), a freshwater sponge Corvospongilla
mesopotamica
(CAT.INIST),
an amphipod crustacean Parhyale
basrensis (Inter
Research pdf file), a centipede Lithobius cuklauvus
(CHILOBASE),
and two scorpions: Compsobuthus
jakesi and Orthochirus
iraqus (both at František
Kovarík).
Among about 190 vascular plant species unique to Iraq are Iris heylandiana (SIGNA),
Tulipa
kurdica (about-garden.com),
Bellevalia parva
(odu.edu),
Onosma qandilicum
(Tropicos),
Vitex iraquensis
(NYBG),
Thymus neurophyllus
(JSTOR),
a bugle Ajuga zakhoensis
(Tropicos),
a heliotrope Heliotropium
lasianthum (NYBG),
Alyssum penjwinense
(Tropicos),
a catnip Nepeta
autraniana (BGBM),
Stachys nephrophylla
(JSTOR),
Ornithogalum
kurdicum (BGBM),
Asperula comosa
(Virtual
Herbaria), Eremurus
rechingeri (JSTOR),
Peucedanum rechingeri
(Tropicos),
a dog's
tooth grass Cynodon
iraquensis (JSTOR),
and a milk-vetch Astragalus
gillettii (JSTOR).
Choriantha (JSTOR)
is an endemic genus.
Iraq includes portions of the Mesopotamian Marshes
(or Tigris-Euphrates Alluvial Salt Marsh) ecoregion (EoE) and the
Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hotspot (Biodiversity
Hotspots).