Additional records of marine bivalves from Iraq, with a provisional checklist for the marine bivalves of Iraq

Abstract

Specimens of four species of Bivalvia not previously recorded from Iraq were discovered. These are Didimacar tenebrica, Aspidopholas obtecta, Neotrapezium sublaevigatum, and Barbatia trapezina which belong to the Noetiidae, Pholadidae, Trapezidae and Arcidae families, respectively. All specimens were collected alive from the intertidal zone of the northwest Persian-Arabian Gulf, Iraq, in the Fao region. Although these species are widespread in the Persian-Arabian Gulf, our study is the first to report them along the Iraqi coast. A provisional checklist of marine bivalves of Iraq is presented listing 32 species of which 21 have been verified from specimens or photographs. This list is compared with data from adjacent coasts of Kuwait and Iran.

New records of bivalves from the Iraqi coast

“…The most current study of the marine Mollusca of Iraq is a checklist of marine bivalves (Yasser et al, 2022), in which 32 species are recorded. However, with recording these six species from the Iraqi coast, the number species recorded raising to 38 species.…”

“…Marine gastropods and bivalves are some of the most diverse invertebrate groups in nature, but in Iraq a better knowledge of their taxonomic composition is required. Although there are important studies on mollusks in the Iraqi marine coast (Ahmed, 1974;Al-Hassan and Al-Hasani, 1985;Yasser & Naser, 2021;Yasser et al, 2022), many new records are being recorded from time to time.…”

Checklist of Bivalvia (Mollusca) in Iraq

“…Perna caudate Reeve, 1858 Perna spengleri Lynge, 1909 Perna maillardi Deshayes, 1863 Habitat: Marine Distribution: Iraq (Yasser et al, 2022). Mediterranean (Scuderi andViola, 2019), andRed Sea (Rusmore-Villaume, 2008).…”

“…Malleus decurtatus Lamarck, 1819 Malleus maculosus Reeve, 1858 Habitat: Marine Distribution: Iraq (Yasser et al, 2022).Turkey (Falchi, 1974).…”

“…A few studies concerned with the systematic study of mussels in Iraq were conducted, and many of the recorded species are considered synonyms for other species, many others are needed to be updated. In the earlier studies Annandale (1918) described some bivalve species of his collections from Iraq; some bivalvian species were described by Ahmed (1975), another species of bivalve were recorded in Iraq by Al-Hassan and Al-Hasani(1985), five more marine species were added to Iraqi malacofauna by Ali et al (2017), recently, Bogan et al (2021) recorded the freshwater mussel Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834) in Iraq; then Yasser et al (2022) published a checklist that included the marine species, in this checklist, 32 taxa were reported including four species were described for the first time to Iraqi malacofauna, lastly, six other marine species were added to malacofauna of Iraq by Yasser et al (2023) and Bashê (2022) made a study about the freshwater mussel Unio tigridis in the north of Iraq. Yasser et al (2022).…”