The anatomic characteristics of the leaves of 22 taxa of Stachys L. representing seven of the currently recognized sections distributed in northern Iraq, were examined. The study did not found any variations in the characteristics of the stomata system of the leaves.Therewere variations with a good taxonomic value in other anatomic characteristics.Thevariations in characters of the mesophyll tissue in S.kurdica var.brevidens Bom ex Bhattacharjeewas bifacial but in S.kurdica var.kurdica Boiss. & Hohen.was unifacial .The study also found that the taxa S.benthamiana Bioss., S.lanigera (Bornm.) Rech.f. andS.kotscyi Bioss. with 3 vascular bundles in the middle vein while the taxa S.ballotiformis Vatke., S.megalodonta Hausskn. &Bo

    This study provides a Key to the species of Cerceris Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera, Crabronidae, Philanthinae) that were collected from different areas in Iraq. This is followed by a distribution list, including total species which had been registered for Iraq. Also this study includes some observations about the species that were recorded in previous checklists.

    Ziziphora persica Bunge is recorded as a new Study in Iraq. This species has been collected from Jabal Sinjar in Nineveh province in the north western part of Iraq. The morphological characters, habitat and geographical distribution of the species with a key to Ziziphora L. species in Iraq have been provided.

Twelve species of philodromid crab or running crab spiders (Philodromidae) have been recorded in Armenia. Nine species are new to the spider fauna of this country: Philodromus cespitum (Walckenaer, 1802); Philodromus emarginatus (Schrank, 1803), Philodromus rufus Walckenaer, 1826; Rhysodromus histrio (Latreille, 1819), Thanatus atratus Simon, 1875; Thanatus formicinus (Clerck, 1757); Thanatus imbecillus L. Koch, 1878; Thanatus vulgaris Simon, 1870 and Thanatus pictus L. Koch, 1881.

The present paper attempts to establish a distinction between Exochomus negripennis (Er.) and E. quadripustulatus L., depending on the characters of femoral line, male genitalia and spermatheca.

The present study included the collection of fresh samples of species of genus Oxalis and examined the anatomical characteristics of the stem, scape, petiole, leaf and pedicel

    The ciliate species isolated from midgut and hindgut of Rough-tailed gecko Cyrtopodion scabrum (Heyden, 1827), identified as Nyctotherus hardwickii was collected from many regions of Baghdad, Iraq. The current study deals with a description and comparison of the morphology and morphometric characters of this species for the first time in Iraq.

Understanding the compatibility between spider silk and conducting materials is essential to advance the use of spider silk in electronic applications. Spider silk is tough, but becomes soft when exposed to water. Here we report a strong affinity of amine-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes for spider silk, with coating assisted by a water and mechanical shear method. The nanotubes adhere uniformly and bond to the silk fibre surface to produce tough, custom-shaped, flexible and electrically conducting fibres after drying and contraction. The conductivity of coated silk fibres is reversibly sensitive to strain and humidity, leading to proof-of-concept sensor and actuator demonstrations.