identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
28436A3AFFB4FFDBFF2FD7FFFE165DA5.text	28436A3AFFB4FFDBFF2FD7FFFE165DA5.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Minosia simeonica Levy 1995	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> Minosia simeonica Levy, 1995 (Fig. 2 A -E). </p>
            <p> Minosia simeonica Levy, 1995: 924 , figs 9-13 (♂ ♀). </p>
            <p> Minosia simeonica : Sadeghi et al., 2016: 6, figs 4b, 5a-b (♀). </p>
            <p>
                 Material examined.   2♀♀ (CBEUS), IRAQ:  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 46.05382/lat 31.542074)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=46.05382&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=31.542074">Thi Qar Province</a>
                 , Al-Nassr district, among the remains of straw on agricultural land, 31.542075 °N, 46.053821 °E, 12 December 2023. Leg. A.M. Al-Khazali  . 
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            <p>Description. Female. Overall appearance as in Fig. 2 A-B. Measurements: body length 6.5; carapace 2.43 long, 1.98 wide; opisthosoma 4.07 long, 2.94 wide. Leg measurements: I: 5.55, II: 6.08, III: 6.57, IV: 9.08. Carapace yellow, with a pattern consisting of a black line, arched on each side, ending approximately at the beginning of the fovea, and edges on the outside with a black line. Around the anterior eyes are dark. Sternum yellowish-brown, dark at the edges. Endite and labium yellowish brown. Chelicerae and maxillae brown. Legs uniformly yellowish. Opisthosoma oval, dorsally yellow with scattered black spots, without pattern, covered by fine umber setae, ventrally yellow. Spinnerets light yellow.</p>
            <p>Epigyne as in Fig. 2 C-E; for a description see Levy (1995).</p>
            <p>Male. See Levy (1995).</p>
            <p> Habitat. The collection locality is characterized by sandy, clayey land with no vegetation throughout the year. Occasionally, it is planted with field crops, depending on rainfall and the availability of water. The specimens were found in the morning, hiding under old straw near an  Acacia tree (Fig. 3 A). Levy (1995) collected similar specimens from a rocky desert and sand. Accordingly, it seems that this species prefers desert or semi-desert habitats and other dry environments far from towns. </p>
            <p>Distribution. Previously known from the type locality in Israel (Levy, 1995), and another locality in northeastern Iran (Sadeghi et al., 2016). New record for Iraq (Fig. 9).</p>
            <p> Comments.   There are 14 species of the genus  Minosia currently known (WSC, 2024). Five of these species are found in some countries of the Greater Middle East, while the others are recorded from various countries on the African continent. The first record of the current species outside its type locality was from Iran  , a country neighboring Iraq, and therefore, it was expected that this species would also be found in Iraq. </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/28436A3AFFB4FFDBFF2FD7FFFE165DA5	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed (2024): New species and records of ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Iraq. Ecologica Montenegrina 77: 12-23, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.77.2, URL: https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2024.77.2
28436A3AFFB2FFDAFF2FD413FEA85D6A.text	28436A3AFFB2FFDAFF2FD413FEA85D6A.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Minosiella intermedia Denis 1958	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> Minosiella intermedia Denis, 1958 (Figs 4.A-E). </p>
            <p>Determination. Marusik &amp; Kovblyuk (2009), Zamani et al, (2022).</p>
            <p>
                 Material examined.   2♀♀ (CBEUS). IRAQ:  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 46.05382/lat 31.542074)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=46.05382&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=31.542074">Thi Qar Province</a>
                 , Al-Nassr district, among the remains of straw on agricultural land, 31.542075 °N, 46.053821 °E, 12. December. 2023. Leg. A.M. Al-Khazali  . 
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            <p>Diagnosis and description. See Marusik &amp; Kovblyuk (2009), Zamani et al, (2022). Distribution. Afghanistan, Central Asia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq (Fig. 9). Comments. This species was recently recorded from two provinces south of Iraq, Thi Qar and Basra (Zamani et al. 2022). The current specimens were found 75 kilometers from the previous record in Thi Qar.</p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/28436A3AFFB2FFDAFF2FD413FEA85D6A	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed (2024): New species and records of ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Iraq. Ecologica Montenegrina 77: 12-23, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.77.2, URL: https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2024.77.2
28436A3AFFB3FFD9FF2FD7D0FE8A5FEB.text	28436A3AFFB3FFD9FF2FD7D0FE8A5FEB.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Synaphosus shirin Ovtsharenko, Levy & Platnick 1994	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> Synaphosus shirin Ovtsharenko, Levy &amp; Platnick, 1994 (Figs. 5 A-E). </p>
            <p>Determination. Chatzaki &amp; Russell-Smith (2017), Bosmans et al. (2019) and Danışman et al. (2020).</p>
            <p>
                 Material examined.   3 ♂♂ and 2 subadult ♂ (CBEUS). IRAQ:  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 45.813286/lat 31.594225)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=45.813286&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=31.594225">Thi Qar Province</a>
                 , 33 km from the city center, specimens were taken from a semi-desert area on the side of the Al-Masb Al-am River (The third river), 31.594224 °N, 45.813287 °E, 12 m  .a.s.l., 12. December 2023. Leg. A.M. Al-Khazali 
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            <p>Description of male. Overall appearance as in Fig. (5 A-B). Measurements: Total body length 3.01; carapace 1.33 long, 1.42 wide; opisthosoma 1.68 long, 1.04 wide. Leg measurements: leg I. 3.5 (1.2, 0.6, 0.8, 0.5, 0.4). leg II. 2.9 (0.9, 0.2, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5). leg III. 2.8 (0.7, 0.4, 0.6, 0.6, 0.5). leg IV. 3.8 (1.1, 0.6, 0.8, 0.9, 0.4).</p>
            <p>Carapace dark brown with lighter spots around fovea. Around anterior eye row dark. Sternum yellowish-brown with dark edges. Palp, endites, labium and chelicerae yellowish brown. Legs yellowish. Opisthosoma oval, dorsally darker than carapace, ventrally pale brown. Spinnerets light brown. Palp: as in Fig. 5 (C-E), for more details, see Bosmans et al. (2019) and Danışman et al. (2020).</p>
            <p> Distribution.  S. shirin is known from five countries, all located in Western Asia: Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cyprus, and here newly recorded from Iraq (Fig. 9). </p>
            <p> Habitat. Although this species has been recorded at seven sites across four countries in West Asia, there is no detailed information of its habitat. Danışman et al. (2020) collected it from pistachio orchards and rocky regions in Şanlıurfa Province, southeastern Turkey. The current specimens were collected from a semi-desert area characterized by temperatures reaching 50 °C during the summer, with barren land for most of the year. During the winter, some lands are partially cultivated with wheat and barley, depending on rainfall and the rise in water levels in the adjacent river. The current samples were found under metal sheets and debris (rural construction waste) during the winter. These observations indicate that  S. shirin occupies a wide range of habitats, including orchards, rocky terrain, and dry semideserts with stones or other structures that can be used as hideouts. </p>
            <p> Comments.   This species was first described based on specimens collected from Iran, specifically in the Qasr-e-Shirin region located on the  Iran-Iraq border (Ovtsharenko et al. 1994), 324 km from where the current specimen was found.  Therefore , this species was expected to be found in Iraq and is also very likely to occur in Diyala and Sulaymaniyah provinces, which are close to its type locality  . </p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/28436A3AFFB3FFD9FF2FD7D0FE8A5FEB	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed (2024): New species and records of ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Iraq. Ecologica Montenegrina 77: 12-23, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.77.2, URL: https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2024.77.2
28436A3AFFB0FFD8FF2FD251FB6A5BC1.text	28436A3AFFB0FFD8FF2FD251FB6A5BC1.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Talanites gilgamesh Al-Khazali 2024	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> Talanites gilgamesh Al-Khazali ,  sp. n. (Figs 6, 7 A-E) </p>
            <p>https://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 42961820-2C2A-422A-820F-5F3E8C59D049</p>
            <p>
                 Type Material.   Holotype ♀ (CBEUS), IRAQ:  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 46.12074/lat 31.534582)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=46.12074&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=31.534582">Thi Qar Province</a>
                 , Al-Nassr City Center, 31.534582 °N, 46.120739 °E, 6. December. 2023. Leg. A.M. Al-Khazali  .  Paratype: 1♀, same data as the holotype . 
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            <p>Etymology. The specific epithet refers to the famous King Gilgamesh, who ruled the Sumerian state of Uruk for the period between 2800 and 2500 BC.</p>
            <p> Diagnosis. The new species is similar to  T. sumericus Zamani &amp; Marusik, 2022 known from central Iraq, and  T. farsensis Zamani &amp; Marusik, 2024 known from Iran. It can be differentiated from both of them, as well as all other species of  Talanites by the form of the receptacles: anterior receptacle (Ar) is spherical, posterior receptacle (Pr) is vertically elongated oval. In  T. sumericus they are oval and spherical, respectively, while in  T. farsensis they are tubular and spherical, respectively. The anterior hood (Ah) is semicircular in the new species, subtriangular in  T. sumericus (Figs. 1B, C) and nearly crescent-shaped in  T. farsensis (Figs. 7E, F). </p>
            <p>Description. Female (Holotype). Overall length 7.84. Carapace: 3.76 long, 3.18 wide. Abdomen: long, 4.08 wide 2.73. Carapace yellowish orange. Sternum reddish-orange with dark reddish edges. Labium, maxillae and chelicerae uniform reddish-orange. Coxae, legs and palps yellowish-orange, ventrally paler with rather long setae, especially on sides. Spinnerets yellowish-orange. Abdomen pale yellowish, dorsally with three pairs of opposite sigilla, light brown; ventrally yellowish white without pattern, covered with relatively long brown hairs, especially on sides (Figs 7 A-E). Measurements of legs: I: 2.24, 0.92, 1.89, 1.78, 1.08 (7.91). II: 1.91, 0.77, 1.98, 1.78, 1.20 (7.64). III: 3.17, 0.98, 3.62, 3.06, 1.39 (12.22). IV: 4.23, 1.05, 3.95, 3.02, 1.85 (14.1). Leg spination: I: Fe d1-1-1 p0-1-1-1 r1-1-0-0; Ti v1-1-1; Mt v2-0-0. II: Fe d1-1-1 p0-1-1-1 r0-1-1-0; Ti v1-1-1; Mt v2-1-0. III: Fe d1-1-1 p1-1-1 r1-1-1; Pa p0-1-0-1 r0-1-0; Ti d1-1-0 p1-0-1 r0-1-1 v2-2-2; Mt d2-2-0 p1-1-1 r1-1-1 v2- 2-2. IV: Fe d1-1-1 p1-1-1 r0-1-1; Pa r0-1-0; Ti d1-0-1 p1-1-1 r1-1-1 v2-2-2; Mt d2-2-0 p1-1-1 r1-1-1 v2-2-2.</p>
            <p>Epigyne as in Figs 6 C-E; epigynal plate slightly longer than wide, covered on sides and posterior area with long, sparse brown hairs; anterior hood (Ah) crescent-shaped, with thickened outer edge, dark brown; anterior receptacle (Ar) spherical, posterior receptacle (Pr) elongated oval, set at an obtuse angle.</p>
            <p>Male. Unknown.</p>
            <p>Comments. This species was found near piles of dirt about 30 meters from freshly moved soil transported from open lands outside the city to bury some yards in residential neighbourhoods within Al-Nasr City. Likely, this species was inadvertently transported to the city through these soil transport operations. Despite my efforts to search for additional specimens, I was unable to collect any males.</p>
            <p>Distribution. Known only from the type locality in Thi Qar Province, southern Iraq.</p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/28436A3AFFB0FFD8FF2FD251FB6A5BC1	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed (2024): New species and records of ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Iraq. Ecologica Montenegrina 77: 12-23, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.77.2, URL: https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2024.77.2
28436A3AFFBEFFD4FF2FD2DAFAA9591A.text	28436A3AFFBEFFD4FF2FD2DAFAA9591A.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Talanites sumericus Zamani & Marusik 2022	<html xmlns:mods="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
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            <p> Talanites sumericus Zamani &amp; Marusik, 2022 (Figs. 8 A-F). </p>
            <p>Determination. Zamani &amp; Marusik (2022).</p>
            <p>
                 Material examined.   2♀♀ (CBEUS). IRAQ:  
                <a title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 45.813286/lat 31.594225)" href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=45.813286&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=31.594225">Thi Qar Province</a>
                 , 33 km from the city center, specimens were taken from a semi-desert area on the side of the Al-Masb Al-am River (The third river), 31.594224 °N, 45.813287 °E, 12. December. 2023. Leg. A.M. Al-Khazali 
            </p>
            <p>Diagnosis and description. See Zamani &amp; Marusik (2022).</p>
            <p>Distribution. Iraq (Fig. 9).</p>
            <p>Habitat and comments. This species was recently described by Zamani &amp; Marusik (2022) from the stone desert of Najaf Province in central Iraq, based on a preserved female specimen collected in 1978. The current specimens were collected from a semi-desert region with somewhat sandy soil in Dhi Qar, southern Iraq. During the early hours of the day, these specimens were discovered concealed beneath metal debris. These anecdotal observations suggest that the species also inhabits semi-desert and dry desert areas with a stony nature, utilizing rocks, small stones, debris, and other structures as hiding places.</p>
            <p>Discussion</p>
            <p> According to the latest checklist, 104 spider species are known from Iraq, including 16 species and 11 genera belonging to the  Gnaphosidae family (Al-Khazali et al. 2023). Including five species new to science, one of which from Thi Qar:  Berlandina mesopotamica Al-Khazali, 2020 (Al-Khazali 2020), described using males only, and then females were described from the same province by Al-Khazali &amp; Fomichev (2021). The current results include the discovery of a new species and the first records for two species and their genera of gnaphosid spiders, bringing the total number of Iraqi spider species to 107 and the number of known genera to 78. This number is relatively low compared to neighboring countries, such as Turkey (1,282 species) and Iran (935 species) (Danışman et al. 2022; Zamani et al. 2023). The limited number of known species in Iraq is primarily due to a lack of taxonomic studies on the order  Araneae , stemming from a shortage of specialized local researchers and the turbulent political conditions that hinder the research of foreign researchers. Consequently, many areas in Iraq remain unstudied, and even those that have been studied are not completely surveyed. Therefore, any new area or material studied is likely to yield species that either represent new records or are new to science. </p>
            <p>Acknowledgements</p>
            <p>I want to express my gratitude to Adel Mohammed and Hussein Mohammed, my colleagues, for their help during the field trip. A huge thank you to Dr Alireza Zamani from the University of Turku in Finland for offering scientific advice. Additionally, I appreciate the valuable guidance and suggestions provided by the anonymous reviewers on the paper.</p>
            <p>References</p>
            <p>Al-Khazali, A.M. (2020) Berlandina mesopotamica sp. nov. (Araneae: Gnaphosidae): new record of the genus in Iraq. Arachnology, 18 (5), 444-446. https://doi.org/10.13156/arac.2020.18.5.444</p>
            <p>Al-Khazali, A.M. &amp; Fomichev, A.A. (2021) Description of the female of Berlandina mesopotamica (Araneae: Gnaphosidae). Arachnologische Mitteilungen, 61, 70-72.</p>
            <p>https://doi.org/10.30963/aramit6111</p>
            <p>Al-Khazali, A.M., Kachel, H.S., Zamani, A. &amp; Hussen, F.S. (2023) An updated and annotated checklist of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Iraq. Zootaxa, 5339 (2), 132-158.</p>
            <p>https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5339.2.2</p>
            <p>Bosmans, R., Van Keer, J., Russell-Smith, A., Hadjiconstantis, M., Komnenov, M., Bosselaers, J., Huber, S., McCowan, D., Snazell, R., Decae, A., Zoumides, C., Kielhorn, K.-H. &amp; Oger, P. (2019) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian arachnological Society, 34 (Supplement), 1-173.</p>
            <p>Chatzaki, M. &amp; Russell-Smith, A. (2017) New species and new records of ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Cyprus. Zootaxa, 4329 (3), 237-255. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4329.3.3</p>
            <p>Danışman, T., Kunt, K.B., Özkütük, R.S. &amp; Coşar, İ. (2024) The Checklist of the Spiders of Turkey. Version 2023, Online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info (accessed 2 Jan 2024).</p>
            <p>Danışman, T., Mamay, M., Coşar, İ. &amp; Sabuncu, Y. (2020) Taxonomic notes on genus Synaphosus Platnick &amp; Shadab, 1980 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) in Turkey. Serket, 17 (2), 127-132.</p>
            <p>Denis, J. (1958) Araignées (Araneidea) de l'Afghanistan. I. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening i Kjøbenhavn, 120, 81-120.</p>
            <p>Levy, G. (1995) Revision of the spider subfamily Gnaphosinae in Israel (Araneae: Gnaphosidae). Journal of Natural History, 29 (4), 919-981. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939500770351</p>
            <p>Marusik, Y. M. &amp; Kovblyuk, M.M. (2009) Redescription of Minosiella intermedia Denis, 1958 (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) with first description of the male. Zootaxa, 2291, 65-68.</p>
            <p>https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2291.1.5</p>
            <p>Ovtsharenko, V.I., Levy, G. &amp; Platnick, N.I. (1994) A review of the ground spider genus Synaphosus (Araneae, Gnaphosidae). American Museum Novitates, 3095, 1-27.</p>
            <p>http://hdl.handle.net/2246/4991</p>
            <p>Platnick, N.I. &amp; Baehr, B. (2006) A revision of the Australasian ground spiders of the family Prodidomidae (Araneae, Gnaphosoidea). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 298: 1-287. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090(2006)298[1:AROTAG]2.0.CO;2</p>
            <p>Sadeghi, H., Ahmadi, M., Zamani, A. &amp; Jabaleh, I. (2016) A study on the spider fauna of Dargaz and Kalat Counties in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran (Arachnida: Araneae). Biharean Biologist, 10 (1), 4-7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304019967</p>
            <p>WSC, (2024) World spider catalog. Version 23.0. Natural History Museum, Bern. Internet: https://wsc.nmbe.ch (2. Jan. 2024) – https://doi.org/10.24436/2</p>
            <p>Zamani, A. (2023) Spiders of Iran – Systematics, diversity and distribution. Doctoral thesis, University of Turku. 385 pp. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-9253-9.</p>
            <p>Zamani, A. &amp; Marusik, Y.M. (2022) On a small collection of spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) from Iraq, with new species and records. Zoodiversity, 56 (4), 291-306.</p>
            <p>https://doi.org/10.15407/zoo2022.04.291</p>
            <p>Zamani, A., Al-Yacoub, G. A. &amp; Najim, S.A. (2022) New data on Gnaphosidae (Arachnida, Araneae) of Iraq. Evolutionary Systematics, 6 (2), 143-150. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.6.87158</p>
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	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/28436A3AFFBEFFD4FF2FD2DAFAA9591A	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed	Al-Khazali, Azhar Mohammed (2024): New species and records of ground spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Iraq. Ecologica Montenegrina 77: 12-23, DOI: 10.37828/em.2024.77.2, URL: https://doi.org/10.37828/em.2024.77.2
