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Iraqi Herpetology: an Introductory Checklist

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Iraqi Herpetology: an Introductory Checklist Iraqi herpetology: an introductory checklist Herman A.J. in den Bosch Institute of Biology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9516, NL-2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands [email protected] PROLOGUE If we believe the current president of the United States, George W. Bush, the Second Gulf War is officially ended. Iraq might now become the next once relatively closed country in the Middle East after Afghanistan (IN DEN BOSCH, 2001a) to attract herpetologically interested Western visitors. So the time has arrived to read up on the amphibians and reptiles of this region. What immediately becomes clear is that Iraq has been neglected herpetologically for a long time. Of course The Handbook to Middle East Amphibians and Reptiles (LEVITON et al., 1992) is relevant once again, written as it was for the First Gulf War ten years ago. This work should be consulted for more recent herpetological taxonomy, but in an historical context it will be informative to reproduce here the lists from KHALAF (1959) – with species names in their original spelling – as this work is frequently referenced but can be difficult to locate. This paper is being presented as an overview of what has so far been published on the herps of Iraq and is based primarily on the literature available to me. I have also included some information currently available on the Internet. I am not trying to present an up-to- date annotated checklist but rather to create a steppingstone for people interested in the herpetology of the region. •2003• POD@RCIS 4(2) 53 www.podarcis.nl COUNTRY In contrast to what the warmongers of our present day suggest, Iraq is not just a sandbox where a blind horse couldn't do any damage; implicitly suggesting an all-out technological war will not hurt the environment in any way. A large part of the country consists of a flat, brown, dusty desert, but in the north we find the southern foothills of the Zagros Mountains and in the south until recently there were extensive marshes, inhabited for at least five millenniums and immortalised in Wilfred THESIGER's (1964) 'Marsh Arabs' and earlier paper (THESIGER, 1954). In this wide variety of landscapes a just as varied assortment of amphibians and reptiles can be found. Map from: Irak in beeld / L'Iraq en images, published on the occasion of the World Fair in Brussels (Al-Hilali, H. & H. Alkhayat (eds.), 1958. Orient-Mercur, Cologne-Deutz). 54 •2003• POD@RCIS 4(2) www.podarcis.nl The short sketch below is meant as an introduction to the physical geography of Iraq (in part from the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA (2000)) and should give the reader some idea of the possible habitats of the local herpetofauna. Iraq's total area is 435,052 square kilometres with 19 kilometres of coastline along the northern end of the Persian Gulf. In classical times this region was called Mesopotamia – Land between the rivers – and gave rise to the world's earliest civilisations. It became known as Iraq in the 7th century but did not show the same boundaries. Modern Iraq was created in the aftermath of World War I mainly on instigation of the British and gained independence in 1932. Gertrude Bell comes to mind, who was influential in this, known best for her book 'The Desert and the Sown' (1907) but she also published 'The Arabs of Mesopotamia' in 1917 and 'Review of the civil administration in Mesopotamia' in 1921. Even then Iraq did not form the unity it was supposed to be. The present re-appearing "heirs to the throne" are not a very ancient royalty, but rather descendants of a neo-colonial puppet regime. Difficult to imagine, but in 1957 travel guides on Iraq were available. (Hilali, A.R., 1957. A modern guide to Iraq. Al Kashaf Press, Beirut.) The country has one of the world's largest known oil reserves and was the world's second largest oil exporter in 1980, before the war with Iran. Cynics could be led to think that this resource is a more compelling reason for the USA to wage war with Saddam Hussein than his poor track record in human rights and his assumed possession of ABC weapons being a danger to the world. THE LAND Iraq's relief can be divided into four physiographic regions: the alluvial plains of the central and southeastern parts of the country; Al-Jazirah, an upland region in the north between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; deserts in the west and south; and the highlands in the northeast. The alluvial plains of lower Mesopotamia extend southward some 600 km from Balad on the Tigris and Ar-Ramadi on the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf. They cover almost a third of the country, and are characterised by low elevation, below 100 metres, and poor natural drainage. Large areas are subject to widespread seasonal flooding, and there are extensive marshlands, some of which dry up in the summer to become salty wastelands. •2003• POD@RCIS 4(2) 55 www.podarcis.nl Near Al-Qurnah, where the Tigris and Euphrates converge to form the Shatt al-'Arab, there are by humans inhabited marshes. The alluvial plains contain extensive lakes. The northeast The mountains, hills, and plains of northeastern Iraq occupy about a fifth of the country. Of this area only about a fourth is mountainous; the remainder is a complex transition zone between mountain and lowland. North and northeast of the Assyrian plains and foothills is Kurdistan, a mountainous region that extends into Turkey and Iran. The relief of northeastern Iraq rises from the Tigris toward the Turkish and Iranian borders in a series of rolling plateaux, river basins, and hills until the The north and northeast of Iraq is mountainous. high mountain ridges of Iraqi Kurdistan, associated with the Taurus and Zagros mountains, are reached. These mountains are aligned northwest to southeast and are separated by river basins where human settlement is possible. The mountain summits have an average height of about 2400 m, rising from as high as 3000 to 3300 m in places. The highest mountain ridges contain the only forests in the country. A transitional submontane steppic belt is found between the foothills region and the upper plains. Al-Jazirah North of the alluvial plains, between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, is an arid plateau known as Al-Jazirah ("The Island"). The most prominent hill range is the Sinjar Mountains (Jabal Sinjar), whose highest peak reaches 1500 m. The main watercourse is the Wadi Ath-Tharthar, which runs southward for 200 km from the Sinjar Mountains to the Umm Rahal salt depression. Milhat Ashqar is the largest of several salt flats (or sabkhas) in the region. Old Mosul. Nineveh. 56 •2003• POD@RCIS 4(2) www.podarcis.nl Deserts Western and southern Iraq is a vast desert region covering almost 40 percent of the country. The western desert, called Wadiyah, rises to almost 500 m. The southern desert is known as Al-Hijarah in the western part and as Ad-Dibdibah in the east. Al-Hijarah has a complex topography of rocky desert, wadis, ridges, and depressions. Ad-Dibdibah is a sandier region with a covering of scrub vegetation. Elevation in the southern desert averages between 100-350 m. A height of 940 m is reached at 'Unayzah Mountain (Jabal 'Unayzah) at the intersection of the borders of Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The deep Wadi Al-Batin runs 70 km in a northeast-to-southwest direction through Ad-Dibdibah. It has been recognised since 1913 as the boundary between western Kuwait and Iraq. The extreme south is a region of extensive marshes and reed swamps, locally known as hawrs. Settlement patterns Iraq has approximately 23 million inhabitants. Migration to the fertile lowlands and to the cities increased densities in these regions to exceed 200 persons per square kilometre. Almost a third of the population lives within 150 km of Baghdad. There is also an axis of dense population between Baghdad and Basra, the second largest city. Today there are several thousand villages and hamlets scattered unevenly throughout the 60 percent of Iraq that is permanently settled. The greatest concen- tration of villages is in the valleys and lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates. Their Approximately one third of the Iraqi population lives in villages. populations – less than one- third of the total population – are almost exclusively engaged in agriculture. Less than 15 percent of Iraq's total area is considered to be arable. A large proportion of this arable land is in the north and northeast, where rainfall is sufficient for the cultivation of winter crops, mainly wheat and barley. The remainder is in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where irrigation is necessary throughout the year. The chief crops are barley, wheat, rice, vegetables, maize, millet, sugarcane, sugar beets, oil seeds, fruit, fodder, tobacco, and cotton. Yields vary considerably from year to year, particularly in areas of rain-fed agriculture. Livestock products, notably milk, meat, hides, and wool, are also important. The arid and semiarid areas in the west and south have very sparse populations. Nomadic Bedouin tribes were once important in these areas. In the mid-19th century they made up more than one-third of the population. Today there are few nomadic Bedouin in Iraq. Another life-style under threat is that of the marsh dwellers (Madan) of southern Iraq. They live, or rather lived, in reed dwellings built on brushwood foundations or sandspits. These traditional reed houses of the marsh dwellers of the Al-'Amarah area, with their remarkable barrel-vaulted roofs, are unique to Iraq.
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