In Sulaymaniyah, Garmiyan, and Soran
Five new spider species discovered in Kurdistan Region
NEWSROOM – For the first time, five new species of spiders have been scientifically documented in the Kurdistan Region, marking a significant achievement in arachnology. These discoveries were made in the areas of Sulaymaniyah, Garmiyan, and Soran, and the findings were published in the international journal Zootaxa on August 5.
The research was a collaborative effort between Sulaimani University, Mendel University in the Czech Republic, Altai State University in Russia, and supervised by Dr. Alireza Zamani from Turku University in Finland. The newly identified species are Dysdera kurdistanica, Dysdera goyzha, Palpimanus garmiyanus, Tegenaria sorani, and Zelotes hazarmerdensis.
Farhad Ahmed Khudhur, an assistant professor in the biology department of the College of Science at Sulaimani University and co-author of the article, told 964media that the research spanned three years from 2021 to 2023. The spiders were discovered in various parts of the Kurdistan Region.
“In our search for new species, we collected 74 spider samples, but only these five were identified as new species,” Khudhur explained. Three of the spiders were found in Sulaymaniyah governorate, specifically in Goizha Mount and Hazarmerd cave, one near the village of Krpchna in Garmiyan area, and the fifth in Bastoon cave in Shirin Mountain near Mergasor, Soran.
According to Khudhur, a total of 131 spider species from various families have been documented in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, to date.
