The Maastrichtian sediments of northern Iraq are rich in larger benthic foraminifera. Among them, the genus
Loftusia is well-known one because of its significant palaeogeographic distribution across the Mediterranean
and Middle East. In this study, observations of abnormal test shapes, species recognition criteria and endoskeleton
characteristics of Loftusia are discussed, based on the new material from north-eastern Iraq. The following
species of Loftusia are described: Loftusia elongata Cox, L. persica Brady, Loftusia morgani Douvillé, L. anatolica
Meriç, L. matsumarui Meriç and Görmüs, L. minor B Cox, L. ketini B Meriç and L. kahtaensis Meriç,
Loftusia minor A Cox, L. oktayi Meriç and L. baykali Meriç. The predominant species are Loftusia elongata,
L. morgani and L. baykali. Skewed abnormal individuals and epidermal parts of the endoskeleton structure are
also interesting aspects to note. Quantitative data obtained for Loftusia allow us to better understand and interpret
species identification criteria, abnormal occurrences and the endoskeleton structure.
The current study is the first phylogenetic and secondary RNA structure analysis of Dactylogyrus species parasitising gill filaments of Iraqi cyprinid fishes. Most previous phylogenetic studies have targeted on primary DNA sequence data. Nevertheless, RNA secondary configuration is principally helpful in systematics since they comprise features that do not appear in the primary sequence and provide morphological information. The primary objective was molecular-based identification of Dactylogyrids species using evolutionary tree and secondary RNA structure prediction. A total of 681 fish were collected from the Lesser Zab River in the northeast of Iraq in the sub-district of Altun-Kopru from August 2016 to September 2017 and brought to the Zoology Research Laboratory, Salahaddin University-Erbil, Iraq. All fish were classified as 18 cyprinid species. The species of Dactylogyrus were identified by the 28S rDNA subunit using PCR and sequencing methods, and the obtained nucleotide sequences were then compared with the available GenBank sequences. Phylogenetic relationships were concluded using Neighbour-Joining (NJ), Maximum Likelihood (ML), and Minimum Evolution (ME) methods. The results justify the validation of 11 Dactylogyrus species (three of them were newly recorded in Iraq). Additionally, out of nine infected fish species, seven of them were regarded as a new host for Dactylogyrus species. Secondary RNA configuration prediction using minimum free energy was considered as a hopeful tool for species identification. This was considered the first comprehensive phylogenetic study in the area. It was concluded that PCR sequencing, phylogenetic and secondary RNA analysis were proper molecular methods for identifying Dactylogyrids species on the gills of fishes.
The contemporary warfare seems to have great influence on the way social sciences position themselves within the socio-political contexts of today. This is being implemented in many cases by the geopolitical context of 9/11 and the fall of former centers of power (end of the Cold War). Cultural anthropology, which shared a similar dilemma in the formative period of its own history provides us today with one of the most controversial examples in this matter. The program initiated by US Army back in 2006 called Human Terrain System started a wide spread debate on ethical issues regarding doing ethnographic fieldwork in a militarized landscape. HTS became thus a field of intellectual and political polemics between certain groups of researches. The academic and political debate on HTS seems to be put in a post-colonial context as a new form of mixing of science and ideology. This paper tackles the problem of emergence of a new type of anthropological understanding of the cultural other and as well its own methods and ethical standards in a situation, where crisis seems to be a permanent state of the discipline and the world its trying to describe.