A SURVEY OF GASTROPODS IN THE GREENHOUSES OF IRAQ

The humid and warm conditions in greenhouses provide an excellent environment for pests’ living conditions, and therefore, they provide ideal medium for alien introductions. Molluscs are among the most significant pests that infest plastic covered greenhouses. To identify and report their mollusc species, 23 greenhouses in Iraq were surveyed between March 2023 and April 2024. Of these, 11 were found to be infested with snails. A total of 158 specimens were collected and morphologically identified to seven species: Monacha obstructa (L. Pfeiffer, 1842), Eobania vermiculata (O.F. Müller, 1774), Xeropicta krynickii (Krynicki, 1833), Rumina decollata (Linnaeus, 1758), Polygyra cereolus (Megerle Von Mühlfeld, 1818), Cochlicella barbara (Linnaeus, 1758), and Veronicella cubensis (L. Pfeiffer, 1840), the latter being a slug species that is reported for the first time in Iraq in this study. With the limited knowledge about the molluscs pests in Iraq, the data presented here will provide valuable baseline information for various agricultural purposes.