Tag Archives: Turkey

Acanthobrama centisquama Heckel

Orontes Bream (Acanthobrama centisquama)

The Orontes Bream, aka. Long-spine Bream, described in 1843; it was restricted to Lake Amik in Turkey as well as some water bodies in the Ghab Plain in Syria, which both obtain their water from the Orontes River.

Lake Amik was drained in the 1940 to obtain land for growing cotton but also to eliminate malaria; and the swampy areas in the Ghab Plan were drained in the 1950s, more or less for the same reasons.

The Orontes Bream is now most likely completely extinct.

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Depiction from: ‘M. Goren; L. Fishelson; E. Trewavas: The cyprinid fishes of Acanthobrama Heckel and related genera. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology 24(6): 293-315. 1973’

The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

(under creative commons license (4.0))
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

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edited: 30.04.2021

Graecoanatolica conica Radoman

Cone-shaped Spring-Snail (Graecoanatolica conica)

The Cone-shaped Spring-Snail was descriobed in 1973, it was restricted to its type locality, a spring named Kayın located near the village of Sarıkavak in the Mersin Province, Turkey.

The species was never found again since its description, and given the fact that its only locality has recently extremely diminished, it is considered extinct. [1]

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References:

[1] Ümit Kebapçı; Seval Bahadir Koca; Mehmet Zeki Yildirim: Revision of Graecoanatolica (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae) species in Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology 36(4): 399-411. 2012

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edited: 05.05.2019

Falsipyrgula beysehirana (Schütt)

Beysehir Freshwater Snail (Falsipyrgula beysehirana)

The Beysehir Freshwater Snail was described in 1965; it is known from the Lake Beyşehir in the vicinity of Beyşehir, a municipality in the Konya Province of Turkey.

The shell is tower-shaped and conical, elongated and pointed, rather solid, pale, with seven slowly and regularly increasing whorls, the first two to three whorls being slightly convex and the others almost straight in outline. [1]

The species’ name appears in a list of extinct Gastropoda, yet I could not find any additional information. [2]

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syn. Falsipyrgula pfeiferi ssp. beysehirana (Schütt), Xestopyrgula pfeiferi ssp. beysehirana Schütt

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References:

[1] Pavle Radoman: On the relations of some freshwater Mollusca of the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. Basteria 37: 77-84. 1973
[2] Robert H. Cowie; Claire Régnier; Benoît Fontaine; Philippe Bouchet. Measuring the Sixth Extinction: what do mollusks tell us? The Nautilus 131(1): 3-41. 2017

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edited: 15.01.2024

Astragalus pseudocylindraceus Bornm.

Pseudocylindric Milkvetch (Astragalus pseudocylindraceus)  

The Pseudocylindric Milkvetch was described in 1915, the species was apparently endemic to a very small area in the valley of the Euphrates in the Kemaliye District, Erzincan Province in eastern Turkey. [1]

The species appears to have been restricted to habitats close to the Euphrates river and disappeared when the Keban Dam was built from 1966 to 1974, probably due to habitat loss by rising of the river’s water level. [2]

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References: 
[1] Zöhre Bulut; Hasan Yilmaz: The current situation of threatened endemic flora in Turkey: Kemaliye (Erzincan) case. Pakistan Journal of Botany 42(2): 711-719. 2010
[2] Munir Ozturk; Umit Kebapci; Salih Gucel; Esat Cetin E.; Ernaz Altundag: Biodiversity and land degradation in the lower Euphrates subregion of Turkey. Journal of Environmental Biology 33: 311-323. 2012

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edited: 18.09.2019

Astragalus subuliferus Boiss. & Kotschy ex Bunge

Sharp-pointed Milkvetch (Astragalus subuliferus)  

The Sharp-pointed Milkvetch was described in 1867, it was endemic to the Yumurtalik lagoon in the Adana Province, Turkey.

The species is now apparently considered extinct.

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Unfortunately I couldn’t find any additional information about this species.

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edited: 19.09.2019

Elephas maximus ssp. asurus P. E. P. Deraniyagala

Syrian Elephant (Elephas maximus ssp. asurus)

The Syrian Elephant was a subspecies of the Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus L.) that formerly inhabited the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin, a region that today often is called the ‘Middle East’.

The males reached heights of about 2,9 m, females of about 2,6 m.

The last populations disappeared at around 100 BC..

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References:

[1] Ebru Albayrak: The ancient Asian elephant of Turkey in the light of new specimens: Does it have regional features? Quaternary Science Reviews 218: 189-199. 2019

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edited: 12.06.2020