The First record of Greater Painted-snipe Rostratula benghalensis (Linnaeus, 1758) for Iraq

Abstract

Greater Painted-snipe (or Greater Painted Snipe) Rostratula benghalensis is medium-sized wader that inhibits the wetland habitats in Africa and south and southeast Asia. Despite of its English name, Greater Painted-snipe does not belong to the true Gallinago taxa. The female in this species is the colourful mate while the male brownish with pale spots in general and smaller in size. This species is of least concern (LC) conservations status on the IUCN Red List. During one of the field surveys carried out by the Iraq Organization for Conservation of Nature (IOCN) in Iraq, the team was able to find this species in a meadow wetland of low grass close to River Euphrates bank, northwest of Basra Governorate which represents the first observation of this species in Iraq. By providing the documented observation and detailed description of this species, this paper confirms the first record of Greater Painted-snipe (or Greater Painted Snipe) Rostratula benghalensis as an addition to the Iraqi birds checklist.