Mahmood Kolnegari

The Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos, a globally distributed apex raptor, has long been rare in Palestine. This study reports the first documented breeding attempts in the West Bank in more than four decades. Bi-weekly surveys in Wadi Sa'ir and Al-Kanub Nature Reserve (October 2021–June 2023) revealed one active nest at each site, each containing a single chick that was banded. Both nesting areas were dominated by open grassland. Human disturbance was substantially greater in Wadi Sa'ir, largely driven by nearby human-modified land. Both attempts ultimately failed: the 2022 nestling was illegally taken from its nest, and the 2023 fledgling died after electrocution. Fieldwork in 2024–2025 was halted due to regional instability. We summarize nesting ecology, prey composition, threats, and conservation implications, highlighting the urgent need to protect nest sites and reduce human-related risks to support Golden Eagle persistence in the West Bank.

Iran, the world’s 18 ^th -largest country, harbors a wide range of habitats and a rich diversity of Mantodea. The genus Rivetina Berland & Chopard, 1922 is represented in Iran by several morphologically similar ground-dwelling species. Here, we describe Rivetina archibaldi sp. nov . from the Zagros oak forests of Lorestan Province, western Iran. The new species is diagnosed based on external morphology and male genital structures and is compared with congeners occurring in Iran and Iraq. A dichotomous key to the Iranian species of Rivetina is also provided.

Electrical power systems are a ubiquitous part of the Anthropocene. Wildlife interactions with these systems can be positive, for example when natural nesting substrates are limited, but are frequently negative, for example when nests catch fire or nesting individuals are electrocuted. Electrocution research focuses primarily on birds because they, especially large species, are particularly prone to electrocution. However, many other animals are also electrocuted. To explore non-avian electrocutions, we used crowdsourced data from Iran, where electric utility personnel frequently describe unusual incidents on electric industry-focused social media channels. In posts from January 2014 to December 2023, we identified 120 reports of non-avian electrocutions involving mammals (74%), reptiles (24%), amphibians (1%) and invertebrates (< 1%). Most (91%) incidents involved correctly operating electrical systems, indicating that the design of these electrical systems did not account for potential animal contacts. A few (9%) involved malfunctioning electrical components (overturned or energized power poles) that would also have been hazardous to humans. The greatest number of electrocutions occurred as a result of contact with low-voltage and ground-mounted equipment. For example, 220–600 V freestanding switchboards accounted for about one-third of electrocutions. Many of the documented incidents involved outages (n = 71), or outages together with fire ignitions (n = 8), indicating cascading effects on human populations and the environment. Mitigation measures to prevent these incidents are widely available, and should be used throughout the electrical system. Future research should document and quantify non-avian incidents beyond Iran, to better understand the impact of electrical systems on non-avian wildlife.

The Mantodea fauna of Iran comprises nine families and at least 40 species. Scientific surveys conducted by Iranian entomologists have recently led to an increased knowledge on the diversity and biology of mantises. Among the Mantodea species dispersed in Iran, the family Toxoderidae has been regarded as a group of highly cryptic praying mantids with greatly elongated bodies in common. Up to now, six species of this family have been reported from Iran, entirely from the southern half of the country. Herein, we describe Sinaiella azadi sp. nov. from the Markazi Province, in central Iran. Moreover, our ex-situ investigation led to the identification of this new species from a preserved collection in Armenia. These findings considerably extend the known distribution of the genus Sinaiella Uvarov, 1924 beyond the Arabian Peninsula. We also discuss the genus and include a proposed dichotomous key to the Sinaiella species.

Electrical faults caused by power escaping electric systems can lead to power outages, equipment damage, and fires. Faults sometimes occur when birds perched on power structures are electrocuted. Distribution power lines supported by concrete and steel pylons are particularly fault-prone because small separations between conductors and grounded components allow even small birds to inadvertently create faults while being electrocuted. Most conservation solutions focus on covering energized wires and components to prevent contact by birds and, although usually effective when installed correctly, covers can sometimes be dislodged thus becoming ineffective. Glass Flake Epoxy (GFE) is a non-conductive thermoset plastic that can adhere to steel crossarms and not be dislodged. We hypothesized that GFE-coated crossarms might reduce faults (proxies for avian electrocutions), and we conducted laboratory and field trials to evaluate that hypothesis. In the laboratory, we found a 2000 micrometer (μm)-thick layer of GFE coating that created a dielectric strength of 12.30 ± 0.21 kV, which was sufficient to prevent the formation of a phase-to-ground fault on up to 20 kV distribution lines. This should allow birds to perch on metal crossarms without being electrocuted. In field trials, we substituted 24% of a 20 kV distribution pylon’s crossarms with GFE-treated crossarms and found that doing so correlated with a 28% decrease in faults. Although we did not measure avian electrocutions directly, our findings suggest GFE coatings may offer a novel method of reducing avian electrocutions on power lines.

Scattered taxonomic data can be used to determine the geographic distribution of arthropods such as Mantodea (mantids). The distribution of mantids is not well known in Iran and not readily determined because the literature has been published in a mix of Persian-language and non-Persian-language scientific references, including books, journals, annual congress proceedings, and final reports of academic projects. To create a national checklist of mantids in Iran, I reviewed 35 Persian and non-Persian (English, German, and Italian) publications. I recorded 57 praying mantid species from 9 families described from localities across Iran. I identified 18 species—Ameles decolor, Ameles heldreichi, Ameles picteti, Ameles spallanzania, Elaea marchali, Empusa pennata, Eremiaphila andresi, Eremiaphila cerisy, Eremiaphila turcica, Geomantis larvoides, Iris coeca, Iris pitcheri, Oxyothespis wagneri, Pareuthyphlebs palmonii, Pseudoyersinia paui, Rivetina baetica, Severinia nigrofasciata, and Severinia turcomaniae—with records in Iran that may be incorrect based on geographic ranges that do not include Iran and similarity to other species that do occur in Iran. In the proposed checklist comprising 39 species, the family Rivetinidae, with 9 species, and the 2 families Amorphoscelidae and Nanomantidae, with 1 species each, comprised the greatest and least diversity, respectively. This checklist can facilitate future studies on Iran’s mantodeans.

Energy infrastructure is expanding at a global scale and can represent a major threat to wildlife populations. Power lines are one of the main sources of human-induced avian mortality due to electrocution or collision, but many species use electricity pylons as a structure for nesting. Pylon nesting results in human-wildlife conflict because it can cause power outages and structural damage to power lines. The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large-size semicolonial species that increasingly nests on pylons, causing growing operational and economic issues to power companies and energy consumers. In this study, the likelihood of problematic pylon use by nesting storks was predicted using a suite of explanatory variables related to the availability of foraging habitat and human disturbance. During a five-year period (2015–2019), we assessed the distribution of stork nests removed from the highly-risky top part of transmission pylons (220–400 kV) by power company technicians in South western Spain. A total of 839 nests were removed from 11% of the transmission pylons (n = 1196) during the study period. Pylon use intensified on pylons located near to landfills, surrounded by high proportion of grassland, and when close to freshwater sources (water body or river) and other occupied pylons. Human disturbance was unlikely to deter storks from using pylons and pylon use increased in urban areas. The approach used here to predict pylon use by nesting birds has applications for both human-wildlife conflict mitigation and conservation purposes where endangered species use human infrastructure. Power companies may use this kind of information to install anti-nesting devices (to reduce power outages and avian mortality or nesting platforms on suitable pylons (to promote pylons use by endangered species), and to account for the likelihood of conflict-prone use of pylons when siting future power lines.

The improvement of guidelines concerning national birds and power lines was identified as the most important duty of Iran's Birds and Power Lines Committee (IBPLC). The IBPLC experts, including members of power transmission and distribution companies as well as ornithologists, reviewed this document and modified it based on the latest research and with consideration of international guidelines, notably the regulations adopted by Spain. These new guidelines will be supported by Tavanir, the authorized part of Iran’s Ministry of Energy. The developers aimed to establish an appropriate legal framework to provide a win–win scenario in which both biodiversity conservation and power infrastructure development are integrated in a common strategy. In comparison with the previous version, the new guidelines are more detailed, descriptive, convincing, scientific, up-to-date, and more focused on environmental goals. Herein, we review notable parts of the new guidelines, which can be regarded as a pioneering regulatory initiative in the Middle East.