Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 125, May 2015. pp. 1-18. | Page 5

5

Freshwater fish species unique to the area include the Palestine or Wadi Qana
Doctor Fish (Garra rufa wadiqana Khalaf, 2013), the Tiberias or Kinneret Bleak
Acanthobrama terraesanctae, the Al-Auja (Yarqon) or Tel Aviv Bleak Acanthobrama
telavivensis, the extinct Hula Bleak Acanthobrama (or Mirogrex) hulensis, the
Palestine Loach Nemacheilus dori, and the possibly extinct Long-jaw Tristram
Tilapia Tristramella sacra. The Ben-Tuvia’s Goby Didogobius bentuvii is apparently
known only from the type collected in the Mediterranean off the mouth of the
Rubin River (Living National Treasures; Khalaf-von Jaffa, 2005, 2012, 2013).

The newly discovered Palestine Doctor Fish subspecies Garra rufa wadiqana Khalaf,
2013 at Ain Al Basa Spring, Wadi Qana Nature Reserve, Salfit Governorate,
State of Palestine. Photo by: Ola Mostafa Khalaf. 08.07.2013.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/9500749723/
The Palestine or Al-Naqab (Negev) Coelacanth Fish fossil († Macropomoides
palaestina Khalaf, 2013) was discovered at the Anthracothere Hill in Al-Naqab
(Negev), Palestine (Khalaf-von Jaffa, 2013).
The most distinctive endemic invertebrate is the Ayyalon Cave blind scorpion
Akrav israchanani known only from Ayyalon Cave near Ramla and the sole
member of the family Akravidae. Endemic insects include the Naqab jewel
beetle Xantheremia freidbergi, the longhorned beetle Cortodera kochi, the northern
Pal estine longhorned beetle Agapanthia orbachi, the Israeli leaf beetle Gonioctena
israelita, a scarab Anoxioides bytinskisalzi, and the Palestinian grasshopper
Sphingonotus angulatus. Other endemic invertebrates include the Ayalon Cave
Blind Prawn Typhlocaris ayyaloni, and the Sea of Galilee or Lake Tiberias Blind
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 125 – May 2015