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Tel Aviv [Israel], March 8 (ANI/TPS): For the first time in history freshwater crabs were discovered in the Israeli city of Modi'in, which is located to the west of Jerusalem.
The freshwater crabs were discovered in a nature survey conducted by the Society for the Protection of Nature for the municipality of Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut, funded and accompanied by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The surveyors found two rather rare species of crabs, a butsen and an Eretz-Israel (Land of Israel) zimmergal. Yitzhak Cohen, a senior surveyor in the Urban Nature Unit of the Society for the Protection of Nature, who found the crabs, said that the initial survey included a visit to the survey sites, an initial study of their quality and an examination of the rock ridges and winter pools in the city, the flora and fauna therein. According to him, during the survey, a very impressive variety of rare plant species and invertebrates unique to seasonal bodies of water in rock formations and winter pools was discovered. Also, more common species were found in winter ponds such as a reddish stilt, cyclops, daphnia and clams. During the survey, rare plant species were also found, such as the crooked-seeded altine, the puddled ankle and the truncated sedge. The latter is known in Israel only from the Golan and Upper Galilee region, and its discovery in Modi'in indicates the expansion of the distribution of this rare species. (ANI/TPS)
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