Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research最新文献

The diversity of freshwater leeches (Clitellata; Hirudinida) of Iran was estimated by employing both DNA barcoding and species delimitation methods. Phylogenetic relationships of arhynchobdellid (including Hirudinidae, Praobdellidae, Haemopidae, and Erpobdellidae) and rhynchobdellid (Glossiphoniidae) leeches were reconstructed, based on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) locus, using both new sequence data and those available from GenBank. Our results suggest that each of Helobdella stagnalis (Linnaeus, 1758), Glossiphonia concolor (Aphathy, 1888), Erpobdella borisi Cichocka & Bielecki, 2015, Dina lineata (O.F. Müller, 1774), Hirudo orientalis Utevsky and Trontelj, 2005, Haemopis sanguisuga (Linnaeus, 1758), Limnatis paluda (Tennent, 1859), and two unidentified species of Dina and Trocheta (these did not find species-level matches in GenBank) are present in Iran. A potential case of phenotypic change in response to ecological adaptation was observed in E. borisi insofar as two genetically identical sub- and super-terranean morphotypes were distinguished. The glossiphoniids of Iran and Europe are admixed in the phylogenetic tree, revealing low COI variation and no divergence within species between the continents for these taxa.

Mangroves are an ideal habitat for brachyuran crabs because of nutritional and shelter support. Using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling technique, we projected the potential global distributions of 10 dominant species of mangrove crabs from the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman under future climate change. The highest species richness of mangrove crabs was in the Northeast Persian Gulf, including the Strait of Hormuz and Qeshm Island, as well as the North Sea of Oman. Our results revealed that depth and sea surface temperature (SST) were the most important drivers of distribution of mangrove crabs. The most potential suitable environments are located along the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf, and the Sea of Oman, where the depth is <16.89 m, temperature is between 27.70 and 28.08°C, salinity is between 37.21 and 40.61 PSS, and currents velocity is between 0.01 and 0.05 m⁻¹ for the present output models. Future distribution model outputs showed that, areas with depth <3.12 m, temperature between 28.53 and 28.92°C, salinity between 37.21 and 40.63 PSS, and current velocity between 0.01 and 0.05 m⁻¹ were the most suitable environments for future potential distributions of mangrove crabs. MaxEnt model outputs revealed that five species (50%) will expand and the remaining (50%) will shrink in their future distribution ranges. The model outputs predicted that some of the species might lose their habitat in future, and some might invade other ecosystem as invasive species. These findings thus highlight not only the vulnerability of mangrove crabs to habitat loss, but also alert their potential invasions to other ecosystems due to future climate changes. This outcome should be considered as a basic guideline for species management of mangrove systems.

Climate change is one of the main drivers of biodiversity decline worldwide, through shifting or shrinking habitats of species. Predicting the distribution of suitable habitats for species under climate change is essential for conservation planning. Cyamophila astragalicola is a specialist psyllid dependent on a spiny shrub, endemic to Zagros Mountains of Iran. The current study represents a modeling approach for lesser-known small invertebrates to assess their threat status. Ecological niche modeling was used to assess current suitable habitats of C. astragalicola, to develop model-based predictions of its habitat suitability under different climatic scenarios, and to assess the extinction risk of the species based on IUCN Red List criteria. Results revealed a sharp decline in suitable habitats (97.26% and 99.8% for the years 2050 and 2070, respectively) under the scenario of RCP 8.5. Further, under the two RCP scenarios, C. astragalicola was classified as IUCN Threat 2. A shift toward higher altitudes with lower temperature and higher precipitation was predicted. Results of modeling are based on abiotic factors only. Human interactions are not modeled; hence, the status of the species may be even more dramatic than the models may reveal. Generally, the results of this study indicate the high sensitivity of C. astragalicola to global warming. The narrow distribution range of the species coupled with the low dispersal ability can increase the risk of extinction. Ecological, economic, and social risks associated with the extinction need to be further evaluated to formulate future management policies.

Bats are facing several threats like land-use change, habitat loss, overexploitation for food, mortality at wind energy turbine installations, disease, and climate change worldwide. Defining biodiversity of bat species can help conservation biologists to prioritize areas for bat conservation. In this study, we assembled distribution records of all bats of Iran to generate the first richness map of bats, as no richness map is available for bat species in the country. By constructing generalized linear models, we determined which historical and environmental factors drive the richness of bat species across the country. Results of richness mapping showed that Zagros Mountains host the highest number of species in Iran. We found that precipitation is the most influential variable in shaping bat richness in Iran by explaining 26% of variation in species richness. Topographic heterogeneity, with 19% of explained variance, was the second most important determinant of bat richness. We also estimated bat assemblage similarity among the biomes in the country. Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands biome was the most distinct biome based on bat assemblage. On the other hand, Montane Grasslands and Shrublands and Deserts and Xeric Shrublands were the most similar biomes based upon distributions of the bat species. Areas that were identified to have higher species diversity were regions with high priority for the conservation of bat biodiversity in the country. Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands, which host the most unique assemblage of bat species, have high importance for conservation. Therefore, to enhance the conservation of bats and maintain the important ecosystem services which they provide, we must have a clear knowledge of their richness and essential needs.

The Lut Desert, southeastern Iran, regularly has the largest contiguous area of surface temperatures above 65°C compared to anywhere else on Earth. Despite these harsh conditions, some specialized species thrive in this extreme habitat. Misonne's spider gecko, Rhinogecko misonnei de Witte, 1973 (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae) is an endemic species that is native to the central part of the Lut Desert. This research aimed to explore the dietary gut content and ecology of Misonne's spider gecko populations inhabiting the Lut Desert. A DNA metabarcoding approach was applied to obtain data from the stomach content of six collected specimens. A total of 147,451 amplicon reads representing a total of 94 OTU (=Operational Taxonomic Units) for the CO1-5P barcode region were sequenced. Of 94 OTUs, 50 (53.2%) identically matched ≥97% with BOLD and/or NCBI database and were identified at the genus level. Blasting in both databases revealed the presence of three phyla including Chordata (55.23%), Arthropoda (44.72%), and Annelida (0.05). 99.54% of Chordata DNA belonged to Rhinogecko misonnei mainly coming from stomach tissue of the examined specimens. Within the arthropods, 87.64% of the OTUs matched Insecta and 12.08% Arachnida. Our findings indicate that Rhinogecko misonnei is a generalist gecko that feeds on a variety of food items. About 81% of Rhinogecko food items in the central Lut are migratory insects that come from adjacent areas of the Lut District, although the arachnid food items originate from the central Lut. This study emphasizes the importance of the insect fauna of adjacent areas of the Lut Desert for the stability of the Desert food web.

We assessed the Chironomidae fauna of Qeshlagh River, the second largest running water in the Kurdistan Province of Iran, and a major tributary of Sirwan River, using molecular and morphological methods. We identified a total of 35 Chironomidae species from the Qeshlagh River. Of these, Eraniella kurdistanensis gen. n., sp. n. (Orthocladiinae), Cricotopus (Cricotopus) hedayati sp. n., and Tanytarsus ronaki sp. n. are new to science. We combined DNA barcodes of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene obtained from the three new species with available sequences in GenBank and BOLD. The maximum likelihood (ML) tree placed Eraniella as a likely sister group of Parakiefferiella group of genera. The ML tree placed C. hedayati in Cricotopus festivellus group and a sister group of Cricotopus albiforceps (Kieffer, 1916). The ML tree placed T. ronaki as a sister group of Tanytarsus tamagotoi Sasa, 1983. This study also identified 11 new faunistic records for Iran and range extensions for the Palearctic. The importance of these local faunistic studies reflects broadly on the whole country, as the baseline information on the taxonomy and biogeography of the Iranian Chironomidae is scarce.

Wing interference patterns (WIPs) and wing interference colors have been highlighted in taxonomy for their usefulness in the discrimination of species, particularly in the case of some parasitic wasps. Here, we evaluate the usefulness of these stable structural color patterns as species-specific characters in nine species of Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) within seven genera including Aphidus Nees, 1819; Binodoxys Mackauer, 1960; Diaeretiella Starý, 1960; Ephedrus Haliday, 1833; Lysiphlebus Förster, 1863; Praon Haliday, 1833; and Trioxys Haliday, 1833. Six color parameters including red, green, and blue (RGB) as well as hue, saturation, and value were compared. Preliminary statistical analysis of color values, as well as a qualitative comparison of patterns, were performed. Our findings show that both qualitative and quantitative measurements can discriminate selected taxa at the genus and species level. Moreover, different biotypes of Lysiphlebus fabraum (Marshall) and Aphidus matricariae Haliday present identical color patterns (WIPs) with only slight qualitative differences. Despite some slight qualitative differences in WIPs between sexes, quantitative measurements were not sexually dimorphic. This is the first study of its kind in the subfamily Aphidiinae and to provide a preliminary WIP-based key to the studied species of Aphidiinae. Our findings show that WIPs and WICs are stable and can be useful for museum collections.

The genus Phrynocephalus Kaup, 1825, includes various species complexes. The Arabian species group (Ph. arabicus, Ph. ahvazicus, Ph. longicaudatus, and Ph. maculatus) is one of these which is distributed in southwest Asia. Phrynocephalus maculatus Anderson, 1872 is a member of the Ph. arabicus group that occurs only on the Iranian Plateau. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the taxonomic relationships of Ph. maculatus, comparing it to other species in the Arabian group and conducting a genetic analysis of its various populations on the Iranian Plateau. For this, two mitochondrial gene fragments (16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1) were sequenced in different populations across its entire distributional range on the Iranian Plateau. The results indicated that a population of P. maculatus in Abarkouh is clearly genetically differentiated from other populations in Iran, whereas other populations show low levels of variability. In addition, a population from southern Pakistan showed a close relationship with Ph. lutensis Kamali & Anderson, 2015 and is not clustered with Ph. maculatus populations. The taxonomic position of Ph. ahvazicus Melnikov, Melnikova, Nazarov, Rajabizadeh, Al-Johani, Amr & Ananjeva, 2014 has not been confirmed, and we here consider it as a synonym of Ph. arabicus Anderson, 1894. Populations from southern Iraq (Basrah and Babylon provinces) belong to Ph. longicaudatus.

Subterranean environments of Iran are severely understudied. Here, we advance the knowledge of Iranian cave biodiversity by following three goals: (i) to investigate Iranian caves for troglobiotic beetles; (ii) to understand the phylogenetic relationships and estimate the timing of Iranian cave colonization by Duvalius Delarouzée, 1859; and (iii) to comment on the current knowledge of the Iranian troglobiotic fauna to facilitate future research. Through field efforts and morphological examination, we describe two new Duvalius species from caves of Zagros Mts., Iran: the troglobiotic Duvalius nezelensis sp. nov. and the non-troglobiotic Duvalius achaemenius sp. nov. For phylogenetic analyses, we provide original sequences of two mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and two nuclear (18S, 28S) genes for three Duvalius species from the Zagros Mts., and combine them with published molecular datasets using other Duvalius species with relevant outgroup genera. Using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood, we reconstruct a species-level phylogeny of Duvalius and closely related genera, then use BEAST to explore divergence times of major lineages. Our phylogenies recover a well-supported “Zagros clade,” with its split from other congeners estimated at 9.7 Ma. Within the Zagros clade, the split of D. nezelensis and its sister group is estimated at 7.8 Ma, while the split of D. achaemenius and D. kileri is estimated to a recent 0.78 Ma. We provide some resolution in understanding the species richness of cave beetles in Iran and the timing of their subterranean colonization. However, our phylogenies confirm taxonomic problems as several genera are nested deep within the Duvalius tree.