|
|
Zoology in the
Middle East Volume
60, Issue 2, 2014 0939-7140 (Print), 2326-2680 (Online) © Taylor &
Francis Covered in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE).
Admitted to ISI Master Journal list and covered by the BioSciences
Information Service (Biosis Previews) and Biological Preview (abstract/cover
page), the Zoological Record and many other review organs. ZME is published
by Taylor & Francis Access Options:
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig |
Low gene flow between Iranian Grey Wolves )Canis lupus (and dogs documented
using uniparental genetic markers
Marzieh Asadi Aghbolaghi, Hamid Reza Rezaei, Massimo Scandura, and Mohammad
Kaboli
Wolves have the ability to
live in different habitats. However, in recent years, in many areas wolf
populations have drastically declined and some of them have disappeared. A
major concern in the management of wolf populations is the hybridization
between wolves and dogs. In some regions, in order to generate strong breeds of
guard dogs, wolves and dogs are intentionally hybridized. In this study, gene
flow between wolves and dogs in Iran was examined, using a combination of
uniparental markers: the mitochondrial DNA control region and four Y chromosome
microsatellites. The species of origin of
each haplotype was attributed by phylogenetic analyses. A very limited number
of haplotypes was shared, suggesting limited gene flow between wolves and dogs
in Iran. However, possible factors promoting hybridization are still present in
the country and should not be neglected in the future management of the wild
species.
Keywords. Dog, genetic introgression, Iran, mtDNA, Y
chromosome microsatellites, wolf.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 95-106.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Wildlife conflicts
between humans and Brown Bears, Ursus arctos,
in the Central Zagros, Iran
Ali Turk Qashqaei, Mahmoud Karami, and Vahid Etemad
We collected information
on human-bear conflicts in the Central Zagros Mountains through questionnaires and field surveys during which we recorded scats,
tracks and broken branches in orchards. Persecution, poaching, and trading of
bear body parts to cure some diseases are the most important threats to the
Brown Bear, Ursus arctos. Financial losses due to bears attacking
livestock, cattle and beehives in the region were calculated to be more than € 18,400 during 2006-2011. Also three villagers were
killed by bears between 2005 and 2010 and 18 Brown Bears were killed by local
people and nomads within nine years.
Key words: Brown Bear, Ursus arctos, human-wildlife
conflict, trade, Zagros, Iran.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 107-110.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
On the diet of the
Pharaoh Eagle Owl, Bubo ascalaphus (Savigny, 1809), in Qatar,
with an overview of its feeding habits
Ivan Mohedano, Mohammad A. Abu Baker, Brian Hunter, Jamie Buchan, Christopher
J. Michaels, and Nobuyuki Yamaguchi
The
diet of Bubo ascalaphus in Qatar was
assessed based on pellets collected from the first known nesting site of the
species in the country. The pellets contained a total of 68 prey items,
representing 9 different species: 4 mammals, 1 bird, 1 reptile, and at least 3
scorpions. Mammals clearly comprised the major food source (89.7% and 97.7% in
frequency and biomass respectively). Our data suggest that Pharaoh Eagle Owls
are opportunistic predators that feed on a variety of prey depending on their
temporal/spatial availability, which is consistent with previous studies. A
literature review clearly suggests that Eagle Owls in arid to semi-arid
environments are opportunistic predators with small mammals being their main
prey. Predation on migrating Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters Merops persicus supports this hypothesis.
Keywords: Diet, owl pellets; Pharaoh Eagle Owl; Bubo ascalaphus, Merops persicus, desert, Qatar.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 111-119.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Sexual size
dimorphism in Darevskia raddei (Sauria: Lacertidae) from northwestern
Iran
Amir Dehghani, Seyyed Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani, Nasrullah
Rastegar-Pouyani, Seyed Mahdi Banan-Khojasteh, and Alireza Mohammadpour
We examined sexual
size dimorphism of the rock-dwelling lizard Darevskia raddei (Boettger,
1892) with the help of 30 specimens that were provided from various sources.
Eleven metric and seven meristic features were examined. Seven characters (gulars,
length of basal tail, femoral pores, length of head, width of head, length of
fore limb and length of hind limb) were identified as dimorphic between the two
sexes. Some of these characters have important roles in copulation for males,
especially the hind limb and the tail base. The number of femoral pores is
important in the release of signal components because females release these components
to attract males during the mating season. The length of the hind limb as
locomotor performance plays an important role during mating, so that the male
can grasp the female and adopt the correct position during copulation.
Key words: Lacertidae, Darevskia
raddei, sexual size dimorphism, Iran.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 120-124.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Distribution pattern
of the Snake-eyed Lizard, Ophisops elegans Ménétriés, 1832 (Squamata:
Lacertidae), in Iran
Hamzeh Oraie, Hassan Rahimian, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani,
Gentile Francesco Ficetola, Seyyed Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani, and Azar
Khosravani
Ophisops elegans, a common lizard
with a wide distribution range in Iran, was selected to investigate the
influence of environmental factors on its distribution pattern. Based on a
distribution model developed with the software Maxent for O. elegans,
the most important factors influencing the distribution pattern were found to
be high winter precipitation, intermediate levels of Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI) and intermediate levels of sunshine. It seems that overall plant cover and competition with Mesalina
watsonana are the main factors which influence the distribution pattern of O.
elegans in the central Iranian Plateau.
Keywords: Lizards, Maxent,
environmental factors, habitat suitability, Central Iran.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 125-132.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Morphological
divergence in the Walton’s Mudskipper, Periophthalmus
waltoni Koumans, 1941, from the
Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman (Gobioidei: Gobiidae)
Mehdi Ghanbarifardi, Mansour Aliabadian, Hamid Reza Esmaeili, and
Gianluca Polgar
The body shape
variation among 244 specimens of Periophthalmus waltoni Koumans, 1941, collected
from seven stations in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, was analysed by utilising
geometric morphometrics (GM) and truss-based morphometrics methods (TBM). Discriminant
function analysis did not show significant differences between the shape of
females and males. Canonical variate analysis and cluster analysis classified the
specimens in two separate groups of stations: those in the Persian Gulf, and those
in the Strait of Hormuz plus Gulf of Oman. Potential factors contributing to the
observed variation include differences in physicochemical parameters between the
Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Keywords: Phenotypic
plasticity, geometric morphometrics, morphological landmarks, truss protocol.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 133-142.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Records of Himantura granulata (Dasyatidae) and Rhinoptera
jayakari (Rhinopteridae) from the Red
Sea
Sergey V. Bogorodsky, Peter R. Last, Tilman J. Alpermann, and Ahmad O.
Mal
The occurrences of
two species of rays of the families Dasyatidae and Rhinopteridae are confirmed
for the central and southern Red Sea, respectively. The Oman Cownose Ray, Rhinoptera jayakari, is reported as a
new record from the Red Sea on the basis of two males collected at Jizan,
southern Saudi Arabia. An adult individual of the Mangrove Whipray, Himantura granulata, previously only
reported from the Gulf of Aqaba was observed and photographed in a shallow
lagoon off Al Lith, Saudi Arabia, also confirming its presence in the Red Sea.
Key words: Rays, Myliobatiformes, new records, southern Red Sea, central Red Sea,
Farasan Banks.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 144-153.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Contribution to the
knowledge of the Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) fauna of Turkey
Janko Kolarov, Erol Yıldırım, Saliha Çoruh, and Murat Yüksel
This study is based
upon material of the family Ichneumonidae collected from Erzurum and Tunceli
provinces of Turkey between 2011 and 2012. 64 species in 49 genera of the
family Ichneumonidae were recorded. Among them, Alloplasta tomentosa (Gravenhorst,
1829), Lissonota (Lissonota) accusator (Fabricius,
1793), Dusona nidulator (Fabricius, 1804), Olesicampe fulviventris (Gmelin,
1790), Olesicampe proterva (Brischke, 1880), Olesicampe radiella (Thomson, 1885), Aptesis nigrocincta (Gravenhorst, 1815), Cryptus moschator (Fabricius,
1787), Pleolophus brachypterus (Gravenhorst, 1815), Hadrodactylus
flavofacialis Horstmann, 2000, Lagarotis
semicaligata (Gravenhorst, 1820), Coelichneumon
(Coelichneumon) consimilis (Wesmael, 1845), Hoplismenus
axillatorius (Thunberg, 1822) and Eridolius
pictus (Gravenhorst, 1829) are new to the Turkish fauna. A short
zoogeographic characterisation is given for each species.
Key words: Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae,
fauna, new records, Turkey, zoogeographic characterisation.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 154-161.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Checklist of the
springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) of Turkey
Hasan Sevgili and Muhammed Ali Özata
A checklist of the
species of springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) hitherto recorded from Turkey is
presented. This list contains 53 species belonging to 39 genera in 13 families. The diversity of Collembola in Turkey is poorly known
and it is clear that numerous species wait to be discovered.
Key words: Hexapoda, Collembola, fauna, springtails,
checklist, Turkey.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 162-168.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Scorpions of the
genus Odontbuthus Vachon, 1950 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Iran: Phylogenetic
relationships inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence data
Sara Azghadi, Omid Mirshamsi, Shahrokh Navidpour, and Mansour Aliabadian
The molecular phylogeny of the genus Odontobuthus Vachon, 1950 (Scorpiones:
Buthidae) in Iran was evaluated using two mitochondrial DNA
genes, cytochrome c oxidase, subunit I (COI) and 16S ribosomal
RNA (16S rRNA). The molecular phylogenetic analyses were performed
using Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. The resulting topologies supported two main clades: the clade comprising Odontobuthus
doriae, O. bidentatus, and O.
tavighiae, and another
one which is the O. tirgari clade. The results clearly presented
additional support for the taxonomic validity of the recently described
species, O. tirgari and O. tavighiae. In addition, the monophyly
of two previously described species O. doriae and O. bidentatus was
confirmed. According to the data presented here, three taxonomically
valid species belonging to the genus Odontobuthus occur in Iran.
Key words: Odontobuthus, scorpions, Arachnida,
COI, 16S rRNA.
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 169-179.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Short Communications
First confirmed
records of Lesser Mouse-tailed Bat, Rhinopoma
cystops Thomas, 1903, for Sinai,
Egypt (Mammalia: Chiroptera)
Jill Carpenter,
Zsolt Hegyeli, Sebastian Bugariu, and István Moldován
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 180-182.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus) in south-eastern Iran:a species new to the Middle East
Raffael Ayé, Tobias
Roth and Thomas Stalling
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 183-185.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
Lophiomus setigerus (Vahl, 1797), Nemipterus
zysron
(Bleeker, 1856), and Parascolopsis
eriomma (Jordan
& Richardson, 1909) (Osteichthyes: Lophiidae and Nemipteridae) in the
marine waters of Iraq
Laith A. Jawad and Majid
E. Al-Badri
Zoology in the Middle East 60(2), 2014: 186-188.
| Access Options: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tzme20/current#.UZ8U1Z3wCig
home
Zoology in the Middle East