We investigated the phylogeography of the smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) to determine its spatial genetic structure for aiding an adaptive conservation management of the species. Fifty-eight modern and 11 archival (dated 1882–1970) otters sampled from Iraq to Malaysian Borneo were genotyped (mtDNA Cytochrome-b, 10 microsatellite DNA loci). Moreover, 16 Aonyx cinereus (Asian small-clawed otter) and seven Lutra lutra (Eurasian otter) were sequenced to increase information available for phylogenetic reconstructions. As reported in previous studies, we found that L. perspicillata, A. cinereus and A. capensis (African clawless otter) grouped in a clade sister to the genus Lutra, with L. perspicillata and A. cinereus being reciprocally monophyletic. Within L. perspicillata, we uncovered three Evolutionarily Significant Units and proved that L. p. maxwelli is not only endemic to Iraq but also the most recent subspecies. We suggest a revision of the distribution range limits of easternmost L. perspicillata subspecies. We show that smooth-coated otters in Singapore are L. perspicillata x A. cinereus hybrids with A. cinereus mtDNA, the first reported case of hybridization in the wild among otters. This result also provides evidence supporting the inclusion of L. perspicillata and A. cinereus in the genus Amblonyx, thus avoiding the paraphyly of the genus Aonyx.
Based on a cave survey, we present the first substantiated data of two bat species from Iraq. Both Mediterranean horseshoe bat ( Rhinolophus euryale ) and Geoffroy ' s bat ( Myotis emarginatus ) were mentioned in the earlier literature, although none of them was accepted and listed by subsequent authors. We overview the controversial history of the Mediterranean and Mehely ' s horseshoe bat ( Rhinolophus mehelyi ) records, provide details of the diagnostic characters of vouchered specimens of the former species, and present photographic evidence of the presence of Geoffroy ' s bat. Both species are rare in the Middle East, and the territory of Iraq was a gap in their distribution.
Резюме В статье обобщаются возвраты колец из Ирака от двух степных орлов (Aquila nipalensis) и двух орлов-могильников (Aquila heliaca), окольцованных в России и Казахстане, а также возвраты из пограничных с Ираком регионов Ирана, Кувейта и Саудовской Аравии от двух степных орлов и трёх орлов-могильников из России. Обсуждаются влияние негативных факторов на орлов в Ираке.
The greater part of expected mammalian extinctions will be of smaller-bodied mammals, including rats which are more generally known only as pests and carriers of pathogens. We address the long-tailed nesokia rat, which is among the least studied Palaearctic mammals. The species is known from merely five specimens, collected between March 1974 and January 1977 within a radius of 30 km around Qurna inside the seasonally flooded Mesopotamian marshes in southern Iraq. In the 1990s, this extensive aquatic habitat has been deliberately reduced to <15% of its original area and the IUCN expressed fear that such a disaster “almost certainly” caused the extinction of the long-tailed nesokia. Although the interventions after 2003 reversed the shrinking trend and marshes started to expand, the continuous presence of the long-tailed nesokia could not be unambiguously confirmed. We provide meagre evidence suggesting that the rat might be still present in the marshes. Next, our habitat modelling shows that the area of the long-tailed nesokia might be more extensive than expected with a highly suitable habitat covering 15,650 km2 of Mesopotamian marshland in Iraq (between Basra and Salah Ad Din provinces) and the Hawizeh Marshes in the adjacent Iranian Khuzestan.
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