Description of a new genus and species as the first gastropod species from caves in Iran

Abstract

We report on a new stygobiont truncatelloid gastropod from the sulfidic ponds of Tashan Cave in the Zagros Mountains of Southwest Iran. The hydrogen sulfide habitat resembles those hitherto known for gastropods from sulfide-rich caves in Romania, Italy and Greece. The newly described genus Trogloiranica n. gen. with a newly described T. tashanica n. sp represent the first true stygobiont gastropods found in Iran. The phylogeny inferred from the mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase subunit I) and the nuclear (histone 3) genomes, as well as anatomical evidence, place T. tashanica in the family Moitessieriidae Bourguignat, 1863. The new genus may represent an evolutionary relict from the post Miocene before the split of the families Moitessieriidae and Cochliopidae Tryon, 1866.

The first record of a stygobiotic form of Garra rufa (Heckel, 1843), sympatric with Garra tashanensis Mousavi-Sabet, Vatandoust, Fatemi & Eagderi, 2016 (Teleostei, Cyprinidae), in Iranian subterranean waters

“…Our discovery of cave fishes in the Tashan area, as well as the presence of other troglobiotic/stygobiotic animals in Tashan cave (including a gastropod and an isopod) (Khalaji-Pirbalouty et al 2018;Fatemi et al 2019) reveal that this area should be considered a unique habitat that is worthy of urgent conservation, as numerous threats such as pollutants from human waste, water extraction, fish collection by locals, and uncontrolled human visits are putting the conservation of this unique habitat in danger.…”

A new obligate groundwater species of Asellus (Isopoda, Asellidae) from Iran

“…Of the 43 obligate groundwater species, 23 belong to the genus Niphargus Schiødte, 1847, due to a recent increase in species description activity among Iranian experts (Malek-Hosseini and Zamani 2017;Zamanpoore et al 2020;Bargrizaneh et al 2021). Yet, recent species descriptions of Stenasellidae, aquatic Isopoda (Khalaji-Pirbalouty et al 2018), Moitessieriidae, aquatic snails (Fatemi et al 2019), Agnaridae, terrestrial Isopoda (Kashani et al 2013) andCarabidae, terrestrial Coleoptera (Malek-Hosseini et al 2021) indicate that many animal groups are likely to have presently unknown subterranean representatives in Iran. Local but repeated sampling is also revealing the presence of potentially species-rich aquifers with high conservation value.…”

First insights into the origin of Iranian cave beetle diversity with description of two new species of the genus Duvalius (Carabidae)

“…Nonetheless, Iran's subterranean fauna remains poorly known with only about 45 reported troglobiotic species. Of these, most are crustaceans (38), while the other represent fishes, gastropods, arachnids, and myriapods (Bargrizaneh et al, 2021;Fatemi et al, 2019;Malek Hosseini & Zamani, 2017). Most of these species have been discovered from Zagros karst.…”

“…Iran has some of the largest cave systems in the world (Raeisi et al, 2012;Vatandoust et al, 2019), yet most of them are poorly investigated. Troglobiotic representatives of fishes, millipedes, spiders, crustaceans, and snails are already recorded from Iranian caves (Bargrizaneh et al, 2021;Fatemi et al, 2019;Malek-Hosseini & Zamani, 2017). However, even though beetles are among the arthropod groups with globally species-richest terrestrial troglobiotic representatives (Zagmajster et al, 2008), only a single true cave-dwelling beetle, Foranotum perforatum Nabozhenko & Sadeghi, 2017 (Tenebrionidae), is known from Iran (Nabozhenko & Sadeghi, 2017).…”