Revised classification of the genus Eryx Daudin, 1803 (Serpentes: Erycidae) in Iran and neighbouring areas, based on mtDNA sequences and morphological data

Abstract

Several attempts have recently been made to elucidate taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among the species and subspecies of sand boas of the genus Eryx throughout their distribution range, with no stable consensus about their taxonomy. Here the phylogenetic relationships among the populations of Eryx in Iran and adjacent areas are studied based on two mitochondrial markers (cytb and 16S). Sixteen morphological characters were examined for evaluation of morphological differences among major populations. Ecological niche modeling was applied to demonstrate the potential distribution of the populations in Iran. ENMtools was also used to measure the degree of niche overlap among the major populations in Iran. Based on phylogenetic reconstruction and considering the genetic distances with specimens from type localities, E. tataricus is a junior synonym of E. miliaris and the subspecies rank for E. m. nogaiorum seems to be invalid. Considering the genetic distance of populations in western Iran and Iraq, and the habitat and morphological differences among the populations of Eryx in western Iran, Iraq and Egypt, the population of Eryx in western Iran is suggested as a different species from E. jaculus, named here as Eryx sp. and the ones from Iraq as Eryx cf. jaculus. Here, the evaluation and revision of taxonomic status, distribution ranges and descriptions of morphological characters of the studied species have been done.

Phylogeny of Eryx Jayakari Isolated from Ha’il Province

“…The current study shows for the first time the higher diversification of 12S than the 16S rRNA gene in inferring the phylogenetic relationships for E. jayakari. It further supports the strong relation between E. jayakari and E. miliaris (Eskandarzadeh et al, 2020). Also, it provides a correlation between E. jayakari isolated from Ha'il and that isolated from Iran (Khuzestan) (based on 16S rRNA).…”

“…Also, it provides a correlation between E. jayakari isolated from Ha'il and that isolated from Iran (Khuzestan) (based on 16S rRNA). Eskandarzadeh et al, (2020) reported that E. jayakari is the sister taxon to the other species-included in their study-and well distinguished from other species in the morphological cluster analysis. Also, they reported the highest niche segregation between E. jayakari and other species in Iran.…”

The first description of dermal armour in snakes

“…These two phylogenies also differ in the position of E. colubrinus and E. jaculus inside sand boas. We prefer the position of E. jaculus from Reynolds et al 61 as it is congruent with the new molecular data for the Iranian populations of sand boas 81 . The position of E. colubrinus is still problematic, as evident from the support values in Reynolds et al 61 .…”

Herpetological Journal 2020 and beyond – Issue 30(1)

“…The current issue of The Herpetological Journal epitomises the range of studies in reptile and amphibian biology and spans the many topics that the journal covers. This issue has articles discussing taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of snakes (Eskandarzadeh et al, 2020), how captivity affects skin colour in frogs (Passos et al, 2020), population changes in long term datasets of lizards (Meek, 2020), amphibian distribution and endemism in South America (Cabral et al, 2020;Ribeiro Morais et al, 2020), and a global review of monoand bispecific genera of amphibians (Amori et al, 2020).…”