The first taxonomic revaluation of the Iranian water frogs of the genus Pelophylax (Anura: Ranidae) using sequences of the mitochondrial genome

Abstract

The Eurasian water frog species and their geographic ranges have undergone considerable changes in the last four decades, but the Iranian populations have largely remained unknown. All the Iranian populations of water frogs, despite their vast distribution range have attributed to a single species: Rana ridibunda. In order to understand the phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status of water frogs of Iran, we collected samples from many populations across the country and used the mitochondrial DNA sequence variation. A data set with a final sequence length of 616 nucleotides was generated for Cyt b from 70 individuals of Pelophylax in which there are 422 invariable sites, 174 variable sites of which 123 were parsimony informative. In total, 43 haplotypes were found (Hd: 0.9752). The result demonstrated that, two major clades with strong support can be identified within the Iranian water frogs. One of these clades that include north western and southwestern populations forms a monophyletic group along with P. bedriagae samples from Turkey. The second clade consists of water frog populations of north and northeastern parts of Iran which in turn is subdivided into two subclades. Inclusion of water frog samples from adjacent areas showed that the second clade of our study is, most likely, a distinct taxonomic entity at species rank with its two subclades indicating two diagnosable subspecies for the clade. In conclusion, we suggest that two distinct species, P. bedriagae and Pelophylax sp., with its two subspecies, should be identified as water frogs of Iran. In Addition, another traditionally reported water frog of Iran, P.ridibundus, most likely should be excluded from the Iranian water frog's checklist.

Intrapopulation and Interpopulation Geographic Variation in the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus sensu lato) of Iran Based on Cytogenetic and Morphometric Data

“…However, Pesarakloo et al (2018) suggested all water frogs from northwestern, western and southwestern populations from Iran (identical to the MHG6d population in Akin et al In order to resolve the discordant and complex data pertaining to the taxonomy of Pelophylax ridibundus sensu lato in Iran, we need to survey genetic differentiation of these populations including samples not only from across Iran but also surrounding countries.…”

“…Molecular studies (Pesarakloo et al, 2016) that have been conducted on the Iranian water frogs reinforced the possibility that two major clades are present. One of these clades includes western, northwestern and southwestern populations called P. bedriagae .…”

“…A: Bushehr B: Deylam. P. bedriage, based on morphometric and bioacoustic analyses Pesarakloo et al (2016). found another group of water frogs (Pelophylax sp.)…”

Helminths of the Eurasian marsh frog, Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771) (Anura: Ranidae), from the Shiraz region, southwestern Iran

“…Unidentified helminths recovered from 47 specimens of Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771) (but see Pesarakloo et al, 2017) collected in the vicinity of Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran in 1972, were borrowed from the Canadian Museum of Nature Parasites Collection in 2016 by the author. Platyhelminthes were stained with Mayer’s paracarmine or Gomori´s trichrome, dehydrated, cleared in methyl salicylate, and mounted in Canada balsam.…”

The genus Pelophylax (Amphibia, Ranidae) in Pakistan: museum collections and possible distribution

“…Overall, they are distributed from eastern Spain to western China, through Central Europe, the Balkans, the Anatolian Peninsula, the Caspian Region and Central Asia (Akin et al 2010). In the division between Central (Afghanistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and Southern Asia, where the territory of Pakistan falls, three species are currently recognised: P. bedriagae, P. ridibundus and P. terentievi (Wagner et al 2016;Pesarakloo et al 2017;Showler 2018;Frost 2021).…”