Kukri snakes Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826 of the Western Palearctic with the resurrection of Contia transcaspica Nikolsky, 1902 (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae).
| Autor: | Lee JL; Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship, Villanova University, Villanova, United States.; Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States., Yushchenko PV; Faculty of Biology, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.; Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam., Milto KD; Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia., Rajabizadeh M; Department of Biodiversity, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran., Rastegar Pouyani E; Hakim Sabzevari University, Sbazavar, Iran., Jablonski D; Department of Zoology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovak Republic., Masroor R; Zoological Sciences Division, Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan., Karunarathna S; Nature Explorations and Education Team, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka., Mallik AK; Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.; Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity Conservation, Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University, Baripada, Odisha, India., Dsouza P; Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India., Orlov N; Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia., Nazarov R; Zoological Museum, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia., Poyarkov NA; Faculty of Biology, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.; Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center, Hanoi, Vietnam. |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | PeerJ [PeerJ] 2023 May 18; Vol. 11, pp. e15185. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 May 18 (Print Publication: 2023). |
| DOI: | 10.7717/peerj.15185 |
| Abstrakt: | The kukri snakes of the genus Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826 reach the westernmost limits of their distribution in Middle and Southwest Asia (Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan), and the Palearctic portions of Pakistan. In this article, we review the systematics and distribution of the two species native to this region, Oligodon arnensis (Shaw, 1802) and Oligodon taeniolatus (Jerdon, 1853) based on an integrative approach combining morphological, molecular, and species distribution modeling (SDM) data. Phylogenetic analyses recover O. taeniolatus populations from Iran and Turkmenistan in a clade with the O. arnensis species complex, rendering the former species paraphyletic relative to O. taeniolatus sensu stricto on the Indian subcontinent. To correct this, we resurrect the name Contia transcaspica Nikolsky, 1902 from the synonymy of O. taeniolatus and assign it to populations in Middle-Southwest Asia. So far, Oligodon transcaspicus comb. et stat. nov. is known only from the Köpet-Dag Mountain Range of northeast Iran and southern Turkmenistan, but SDM mapping suggests it may have a wider range. Genetic samples of O. "arnensis" from northern Pakistan are nested in a clade sister to the recently described Oligodon churahensis Mirza, Bhardwaj & Patel, 2021, and are phylogenetically separate from O. arnensis sensu stricto in south India and Sri Lanka. Based on morphological similarity, the Afghanistan and Pakistan populations are assigned to Oligodon russelius (Daudin, 1803) and we synonymize O. churahensis with this species. Our investigation leads us to remove O. taeniolatus from the snake fauna of Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan, with the consequence that only Oligodon transcaspicus comb. et stat. nov. and O. russelius are present in these countries. Additional studies are needed to resolve the taxonomy of the O. taeniolatus and O. arnensis species complexes on the Indian subcontinent, and an updated key for both groups is provided. Competing Interests: Nikolay A. Poyarkov is an Academic Editor for PeerJ. (© 2023 Lee et al.) |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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