TY - JOUR

T1 - Toward assembling a taxonomic puzzle

T2 - Case study of Iranian gray voles of the subgenus Microtus (Rodentia, Cricetidae)

AU - Golenishchev, Fedor

AU - Malikov, Vladimir

AU - Petrova, Tatyana

AU - Bodrov, Semen

AU - Abramson, Nataliya

N1 - Funding Information: We want to express our gratitude, and will always keep good memories of our colleague, Professor Jamshid Darvish, an Iranian theriologist at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, who passed away this year. We are grateful to Voyta L.L. for assistance with illustrative material. We thank Svetlana Sablina for taking care of the living vole colony in the ZISP vivarium. Molecular work was carried out in the laboratory of molecular systematics at the equipment installed in the ?Taxon? Research Resource Center (http://www.ckp-rf.ru/ckp/3038/?sphrase_id=8879024). Morphological studies were performed on the specimens from the collection of the laboratory of theriology at ZISP. This work was partially funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) with Grant/Award N 16-04-00983 for FNG and VGM and N 15-04-04602 for NIA, SYuB and TVP. The work was also partly financed by the program of Presidium RAS ?Dynamics of genepools in natural populations? (for NIA, SYuB and TVP). This study was conducted at ZISP under the research themes N ????-?17-117042410167-2 and N AAAA-A17-117022810195-3. The language was edited by Proof reading service https://www.proof-reading-service.com/en/. Funding Information: We want to express our gratitude, and will always keep good memories of our colleague, Professor Jamshid Darvish, an Iranian theriologist at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, who passed away this year. We are grateful to Voyta L.L. for assistance with illustrative material. We thank Svetlana Sablina for taking care of the living vole colony in the ZISP vivarium. Molecular work was carried out in the laboratory of molecular systematics at the equipment installed in the «Taxon» Research Resource Center ( http://www.ckp-rf.ru/ckp/3038/?sphrase_id=8879024 ). Morphological studies were performed on the specimens from the collection of the laboratory of theriology at ZISP. This work was partially funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) with Grant/Award N 16-04-00983 for FNG and VGM and N 15-04-04602 for NIA, SYuB and TVP. The work was also partly financed by the program of Presidium RAS “Dynamics of genepools in natural populations’ (for NIA, SYuB and TVP). This study was conducted at ZISP under the research themes N АААА-А17-117042410167-2 and N AAAA-A17-117022810195-3. The language was edited by Proof reading service https://www.proof-reading-service.com/en/ . Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde Copyright: Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2019/1

Y1 - 2019/1

N2 - The voles of the subgenus Microtus, which includes six species of the so-called “arvalis” group, have always been problematic for classification. Some group members differ in chromosome number and karyotype structure and yet appear morphologically indistinguishable, while others have very similar karyotypes despite exhibiting significant morphological differences. Two “arvalis” voles from Iran, M. kermanensis and M. mystacinus, are among the least studied members of this group. Here, we used cytochrome b sequences, morphological data and all other available material in an attempt to solve the mystacinus-kermanensis taxonomic puzzle. The results of the phylogenetic analysis of the cytochrome b sequences showed that M. rossiaemeridionalis, M. mystacinus and M. kermanensis form a monophyletic group that is sister to M. arvalis. Within this group, M. mystacinus appears to be more closely related to M. kermanensis than to M. rossiaemeridionalis; therefore, M. kermanensis may be considered the junior synonym of M. mystacinus. However, these two forms differed significantly in size and molar pattern. The attribution of M. kermanensis and M. rossiaemeridionalis to one species contradicts the preliminary results of experimental hybridisation and morphological data: they differ in size, qualitative dental features and baculum structure. The obtained data showed that until comprehensive analysis based on extensive sampling is available, it is expedient to retain the species names M. mystacinus, M. rossiaemeridionalis and M. kermanensis.

AB - The voles of the subgenus Microtus, which includes six species of the so-called “arvalis” group, have always been problematic for classification. Some group members differ in chromosome number and karyotype structure and yet appear morphologically indistinguishable, while others have very similar karyotypes despite exhibiting significant morphological differences. Two “arvalis” voles from Iran, M. kermanensis and M. mystacinus, are among the least studied members of this group. Here, we used cytochrome b sequences, morphological data and all other available material in an attempt to solve the mystacinus-kermanensis taxonomic puzzle. The results of the phylogenetic analysis of the cytochrome b sequences showed that M. rossiaemeridionalis, M. mystacinus and M. kermanensis form a monophyletic group that is sister to M. arvalis. Within this group, M. mystacinus appears to be more closely related to M. kermanensis than to M. rossiaemeridionalis; therefore, M. kermanensis may be considered the junior synonym of M. mystacinus. However, these two forms differed significantly in size and molar pattern. The attribution of M. kermanensis and M. rossiaemeridionalis to one species contradicts the preliminary results of experimental hybridisation and morphological data: they differ in size, qualitative dental features and baculum structure. The obtained data showed that until comprehensive analysis based on extensive sampling is available, it is expedient to retain the species names M. mystacinus, M. rossiaemeridionalis and M. kermanensis.

KW - Classification

KW - Cytochrome b

KW - Karyotype

KW - Subgenus Microtus

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049833713&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.mambio.2018.06.007

DO - 10.1016/j.mambio.2018.06.007

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85049833713

VL - 94

SP - 98

EP - 105

JO - Mammalian Biology

JF - Mammalian Biology

SN - 1616-5047

ER -