New records of the William’s Jerboa, Paralactaga cf. williamsi (Thomas, 1897) (Rodentia: Dipodidae) from northeastern Iran with notes on its ecology

By

Hamidi, Kordiyeh
Darvish, Jamshid
Matin, Maryam M.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2016-3-14

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

12

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

1855--6

Subjects

eastern Iran , five-toed jerboa , Habitat , new record , range extension

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/12.2.1855

 

Abstract

Paralactaga williamsi, a five-toed jerboa, is known to occur in Anatolian Turkey, northern Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan and western Iran. Here, we report the first record of this species in Kopet-Dag Mountains, northeastern Iran. Species identification was based on external morphology, skull and molar teeth morphology and morphometrics studies, as well as molecular an­al­yses. Brief notes on the ecology of the species are also provided. This new record expands the distribution of P. williamsi in Iran about 850 km eastward, however further sampling will be needed for a better judgment on the taxonomic status of this species in eastern Iran and to determine the patterns of its distribution. Since the specimen did not group with other P. williamsi in the cytochrome b analysis, we provisionally classify the specimens as P. cf. williamsi.