186,284 research outputs found
Taxonomic reassessment of Blanus strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884) (Squamata: Amphisbaenia: Blanidae), with the description of a new species from south-east Anatolia (Turkey)
No full textSindaco, Roberto, Kornilios, Panagiotis, Sacchi, Roberto, Lymberakis, Petros (2014): Taxonomic reassessment of Blanus strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884) (Squamata: Amphisbaenia: Blanidae), with the description of a new species from south-east Anatolia (Turkey). Zootaxa 3795 (3): 311-326, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3795.3.
Proctostephanus anopolitanus Schulz & Lymberakis 2006, comb. nov.
No full textProctostephanus anopolitanus (Schulz & Lymberakis, 2006) comb. nov. Figs 32, 33, 39 Syn.: Proisotoma anopolitana Schulz & Lymberakis, 2006 Material. Four paratypes (West Crete, Anopolis) deposited in Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz. Taxonomical additions. Mouthparts typical for the genus. Two prelabral chaetae. Maxillary outer lobe with simple maxillary palp and 4 sublobal hairs. Labium with all papillae (A–E) present, papillae A–D with normal number of guards (1,4,0,4), E usually with 4 guards, with 5 on one side of one paratype. With 3 proximal and 4 basomedian chaetae. Body with numerous and rather short chaetae on body. Wart of Abd.V distinct, consisting of a few strong chitinized wrinkles (Fig. 32), common chaetae near wart thicker, sometimes with denticles. Abd. V with 4 sens arranged in two transverse rows, two anterior sens longer and thicker than posterior sens. S -formula as 3,3 / 2,2, 2,2, 4 (s) and 1,1 /1,1,1 (ms). Furca well developed, similar to other members of Ephemerotoma (Fig. 33). Affinity. Initially the species was described in the genus Proisotoma since its position was not fully clear (Schulz & Lymberakis 2006). In the light of the current study it shares the characters of Ephemerotoma and Proctostephanus. Since the compact abdominal wart of P. anopolitanus is more likely to be the "crown" than the diffuse rugosity, we recognise the species as a member of Proctostephanus, which differs from congeners by fewer crown protuberances (Fig. 39 versus Figs 37, 38). In addition, the crown of P. anopolitanus is partly covered with chaetae (Fig. 32, Schulz 2010, Schulz & Lymberakis 2006), which is unknown for other species of Proctostephanus. Proctostephanus anopolitanus mostly resembles E. porcella described from the same area. The two species differ by sexual dimorphism (absent in anopolitana vs. present in porcella), shape of the wart and setae at the end of abdomen, ratios of furcal parts and the number of chaetae on the ventral tube (see Schulz & Lymberakis 2006). The maturity of males on which the first description was based is somewhat equivocal, which causes some doubts if the two species differ in sexual dimorphism. P. anopolitanus was caught in pitfall traps in great numbers (see table 1 in Schulz & Lymberakis 2006), which indicates an ecological similarity to Ephemerotoma.Published as part of Potapov, Mikhail, Kahrarian, Morteza, Deharveng, Louis & Shayanmehr, Masoumeh, 2015, Taxonomy of the Proisotoma complex. V. Sexually dimorphic Ephemerotoma gen. nov. (Collembola: Isotomidae), pp. 345-358 in Zootaxa 4052 (3) on page 356, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4052.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/24323
Blanus alexandri Sindaco, Kornilios, Sacchi & Lymberakis, 2014, sp. nov.
No full textBlanus alexandri sp. nov. Holotype. MCCI-R 1632. An adult collected on 26 April 2011, approximately 3.6 km NE of Derik (Mardin province, Turkey) at 37.3891 °N – 40.2980 E °, m 1161 a.s.l. (Fig. 6). Paratypes. MCCI-R 1633. An adult collected on 28 April 2011, approximately 3 km NE of Karalar village (Şırnak prov., Turkey) at 37.3153 °N, 41.7037 °E, m 831 a.s.l. MCCI-R 1634. An adult collected on 1 May 2011, approximately 1.5 km SE of Yukariokcular (Hatay province, Turkey) at 36.0778 °N, 36.1518 °E, m 562 a.s.l. MCCI-R 1635 (1–3). Three specimens collected on 2 May 2011, approximately 1.3 km E of Sungur (Hatay province, Turkey) at 36.0083 °N, 36.1218 °E, m 944 a.s.l. MSNG 57582. An adult collected on 24 May 2012 between Yesilçe and Isikli (Gaziantep province, Turkey) at 37.1611 °N, 37.2135 °E, m 1081 a.s.l. MSNG 57583. A specimen collected on 24 May 2012 2 km W of Akdam (Adana Province, Turkey), at 37.5515 °N, 35.5937 °E, m 932 a.s.l. MCCI-R 1678. A specimen collected on 24 May 2012 0.7 km SSW of Akarca Koyu (Adana Province, Turkey) at 37.5615 °N, 35.6367 °E, m 736 a.sl. Diagnosis. B. alexandri sp. nov. is easily distinguishable from the allopatric B. strauchi bedriagae by having a low number of precloacal pores (usually 3 + 3, more rarely 3 + 2 or 2 + 2, in a single specimen MCCI-R 1678: 4 + 4; N = 8), widely separated by two preanal scales, while B. s. bedriagae has 10 – rarely 8 - precloacal pores arranged in a continuous row or very rarely separated by a single scale. Moreover B. alexandri has three infralabials, instead of two of B. s. bedriagae. Also B. s. strauchi has the precloacal pores widely separated, but the number is higher than in B. alexandri, since it has 4 + 4 precloacal pores in 18 out of 19 examined specimens. There are no obvious morphological differences between B. alexandri and B. aporus, which differ by having more body annuli, less dorsal segments and ventral segments at midbody. The larger specimen (MCCI-R 1635 / 1) has a SVL = 200 mm, a size reached also by other taxa of the B. strauchi complex (Alexander 1966). Colour in life goes from grey to black; large specimens show more or less depigmented areas of the body (Fig. 6). Genetically, B. alexandri is clearly differentiated from the other two species, appearing as a distinct, strongly monophyletic unit in the mitochondrial phylogeny. The genetic divergence between this species and B. strauchi and B. aporus is very high (mean p -distance values are 12.7 % and 10.3 %, respectively), equal to or above the species-level when compared to Blanus species-pairs and other squamate reptiles for the same molecular marker (PRLR). The populations of B. alexandri are also genetically distinct on the basis of an independent nuclear marker, showing no apparent gene-flow, i.e. heterozygotes or shared alleles. Description of the holotype. Snout-vent length 162 mm, tail length 18.0 mm, head length 7.8 mm, head width 5.7 mm, prefrontal length 3.0 mm, prefrontal width 3.0 mm, 110 body annuli, 18 caudal annuli, 3 + 3 precloacal pores, 17 dorsal body segments and 17 ventral body segments. The prefontral scale is large, hardly wider than longer. The nostrils open in the anterior third of the nasal scale that is the first and bigger of the three supralabials; the second supralabial enters the prefrontal scale; the third supralabial scale is the smaller. The small ocular scales are in contact with five scales, including the prefrontal, the first and second supralabial. Following the prefontral plate there are three pairs of quadrangular plates on the occipital region, their size decreasing from anteriors to posteriors. The mental plate is a little bit bigger than the postmental. Infralabials three, the first smaller and the third bigger. Between the second and third infralabials and the postmental scale there are two post-genial rows of four (the anterior) and five (the posterior) quadrangular scales. The lateral shields of the first post-genial row is in very narrow contact with the postmental shield. Scales on the neck are smaller than the dorsal ones; the first rows are quadrangular or slightly wider than long; the scales on the trunk are elongated, the dorsal narrower than the ventral. The lateral sulci are well marked and the dorsal sulcus is visible from about 1 / 8 of the SVL until the proximal part of the tail. Colour in alcohol is greyish with pinkish intersegmental sutures, the vent is ligher than the dorsum. Variation. Variation in measurements and scale counts and measurements is shown in Table 4. The arrangement of scales is variable, also for scale arrangement diagnostic for other taxa (i.e. B. s. strauchi and B. s. bedriagae), as already stated by Alexander (1966). Large specimens are usually less coloured and can be partially depigmentated (i.e. MCCI-R 1635 / 1). Distribution. Specimens genetically identified occur between Akdam (Adana province) in the west, and Karalar (Şırnak province) in the east. It is likely that the populations of northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon belong to this species. Derivatio nominis. The species is named in honour of A. Allan Alexander, who made the most valuable study on the Blanus strauchi complex and realized that the eastern populations could be distinguished from the Cilician taxon aporus.Published as part of Sindaco, Roberto, Kornilios, Panagiotis, Sacchi, Roberto & Lymberakis, Petros, 2014, Taxonomic reassessment of Blanus strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884) (Squamata: Amphisbaenia: Blanidae), with the description of a new species from south-east Anatolia (Turkey), pp. 311-326 in Zootaxa 3795 (3) on pages 321-322, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3795.3.6, http://zenodo.org/record/23093
Genome-wide phylogeny of subterranean blind mole rats Spalacinae (Gray 1821)
No full textThe large- and small-bodied subterranean blind mole rats (BMRs) of the subfamily Spalacinae are known for their remarkable geographic chromosomal diversity and cryptic speciation, but the phylogenetic history of the group remains obscure. We used partial mtDNA and genome-wide SNP markers obtained by ddRAD-seq to reconstruct a robust phylogeny that extends over the entire BMR geographic range, including multiple populations for which the molecular data were obtained for the first time. A conservative species delimitation approach was applied hierarchically, starting at the level of subfamily and then at each Molecular Taxonomic Unit (MOTU) revealed henceforth. This confirmed the monophyly of the genus Spalax, the ‘species complexes’ Nanospalax ehrenbergi and N. leucodon, but not the N. xanthodon complex, which included two ancient Anatolian lineages, one of them (N. cilicicus Méhelÿ 1909) predating the divergence of the European N. leucodon. The inference of biogeographic history and dating based on the molecular clock pointed to Southern Anatolia and the Northern Levant as the most likely areas of the earliest divergence within the small-bodied BMR at the beginning of Pleistocene. The Spalax-Nannospalax split occurred in mid-late Pliocene. The two main emerging phylogeographic patterns in BMR were (1) high degree of relictualism of most lineages, which currently possess small fragmented ranges and high levels of genetic polymorphism and (2) more recent expansion of a fewer lineages that have large continuous ranges but show low levels of genetic variation.Mitsainas GP, Borowski Z, Georgiakakis P, Henttonen H, Lymberakis P, Schley L, Youlatos D, editors. Book of abstracts: IX European Congress of Mammalogy (ECM9); 2025 Mar 31 - Apr 4; Patras, Greece. European Mammal Foundation; 2025. p. 163
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Genetic differentiation of Yellow-Necked mice (Apodemus flavicollis) in the urbanised forests of Belgrade, Serbia
No full textUrbanisation transforms natural environments into urban landscapes. Habitat fragmentation, degradation, and loss threaten native populations, reducing their size and making them more vulnerable to stochastic processes. Limited gene flow and increased genetic drift become particularly pronounced in species ecologically tied to these fragmented habitats. The yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis), inhabiting forest ecosystems, is a suitable model organism for studying the effects of habitat fragmentation in a large city. We used ten microsatellite loci to investigate the genetic diversity and structure of A. flavicollis populations affected by urbanisation. Between 2019 and 2024, 303 individuals were sampled in Belgrade, from four urban and four peri-urban forest sites and one non-urban (natural) forest. We hypothesised that urban populations would be more isolated and have reduced genetic diversity and that populations on the opposite sides of the Sava River (natural barrier) would show greater genetic differentiation. Our results revealed high levels of heterozygosity (0.726-0.853) across populations. Pairwise Fst values ranged from 0.0047 to 0.032, and although low, they were significant among all population pairs. The Mantel test did not reveal significant correlation between the genetic and geographic distance, suggesting that observed differentiation might be result of urbanisation, rather than distance. Bayesian clustering analysis identified five genetic clusters. Four clusters corresponded to urban populations closest to the city centre, while the fifth encompassed all peri-urban and the non-urban populations. Despite the significant influence of urban barriers on genetic differentiation, the Sava River, as a natural barrier, did not significantly restrict gene flow and had no detectable impact on genetic diversity in A. flavicollis. These findings highlight the significant role of urbanisation in shaping population genetic structure and underscore the resilience of A. flavicollis to natural barriers in contrast to anthropogenic fragmentation.Mitsainas GP, Borowski Z, Georgiakakis P, Henttonen H, Lymberakis P, Schley L, Youlatos D, editors. Book of abstracts: IX European Congress of Mammalogy (ECM9); 2025 Mar 31 - Apr 4; Patras, Greece. European Mammal Foundation; 2025. p. 311
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Overcoming the challenges in cryptic species recognition – the case of the strictly protected European lesser blind mole rat
No full textWildlife monitoring can be a challenge when speciation is not always followed by morphological changes, i.e. cryptic species, the recognition of which is the first necessary step. Here, we present the case of the subterranean rodent European lesser blind mole rat (BMR) Nannospalax leucodon supersp. which comprises more than 20 chromosomal forms, five of which occur in Serbia and are strictly protected by law. Despite reproductive isolation and phylogenetic distance confirmed among these five chromosomal forms/cryptic species, they are not officially designated as species due to morphological convergence. From a conservation perspective, it is essential to monitor their populations and describe their distribution areas. Our approach combines karyotyping with molecular genetic species identification and sex determination. Since all known BMR's karyotyping protocols required animal sacrifices, we developed the only possible non-lethal sampling method using finger snips followed by the safe return of animals to their original underground systems. Additionally, standard procedures for mammalian fibroblast growth were not applicable due to the specific cell culture characteristics related to BMR’s resistance to cancer. The composition of the complete medium followed the standard fibroblast protocol, with minor modifications. However, the karyotyping protocol (colchicine, ethidium bromide and the type of hypotonic solution) was significantly changed compared to other rodent species. For rapid and reliable species identification, we developed the Inter Simple Sequence Repeat ˗ PCR profiling technique. Of 11 different ISSR primers tested for the presence of species-specific DNA fragments, three primers provided informative DNA profiles that ensured reliable and unambiguous recognition of analysed cryptic species. Sex of each individual was determined through PCR-based sry determination presented as sry marker presence/absence. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of these methods and provide a reproducible model for monitoring other cryptic species. This research underscores the importance of non-lethal genetic monitoring for biodiversity conservation.Mitsainas GP, Borowski Z, Georgiakakis P, Henttonen H, Lymberakis P, Schley L, Youlatos D, editors. Book of abstracts: IX European Congress of Mammalogy (ECM9); 2025 Mar 31 - Apr 4; Patras, Greece. European Mammal Foundation; 2025. p. 297
Are five cryptic species of the lesser blind mole rat Nannospalax leucodon morphologically uniform or not?
No full textCryptic species are defined as morphologically uniform but phylogenetically distinct species. The superspecies of the European lesser blind mole rat Nannospalax leucodon (Spalacidae, Rodentia) is characterised by a pronounced karyotypic variability, representing a complex of more than 20 chromosomal forms. For seven reproductively isolated and genetically distinct, a classification as cryptic species has been proposed, although the literature on their morphological similarities/differences is not particularly extensive. We investigated variation in the ventral and dorsal cranial views of five cryptic N. leucodon subspecies (N. l. hungaricus, N. l. serbicus, N. l. montanoserbicus, N. l. syrmiensis, N. l. makedonicus) by applying two-dimensional geometric morphometric methods and found statistically significant size and shape differences in both cranial views. However, as there is also significant sexual size and shape dimorphism, interspecific comparisons were performed separately for each sex. Statistically significant size differences were observed between the males of the different cryptic species in both cranial views but not between the females. Statistically significant shape differences were found among the cryptic species in both sexes and in both cranial views. However, after the pairwise post-hoc tests, only the dorsal cranium remained informative in terms of shape variation between the cryptic species. In males, only two pairwise comparisons (N. l. montanoserbicus-hungaricus, N. l. montanoserbicus-syrmiensis) were statistically significant, whereas in females all but three pairwise comparisons (N. l. serbicus-hungaricus, N. l. serbicus-makedonicus, N. l. serbicus-syrmiensis) were statistically significant. We found that most of the cryptic N. leucodon subspecies examined here are not morphologically indistinguishable. Moreover, the phenetic relationships among them, inferred from variation in dorsal cranial shape, are largely consistent with their phylogenetic relationships. This also suggests that different parts of the skull exhibit different degrees of morphological variability and lability, i.e. the tendency of morphological structure to evolve.Mitsainas GP, Borowski Z, Georgiakakis P, Henttonen H, Lymberakis P, Schley L, Youlatos D, editors. Book of abstracts: IX European Congress of Mammalogy (ECM9); 2025 Mar 31 - Apr 4; Patras, Greece. European Mammal Foundation; 2025. p. 157
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