The British Herpetological Society

The Herpetological Journal is the Society's prestigious quarterly scientific journal. Articles are listed in Biological Abstracts, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences,Current Contents, Science Citation Index, and Zoological Record.

 ISSN 0268-0130

2021 Impact Factor from Clarivate for the Herpetological Journal is 1.194, an increase of 0.332 from 2020.


pdf 02. Revised classification of the genus Eryx Daudin, 1803 (Serpentes: Erycidae) in Iran and neighbouring areas, based on mtDNA sequences and morphological data

646 downloads

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.33256/hj30.1.212

pp. 2-12

Authors: Naeimeh Eskandarzadeh, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani, Fatemeh Todehdehghan, Mahdi Rajabizadeh, Mohammad Zarrintab, Fadhil Abbas Rhadi & Haji Gholi Kami

Abstract: Several attempts have recently been made to elucidate taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among the species and subspecies of sand boas of the genus Eryx throughout their distribution range, with no stable consensus about their taxonomy. Here the phylogenetic relationships among the populations of Eryx in Iran and adjacent areas are studied based on two mitochondrial markers (cytb and 16S). Sixteen morphological characters were examined for evaluation of morphological differences among major populations. Ecological niche modeling was applied to demonstrate the potential distribution of the populations in Iran. ENMtools was also used to measure the degree of niche overlap among the major populations in Iran. Based on phylogenetic reconstruction and considering the genetic distances with specimens from type localities, E. tataricus is a junior synonym of E. miliaris and the subspecies rank for E. m. nogaiorum seems to be invalid. Considering the genetic distance of populations in western Iran and Iraq, and the habitat and morphological differences among the populations of Eryx in western Iran, Iraq and Egypt, the population of Eryx in western Iran is suggested as a different species from E. jaculus, named here as Eryx sp. and the ones from Iraq as Eryx cf. jaculus. Here, the evaluation and revision of taxonomic status, distribution ranges and descriptions of morphological characters of the studied species have been done.

Keywords: Eryx, taxonomy, phylogeny, mitochondrial markers, morphology, niche modeling, niche overlap

Download Access:

The latest 8 issues can be downloaded when logged in with a Herpetological Journal subscription membership.

Individual articles can be purchased for download.

Older issues and occasional Open Access articles are available for public download

Submissions:

For further information and submission guidelines please see our Journal Instructions to Authors

pdfBHS Ethics Policy

IMPORTANT NOTE - JUNE 2020

Please note that as from Volume 31 Number 1 (January 2021) on, the Herpetological Journal will be available as an online publication only - the last print edition will be Volume 30 Number 4.   

Aligning with this change, it is now no longer possible to purchase a subscription that includes a print copy of the HJ.  All members who have existing HJ print subscriptions that remain active as at end June 2020 will receive the full four 2020 print editions.  New subscribers or renewals after this time will only have option to subscribe to the online only subscription package.  Subscription pricing has been amended to reflect the content changes.

 

Search Publications