Biosystematic study of Calomyscus mystax (Rodentia, Calomyscidae) from northeastern Iran

نویسندگان

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0086, USA

3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

4 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

doi
10.22067/ijab.v11i1.46145
چکیده

We use a combination of traditional and geometric morphometric plus phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences to confirm the presence in the Kopetdagh Mts. of northeastern Iran (North Khorasan province) of the Great Balkhan brush-tailed mouse, Calomyscus mystax Kashkarov, 1925 previously regarded as endemic to the Nibit-Dag region of southwestern Turkmenistan. We further compare C. mystax to other brush-tailed mice species in eastern and northern Iran and provide diagnostic external and craniodental characters for each and to examine the affinities with C. grandis with which C. mystax shares a similar karyotype.