نشریه تاکسونومی و بیوسیستماتیک
سال سیزدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 49، زمستان 1400)

This study was conducted to investigate the morphological patterns of Alburnus sellal in the sub-basins of little Zab and Sirvan rivers, Tigris river drainage using geometric morphometric method. A total of 110 specimens (60 from the little Zab River, West Azerbaijan province and 50 from the Sirvan River, Kurdistan Province) were caught using an electrofishing device. Using TpsDig2 software, 14 landmark-points were defined and digitized on the 2D images of the specimens. The data was analyzed and compared using multivariate principal component analysis (PCA), discriminant function analysis (DFA) and Hoteling t-test. The results of the DFA confirmed the morphological separation of the studied populations. Wireframe based on the consensus body shape was separated the two populations based on the head size, body depth and caudal peduncle length charatrestics. The results of this study showed a habitat-dependent morphological plasticity of A. sellal. The results showed a habitat-dependent morphological plasticity of A. sellal.

Phytoplasmas are specialized prokaryotes and obligate parasites of plant and insect vectors. Because these organisms are not culturable in vitro, many of the conventional phenotypic tests used for the taxonomy of cultured maillots are not applicable to phytoplasmas. This indicates the importance of molecular and phylogenetic properties in relation to phenotypic properties in determining the taxonomic position of phytoplasmas. In the last decade, methods based on biology and molecular genetics, such as comparing the nucleotide sequence of a portion of ribosomal RNA, have made it possible to establish evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships between different isolates of phytoplasmas with each other and with other prokaryotes. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of a part of the 16S rRNA gene or the 16S-23S and tRNA-Ile gene regions can still be used to analyze a large number of unknown (large-scale) phytoplasmas. Subgroup clustering is done using less conserved regions, such as the ribosomal protein-coding gene and the 16S and 23S intergenic, the general cpn60 target gene, the SecA coding gene, the secY gene, the ribosomal protein (rp) gene, and the tuf gene.

Phylogenetic inference is a keystone in evolutionary biology research, providing the foundations for thinking and answering a wide range of questions, from population dynamics to species classification statistically. Barbastelle bats have geographically isolated populations, and the possibility of cryptic species within the distribution range of this genus has been predicted in previous studies. Previously, different populations of Barbastelle bats in Iran were assigned to two species: 1) Caspian Barbastelle (Barbastella caspica), and 2) European Barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus). In the present study, the phylogeny of the Egyptian Barbastelle population in Qazvin province in Iran was investigated. Molecular phylogeny of Egyptian barbastelle which based on last findings thought to belong to the Caspian Barbastelle was compared with other taxa of this genus based on the mitochondrial COI gene. The results of the study showed that the populations of the southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains and possibly the populations of central and western Iran cannot be classified as Caspian Barbastelle. Rather, from a Phylogenetic point of view and based on the observed genetic similarity, this population is closer to the Egyptian form (Barbastella leucomelas) of this genus.

Bazarjan region with an area of 31197 hectares in the north of Tafresh city is between 49˚ 59ʹ to 49˚ 50ʹ east longitude and 34˚ 56ʹ to 34˚ 31ʹ north latitude. The present study aimed to investigate the flora, life form, and the chorological status of vegetation in the Bazarjan region, Markazi. The results of the study of the flora of the region showed that there were 293 species of 61 families and 208 genera in this region. The Brassicaceae and Asteraceae with 41 and 38 taxa were the largest families and Astragalus with 14 and Alyssum with 7 species, respectively, were the largest genera in the region. The life form of the collected plants was studied according to Raunkiaer classification, which showed 37.54 % of the Therophytes, 24.91 % of the Hemicryptophytes, 19.11 % of Chamaephytes, 11.94 % of Geophyte, 4.77 % of Phanerophyte, and a small percentage of Helophyte and Epiphytes. The highest percentage of the geographical distribution of plants in the region was related to Irano-Turanian vegetative elements with 60.4%. After that, 11.26% of the plants in the region were from Irano-Turanian and Europe-Siberian elements, 5.8% of the plants were from Irano-Turanian and Sahara-Sindi, and 4.43% were Iranian-Turanian and Mediterranean. Also, 31 species were endemic to Iran and 30 species were endangered.

Astragalus L. (Fabaceae) with over 2500 species is the largest genus of flowering plants on Earth. Astragalus sect. Alopecuroidei DC. with over 50 species is one of the largest sections of the Old World Astragalus represented by 27 taxa in Iran. In the present study, 26 taxa of sect. Alopecuroidei and Astragalus caraganae of sect. Astragalus, as well as two species of sect. Chronopus as outgroups were selected. Seventeen morphological characters for these 29 taxa based on phylogeny of nrDNA ITS and cpDNA trnH-psbA were analyzed. The Maximum Parsimony method was used to construct a phylogenetic tree. The matrix of morphological characters was mapped on the molecular tree using Mesquite version 2.74. The results of the study indicate that, among the previously proposed subsections of Alopecuroidei, subsect. Bibracteolati is monophyletic, but the subsect. Microtropi and Megalotropi are not monophyletic. The evolutionary trend of morphological characters based on molecular phylogeny shows that three characters including the existence of bracteole, length of peduncle, and length of keel limb are synapomorphies for some clades of the Alopecuroidei sect. The other characters show homoplasy (parallelism and reversal) within this section.

Up to now, five genera and seven species of fungivorous thrips of the Idolothripinae (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) have been recorded from Iran: Allothrips, Compsothrips, Megathrips, Nesothrips, and Pseudocryptothrips with 1, 2, 2, 1, and 1 species, respectively. In this study, the second species of the genus Nesothrips Kirkaldy namely N. lativentris (Karny, 1913), which was collected from Ilam province is newly recorded for the fauna of Iran. Diagnostic morphological characters and the geographical distribution of the newly recorded species are discussed.