Global protected areas as refuges for amphibians and reptiles under climate change

Protected Areas (PAs) are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. Here, we collated distributional data for >14,000 (~70% of) species of amphibians and reptiles (herpetofauna) to perform a global assessment of the conserva- tion effectiveness of PAs using species distribution models. Our analyses reveal that >91% of herpetofauna species are currently distributed in PAs, and that this proportion will remain unaltered under future climate change. Indeed, loss of species’ distributional ranges will be lower inside PAs than outside them. Therefore, the proportion of effectively protected species is predicted to increase. However, over 7.8% of species currently occur outside PAs, and large spatial conservation gaps remain, mainly across tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, and across non-high-income countries. We also predict that more than 300 amphibian and 500 reptile species may go extinct under climate change over the course of the ongoing century. Our study highlights the importance of PAs in providing herpetofauna with refuge from climate change, and suggests ways to optimize PAs to better conserve biodiversity worldwide

A new genus and species of gekkonid lizard (Squamata: Gekkota: Gekkonidae) from Hormozgan Province with a revised key to gekkonid genera of Iran

Safaei-Mahroo, Barbod, Ghaffari, Hanyeh, Anderson, Steven C. (2016): A new genus and species of gekkonid lizard (Squamata: Gekkota: Gekkonidae) from Hormozgan Province with a revised key to gekkonid genera of Iran. Zootaxa 4109 (4): 428-444, DOI: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4109.4.

A new species of Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkota: Gekkonidae) from Qara Dagh Mountains, Kurdistan Region, with a key to the genus in Iraq

Safaei-Mahroo, Barbod, Ghaffari, Hanyeh, Ghafoor, Aram, Amini, Saywan (2017): A new species of Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkota: Gekkonidae) from Qara Dagh Mountains, Kurdistan Region, with a key to the genus in Iraq. Zootaxa 4363 (3): 377-392, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4363.3.

S1 Satellite DNA confirms the specific rank of Rana pseudodalmatina Eiselt & Schmidtler, 1971

S1 satellite from Palaearctic brown frogs, genus Rana (Ranidae) is the only satellite DNA family in which the ‘most common sequence’ (MCS) and overall variability of repetitive units in the genome has been determined. Both fea- tures are species-specific in all European frogs and the same applies to species including their subspecies. This indicates that they were established when each species was forming and remained unchanged to the present. We previously found that both features were the same in all Anatolian taxa (Rana macrocnemis, R. camerani, R. holtzi, R. tavasensis), suggesting that they belong to a single species, R. macrocnemis. In this study we characterized S1 satellite DNA from R. pseudodalma­ tina from Iran. Southern blots, quantitative dot blots, and FISH analyses produced results similar to those obtained from Anatolian taxa. However, all R. pseudodalmatina specimens contain S1a repetitive units (477 bp) with the same MCS and overall genomic variability that are both different from those of Anatolian taxa, indicating that they belong to a distinct species. S1a MCS from R. pseudodalmatina is more homologous to the corresponding MCSs from all European species than that of R. macrocnemis from which it differs in 22 positions. Our results provide relevant conclusions on the useful- ness and limitations of the use of satellite DNA sequences in taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses

Identifying suitable habitats and current conservation status of a rare and elusive reptile in Iran: Supplementary Material

<p>Knowledge gaps regarding species distribution and abundance are great in remote regions with political instability, and they might be even larger concerning elusive and rare species. We predict the potential distribution for <i>Hierophis andreanus,</i> a poorly known endemic snake in the Iranian Plateau, and assess its conservation status in relation to existing protected areas. We used a maximum entropy modeling tool and Mahalanobis distance to produce an ensemble species distribution model. The most suitable habitats where located mainly in mountain ranges and adjacent areas of Iran and Afghanistan. Mean temperature and slope were the most important predictors for our models. Furthermore, just five localities for <i>H. andreanus</i> were inside the Iranian protected areas. A 10 km expansion from existing boundaries of protected areas in all directions would double protected localities to 10, and a 20 km buffer would result in 13 protected localities. Our findings are particularly valuable to select locations to conduct new surveys and produce a more reliable estimate of current population size to improve conservation and management for this reptile in the Irano-Anatolian region.</p

The Herpetofauna of Iran: Checklist of Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation Status

WOS: 000368218100002We present an annotated checklist for a total 241 reptiles and 22 amphibians including 5 frogs, 9 toads, 7 newts and salamanders, 1 crocodile, 1 worm lizard, 148 lizards, 79 snakes and 12 turtles and tortoises, includes the most scientific literature up to August 2014 and also based on several field surveys conducted in different Provinces of Iran from 2009 to 2014. We present an up-to-dated checklist of reptiles and amphibians in Iran. We provide a comprehensive listing of taxonomy, names, distribution and conservation status of all amphibians and reptiles of Iran. This checklist includes all recognized named taxa, English names for classes, orders, families, species, subspecies along with Persian names for species, including indication of native and introduced species. For the first time we report two non-native introduced reptiles from natural habitats of Iran. Of the total 22 species of amphibians in Iran, 6 (27.2%) are endemic and of the total 241 species of reptiles, 55 (22.8%) are endemic. Of the 22 amphibians species in Iran, 3 (13%) are Critically Endangered, 2 (9%) are Vulnerable and of the 241 reptile species 3 (1.2%) are Critically Endangered, 4 (1.6%) are Endangered and 10 (4.1%) are Vulnerable. Accordingly, this paper combines significant aspects of taxonomy, common names, conservation status and distribution of the Iranian herpetofauna

Global Protected Areas as refuges for amphibians and reptiles under climate change

Protected Areas (PAs) are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. Here,we collated distributional data for >14,000 (~70% of) species of amphibians and reptiles (herpetofauna) to perform a global assessment of the conservation effectiveness of PAs using species distribution models. Our analysesreveal that >91% of herpetofauna species are currently distributed in PAs, andthat this proportion will remain unaltered under future climate change.Indeed, loss of species’ distributional ranges will be lower inside PAs than outside them. There fore, the proportion of effectively protected species is predicted to increase. However, over 7.8% of species currently occur outside PAs, and large spatial conservation gaps remain, mainly across tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, and across non-high-income countries.We also predict that more than 300 amphibian and 500 reptile species may goextinct under climate change over the course of the on going century. Our study highlights the importance of PAs in providing herpetofauna with refuge from climate change, and suggests ways to optimize PAs to better conserve biodiversity worldwide.Fil: Mi, Chunrong. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Ma, Liang. Sun Yat-sen University; ChinaFil: Yang, Mengyuan. Westlake University; China. Zhejiang University; ChinaFil: Li, Xinhai. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Meiri, Shai. Universitat Tel Aviv; IsraelFil: Roll, Uri. Ben Gurion University of the Negev; IsraelFil: Oskyrko, Oleksandra. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. Taras Shevchenko National University Of Kyiv; UcraniaFil: Pincheira Donoso, Daniel. The Queens University of Belfast; IrlandaFil: Harvey, Lilly P.. University of Nottingham; Estados UnidosFil: Jablonski, Daniel. Univerzita Komenského V Bratislave; EslovaquiaFil: Safaei Mahroo, Barbod. Pars Herpetologists Institute; IránFil: Ghaffari, Hanyeh. University Of Kurdistan; IránFil: Smid, Jiri. Charles University; República Checa. Národní Muzeum; República ChecaFil: Jarvie, Scott. Otago Regional Council; Nueva ZelandaFil: Kimani, Ronnie Mwangi. National Museums Of Kenya; KeniaFil: Masroor, Rafaqat. Pakistan Museum Of Natural History; PakistánFil: Kazemi, Seyed Mahdi. Zagros Herpetological Institute; IránFil: Nneji, Lotanna Micah. University of Princeton; Estados UnidosFil: Fokoua, Arnaud Marius Tchassem. Université de Yaoundé I; CamerúnFil: Tasse Taboue, Geraud C.. Ministry Of Scientific Research And Innovation-cameroon; CamerúnFil: Bauer, Aaron. Villanova University; Estados UnidosFil: Nogueira, Cristiano. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Meirte, Danny. Royal Museum For Central Africa; BélgicaFil: Chapple, David G.. Monash University; AustraliaFil: Avila, Luciano Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; ArgentinaFil: Ribeiro Júnior, Marco Antônio. Universitat Tel Aviv; IsraelFil: Torres Carvajal, Omar. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador; EcuadorFil: Ron, Santiago R.. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador; EcuadorFil: Itescu, Yuval. Leibniz - Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries; Alemania. Freie Universität Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Wilcove, David S.. Princeton School Of Public And International Affairs; Estados Unidos. University of Princeton; Estados Unido