Iranian edible dormouse
| Iranian edible dormouse | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Gliridae |
| Genus: | Glis |
| Species: | G. persicus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Glis persicus (Erxleben, 1777)
| |
The Iranian edible dormouse or Iranian fat dormouse (Glis persicus) is a species of dormouse native to Western and Central Asia. It is one of only two species in the genus Glis.
Taxonomy[edit]
It was long considered conspecific with the European edible dormouse (G. glis) until a 2021 phylogenetic study supported it being a distinct species. The American Society of Mammalogists has accepted these results.[1]
It is thought to have diverged from G. glis during a fragmentation of the ancestral Glis population (likely triggered by the Messinian salinity crisis) during the late Miocene, about 5.74 million years ago. Despite being restricted to a relatively small refugium on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, it managed to persist in this refugium for millions of years, throughout all of the Pliocene and the glacial-interglacial dynamics of the Pleistocene.[2][3]
Significant genetic divergence also occurs within this species; populations from eastern Iran and western Iran display a deep divergence of about 1.19 million years ago. This indicates that further splitting is likely within G. persicus.[2]
Distribution[edit]
It is restricted to the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests ecoregion, which served as a likely refugium for it during the original range fragmentation of Glis. It ranges from southernmost Azerbaijan to throughout most of Iran's Caspian Sea coast, and into Turkmenistan.[2]
Description[edit]
Most members of this species have a largely black tail, in contrast to the greyish tails of most of G. glis (aside from Italian populations, which also have blackish tails).[2]
References[edit]
- ^ "Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
- ^ a b c d Kryštufek, Boris; Naderi, Morteza; Janžekovič, Franc; Hutterer, Rainer; Bombek, Dominik; Mahmoudi, Ahmad (2021-07-01). "A taxonomic revision of fat dormice, genus Glis (Rodentia)". Mammalia. 85 (4): 362–378. doi:10.1515/mammalia-2020-0161. ISSN 1864-1547.
- ^ Naderi, Gholamreza; Kaboli, Mohammad; Koren, Toni; Karami, Mahmoud; Zupan, Sara; Rezaei, Hamid R.; Krystufek, Boris (2014-04-01). "Mitochondrial evidence uncovers a refugium for the fat dormouse (Glis glis Linnaeus, 1766) in Hyrcanian forests of northern Iran". Mammalian Biology. 79 (3): 202–207. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2013.12.001. ISSN 1616-5047.