Glis persicus ( Erxleben 1777 )

Kryštufek, Boris, Naderi, Morteza, Janžekovič, Franc, Hutterer, Rainer, Bombek, Dominik & Mahmoudi, Ahmad, 2021, A taxonomic revision of (Rodentia) fat dormice, genus Glis, Mammalia (Warsaw, Poland) 85 (4), pp. 362-378 : 373-374

3.5 Glis persicus ( Erxleben 1777) – Iranian fat dormouse

Sciurus persicus Erxleben 1777: 417 . Type locality is “ … in Persiae provincia Gilan [in the Iranian Province of Gilan]”, subsequently restricted to “Rasht” “ Iran: Ghilan [Gilan] Province” ( Lay 1967: 193).

M. glis caspius Satunin 1905: 55 . Two topotypes were collected “въ Чулiйскомъѣ ущель въ 40 верстахъ отъ Асхабада [in the Chuli George , 40 versts (= 42.6 km) from Ashgabat]” (p. 56), Turkmenistan.

M. glis caspicus Satunin 1905 –1906: 54. Unjustified emendation of caspius Satunin (cf. Pavlinov and Rossolimo 1987: 147).

Glis glis petruccii Goodwin 1939: 1 . Type locality is “ Gouladah foothills of the Kurkhud Mountains, District Bujnurd, northeastern Iran; alt. about 3000 feet [915 m]”.

Erxleben’ s name is occasionally applied to the Caucasian squirrel Sciurus anomalus Güldenstädt, 1785 ( Gromov et al. 1963: 277; Kuznetzov 1944: 281; Martirosyan and Papanyan 1983: 42; Ognev 1940: 422; Trouessart 1904: 317; Vinogradov and Argyropulo 1941: 100). Already Ellerman (1940: 433) refuted such practice claiming that “there is reason to believe that this name [ S. persicus ] was based on a Dormouse, G. glis .” Note that Erxleben referred to an animal from Gilan while the Caucasian squirrel does not occupy Hyrcanian forests and is nowhere in Iran sympatric with the fat dormouse (cf. Yusefi et al. 2019).

The type of G. persicus was not selected. For reasons detailed under G. glis , the neotype should be designed also for G. persicus . The neotype should preferably originate from Mazandaran and consists of at least a skin, a skull, a tissue sample and a penis or a baculum. Since we are not aware of the existence of such a museum voucher, we refrained from designating a neotype.

Diagnosis: Identical to the Iranian lineage as retrieved in the phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial cyt b gene ( Naderi et al. 2014a). In our dataset, G. persicus has unique mutations in comparison with sequences of G. glis at 43 positions of the cyt b alignment ( Table 1). G. persicus has a longer glans penis (GpL> 12.5 mm; GpL <10.5 mm in glis ), a longer and wider baculum (BaL> 13.5 mm and BaW> 3.5 mm vs BaL <10 mm and BaW <3.0 mm in glis ), and a wider posterior extension of the premaxilla ( Figure 6D–F ).

For further comparison with G. glis , see under that species.

Distribution: Endemic to the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests in south-east Azerbaijan (south of Kura and Aras; cf. Shidlovsky 1962) and Iran as far east as the eastern-most Golestan (Yusefi et al. 2019). Known in Turkmenistan only from two syntypes of M. glis caspius Satunin ( Zykov 1991) ; the type material was lost already in 1918 ( Ognev 1947: 467).

Miscellaneous: Subspecies are not thoroughly studied. Ognev (1947: 470) recognized a single subspecies (caspius) for the entire Caspian coast between the south-east Transcaucasia and Kopet Dag. Subsequent authors followed this practice ( Gromov et al. 1963: 361; Lay 1967: 194; Shidlovsky 1962: 78), although Vietinghhoff-Riesch (1960) admitted three subspecies. Size varies between populations with large dormice in Gilan and Mazandaran ( Table 1) and small dormice in Azerbaijan (mean ± SD condylobasal length is 36.57 ± 1.412; range = 34.9–38.8 mm; n = 7); the type of petruccii is even smaller (CbL = 30 mm; Goodwin 1939: 6). Eftekhar et al. (2018) reported on the variation in mandibular shape along the Caspian coast in Iran and Ahmadi et al. (2018) retrieved a deep divergence (1.19 mya; CI = 0.55–1.9 mya) between the Iranian Western lineage (Gilan and Mazandarean) and the Iranian Eastern lineage (Golestan). A further taxonomic split in G. persicus is therefore likely.

Acknowledgments: Access to collections was granted (alphabetically; for collection acronyms see Appendix 1): Paula Jenkins (BMNH), the late William Stanley (FMNH), the late Jan Zima (IVB), Gabor Csorba (MNM), Linda Gordon (NMNH), Petr Benda (NMP), Barbara Herzig Straschil (NMW), Milan Paunović (PMBg), the late Gerhard Storch and Katrin Krohmann (SMF), Alexandra Davydova (ZIN), Vladimir Lebedev (ZMMU), and Anneke van Heteren and Richard Kraft (ZSM). The PMS collection of dormice benefitted tremendously from the enthusiastic help of traditional dormouse hunters Marjan and Andrej Zavodnik, Stane Kumelj, DuŠan Pavlin and their colleagues; a significant portion of specimens thus assembled were processed and curated by Mojca Jernejc KodriČ.

Author contributions: B.K. conceived the study, provided and elaborated material, examined museum vouchers, made part of statistical analyses, and wrote the text; M.N. provided material, examined museum vouchers, and commented the drafts; F.J. elaborated material, performed statistical tests and commented the drafts; R.H. supervised the study and commented the drafts; D.B. elaborated material; A.M. performed molecular analyses and commented the drafts.

Research funding: The study received funding support from Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije (Slovenian Research Agency) through research core funding nos. P1-0255 (B.K.), P1-0403 and J1-2457 (F.J.). Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no known conflict of interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 6: Dorsal rostrum in dormice showing the difference in relative width of the posterior extension of the nasal (1a) against the posterior extension of the premaxilla (2a; insets C and F). Top (glis lineage): A – Slovenia, Mt. Snežnik (PMS 27319); B – Turkey, Rize, Çat, Çeymakçur Yayla (ZSM 67/29 HMS); C – Italy, Monte Gargano (ZFMK 66.415). Bottom (persicus lineage): D – Iran, Golestan, Kalaleh (PMS 26297);E – Iran, Gilan, Asalem (ZSM 68.443 HMS); F – Azerbaijan, Lerik region (ZIN 71740). Bones: 1 – nasal; 2 – premaxilla; 3 – maxilla; 4 – lachrymal; 5 – frontal. Not to scale; only the right half of the rostrum is shown in insets B, C, E, and F.