Journal of Animal Diversity
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Dec 2019

An annotated checklist of the extant burrowing shrimps (infraorders Axiidea and Gebiidea) of southern waters of Iran is presented for the first time. Six species of Gebiidea and 18 species of Axiidea have been documented from the southern waters of Iran, based on published literature. The species belong to six families: Upogebiidae (6 species), Axiidae (1), Callianassidae (5), Callianideidae (1), Callichiridae (9) and Ctenochelidae (2). The Persian Gulf with 18 species appears to be more diverse than the Gulf of Oman with four species, and two species are common in the both gulfs. Corallianassa martensi (Miers, 1884) is recorded for the first time across the Iranian coast. The present finding is based on specimens collected from the Chabahar, Gulf of Oman coast. A brief diagnosis and illustrations of C. martensi are provided.

The Saurashtra Peninsula, the largest geographical region of Gujarat state, is a prominent place for herpetofauna in the state and recent herpetological explorations have uncovered three new reptilian species from this region. However, fine scale information on the distribution status of amphibians and reptiles, and baseline information about the regional herpetological diversity of many areas of Saurashtra is still lacking. In an attempt to fill the gaps in information, we surveyed the Girnar hill complex of Gujarat state for its herpetofaunal diversity from September, 2016 to August, 2018. In all, 56 species, comprising 10 species of amphibians belonging to 7 genera and 3 families and 46 species of reptiles, belonging to 31 genera and 15 families were recorded; of which, 2 unidentified frog and 2 unidentified lizard species need further taxonomic attention.

Iran is home to three genera and four species of hedgehogs in the family Erinaceidae. One of these, Paraechinus hypomelas, is known to occur in Fars Province. In the present study, we report two new distribution records of the Long-eared Hedgehog, Hemiechinus auritus from the southwestern region of Fars Province (Varavi Mountain in Mohr and Lamerd Townships in the southern Zagros Mountains), marking a range extension for this species in southern Iran.

The amphibian fauna of Sri Lanka comprises 120 species, including 107 (~90.0%) endemic species. They belong to five families: Bufonidae, Dicroglossidae, Ichthyophiidae, Microhylidae, and Rhacophoridae. Based on distribution, we recognized five zoogeographic zones for them, Central Hills, Dry Zone, Knuckles Range, Lowland Wet Zone, and Rakwana Hills. Fifty three species were reported from the Central Hills (48 endemics [90.6%] and 42 [79.2%] threatened species). 47 species were recorded from the Lowland Wet Zone, including 36 (76.6%) endemics and 28 (59.6%) threatened species. The Knuckles Range had 25 species, of which, 19 (76.0%) were endemics and 15 (60.0%) are threatened species. 19 species were reported from Dry Zone including seven endemics (36.8%) and four threatened species (21.1%). Out of 29 species, which inhabited in the Rakwana Hills, 26 were endemics (~89.7%) including 24 (82.8%) threatened species. Species diversity along the elevational gradient was also observed with the highest species richness in the mid-elevational localities. Family Ichthyophiidae can be considered as the least studied family. Recent rediscoveries and studies have helped to reduce the number of extinct species from 21 to 18. It is speculated that some of the other extinct species have to be rediscovered or probably were misidentified as other species. About 90% of Sri Lankan amphibians occur in the regions with the highest human populations where there are established agricultural lands. Loss of habitats, competition due to anthropogenic species and invasive species, pollution (cause for malformations, parasites, and other diseases), and climate change appear to be major threats.

In this study, differing adult sex ratios of the Southern platyfish, Xiphophorus maculatus were examined for fish larval number and the survival of fish fry. Sixty adult individuals of X. maculatus were randomly divided into 5 equal groups with various male to female sex ratios of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 2:1, and 3:1, respectively. After a month when the male and female fish were kept together in different experimental groups, all the female fish became pregnant. Four different factors in each group were recorded - notably the length of pregnancy, number of fry produced, number of live fry after 40 days, and final percentage survival. According to the analyzed data, the number of fry, the number of surviving fry after 40 days, and the percentage survival were significantly higher in the first group with a male to female sex ratio of 1:1 than the other experimental groups. Our results suggest that the best sex ratio for maximum efficiency is 1:1.

The Anzali Wetland is one of the most important water bodies in Iran, due to the Caspian migratory fish spawning, located in the southern Caspian Sea basin, Iran. During a long-term monitoring program, between 1994 to 2019, identification and distribution of fish species were surveyed in five different locations inside the Anzali Wetland and eleven related rivers in its catchment area. In this study 72 fish species were recognized belonging to 19 orders, 21 families and 53 genera, including 66 species in the wetland and 53 species in the rivers. Among the 72 identified species, 34 species were resident in freshwater, 9 species were anadromous, 9 species live in estuarine and the others exist in different habitats. These species include 4 endemic species, 50 native species and 18 exotic species to Iranian waters. The number of species in different locations inside the Anzali Wetland was comparatively similar while it had high variation in different rivers. Twenty fish species are new records for the Anzali Wetland basin, including 10 estuarine, 5 ornamental, 2 riverine, one anadromous, one euryhaline and a small exotic fish.