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Biodiversity

www.biodiversityjournal.com

Journal

ISSN 2039-0394 (Print Edition)
ISSN 2039-0408 (Online Edition)

JUNE 2016, 7 (2): 201-294

with the support of

FOR NATURALISTIC RESEARCH

w o r I c
biodiversity
association

o n I u s

AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

•*%*

V *

Campanula laciniata L. - Astypalea, Dodecanese (Aegean Sea)

BIODIVERSITY JOURNAL
2016, 7 (2): 201-294

Quaternly scientific journal

edited by Edizioni Danaus,

viaV. Di Marco 43, 90143 Palermo, Italy

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Official authorization no. 40 (28. 1 2.20 1 0)

ISSN 2039-0394 (Print Edition)

ISSN 2039-0408 (Online Edition)

Campanula laciniata L. (Campanulaceae) - Perennial with a thick woody base.
Stem stout, erect (10-60 cm). Basal leaves several, spathulate to oblanceolate,
laciniate or deeply crenate, puberulent or subglabrous. Cauline ones ovate, slightly
laciniate or dentate, sessile or subsessile. Flowers in a short, dense, cylindrical
raceme. Calyx teeth triangular, much shorter than corolla tube. Corolla broadly
campanulate, open, 40-50 mm wide at apex, sky-blue, often with whitish centre.
Lobes broadly triangular. Style exserted. Campanula laciniata is an Aegean
endemic present in the two floristic regions Kik (Cyclades) and KK (Crete and
Karpathos). Until now its presence has been reported for Crete, Karpathos,
Astypalea, Amorgos, Anafi, Folegandros, Sikinos and Sifnos. It's considered Rare
(R) according to the Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece
(1995) with a restricted range. Campanula laciniata is a chasmophytic plant very
impressive, that grows in scattered, small populations, with one to a few
individuals, on inaccessible calcareous vertical cliffs. Calcareous cliffs, especially
inside gorges, offer a stable and specialized habitat for chasmophytic plants. Cliff
ravines and crevices through microclimatic conditions, have constituted suitable
sites for survival of these species affected from unfavorable climatic changes,
grazing pressure and competition with other species.

Cristina Cattaneo. Via Eleonora d'Arborea 12, 00162 Roma; e-mail:
cristina.cattaneo76@libero.it

Biodiversity Journal, 2015, 7 (2): 203-214

A contribution on rodents fauna of the Jaz Murian depression,
southeast Iran

Khajeh Asghar 1 , Darvish Jamshid 2 & Razmi Gholam Reza 3

'Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashahd, Mashhad, Iran
2 Applied Zoology Institute, Rodentology Research Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashahd, Mashhad, Iran
’Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
* Corresponding author, e-mail: darvishj2001@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT The Jaz Murian depression in the southeast of Iran bounded by deserts and mountains is a

special corridor for penetration of Arabian and Indian fauna. The region demonstrates harsh
desert climate. This study was designed to reveal rodent diversity of the region in the light of
geographic features. Totally, 127 specimens belonging to 5 families and 14 genera and 15
species were captured using live-traps and hand-net. As a result, the depression enjoys Oriental
and Ethiopian elements (Acomys dimidiatus Cretzschemar, 1826, Gerbillus nanus Blanford,
1875 and Meriones libycus Lichtenstein, 1823) which could pass Arabian deserts penetrating
Iran from northern shores of Persian Gulf. Also, the region is a penetration route for Oriental
species such as Tatera indica Hardwicke, 1807, Golunda ellioti Gray, 1837, Meriones
hurrianae (Jerdon, 1867) and Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758. The Jaz Murian depression is
considered as the southernmost boundary of distributional range of Apodemus witherbyi
Thomas, 1902 in the world. The Jaz Murian depression is supposed as a cross road between
Palaearctic, Ethiopian and Oriental realms.

KEY WORDS The Jaz Murian depression; Rodent’s diversity; Palaearctic; Ethiopian and Oriental realms.

Received 03.12.2016; accepted 19.01.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

Knowledge about faunal composition of a re-
gion will aid in mantaining and controlling its biod-
iversity and clarifying the evolutionary history of
the area. Also, it can provide information about
communication routes of animals between realms
and lead to postulate filters and barriers (Darvish et
al., 2014). Specially, these kinds of explorations in
combination with geographical and topographic in-
formation can help us to postulate the processes
through which diversification of new lineages and
endemicity occur. Small mammals such as rodents

are first reaching mammals to isolated ecosystems
and predecessors for establishing populations by
dispersal after vicariance events (Lomolino et al.,
2005). In addition, rodents play a key role in balan-
cing the ecosystems as common members in food
chains (Shuai et al., 2006).

Moreover, documentation of rodent’s diversity
can help preventing and controlling public health
challenges (Stenseth et al., 2003).They are known
as important pests and they are reservoirs of some
zoontic diseases (Nateghpour et al., 2013). Besides,
they may cause economic problems and damages to
agricultural crops (Schiller et al., 1999). So, investi-

204

Khajeh Asghar etalii

gations shedding light on diversity and species rich-
ness of rodents can provide valuable information
from biogeographic, economic and medical aspects.

The Jaz Murian depression in the southeast of
Iran is a special route for exchange between Ara-
bian and Indian fauna (Wessels, 1955; Misonne,
1959). Because of hard accessibility to the region
bounded by deserts and mountains and its harsh cli-
mate some limited studies had been focused on di-
versity of mammals of the region (Blanford, 1875,
1876, 1877; Zarudny, 1896, 1898; Lay, 1967).
Etemad (1978), Firouz (1999) and Ziaie (2008)
have also reported some species of rodents inhabiting
the region in their checklists of mammals of Iran but,
some of these literature were recently revised
(Musser & Carleton, 2005) and some records were
added based on studies accomplished in Rodentology
Research Department of Ferdowsi University (Siah-
sarvie & Darvish, 2007; Karami et al., 2008; Dianat
et al., 2010; Darvish et al., 2014; Darvish et al.,
2015). In this study, rodent fauna of the Jaz Murian
depression was investigated and its diversity was
discussed in the light of biogeographic view.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study area

The Jaz Murian depression is a broad oval in the
southeast Iran covering about 25000 to 30000
square miles (Fisher, 1968). East- west extension of
Jebal Barez-Shah Savaran-Bazman Mountain
chains separates this depression from Lut desert in
the north. In addition, continuation of the Zagros
through Bashagerd to Makran Mountains in the
south isolated the region from coastal area of Per-
sian Gulf (Fisher, 1968). In fact, the southern part
of the region stands with mountainous range reach-
ing 4000 feet but there is a corridor in northern
Fanuj with highlands less than 2850 feet above sea
level (Harrison, 1943). The region receives two sea-
sonal streams, Halilrud (on the west) and Bampur
River (on the east) (Fisher, 1968). The depression
also receives discharge of temporary streams and
drainage of the rainfall from surrounding highlands
(Lay, 1967). Lay (1967) also described the region
as a dry land with the lowest precipitation in Iran

Figure 1. Maps of southeastern Iran with collecting sites for different specimens of rodents.

A contribution on rodents fauna of the Jaz Murian depression, southeast Iran

205

and abruptly falling temperature during nights with
the main vegetation including Acacia , Gymno-
carpus , Tamarix and Haloxylon. Based on Deblase
(1980) it is part of the Baluchestan zoogeographic
zone and Sahari-Sindi flora is the main vegetation
cover of the region (Misonne, 1959). Madjdzadeh
(2012) proposed the presence of three different
zones in the region (desert and marginal desert,
tropical zones and temperate mountainous zone). In
fact, low plains reaching high mountainous range
together provide magnificent paradoxical land-
scapes which can be seen in the region.

Sampling

The study was conducted in the Jaz Murian
depression, southeast Iran (parts of Sistan & Bal-
uchestan beside Kerman Provinces) from January
2014 to July 2015. Attributed geographical coordin-
ates were recorded using GPS and ArcGIS ver.
9.3 software was applied for preparing the map of
sampling localities (Fig. 1).

Rodents were collected using live-traps and
snack or sausage bates. Since, jerboas are not trap-
pable in live traps so we caught them with a hand
net, using a searchlight at night and motorcycle.
Collected specimens were subjected and prepared
based on mammalogical procedure established by
the American Society of mammalogists Animal
Care and Use Committee (1998). Standard vouch-
ers (skull, skin, tissues and karyotype idiograms)
were preserved in Zoology Museum of Ferdowsi
University (ZMFUM). In addition, specimens were
identified based on identification keys (Corbet,
1978) with consideration to new revisions on rodent
species of Iran (Musser & Carleton, 2005; Darvish
et al., 2006b, Darvish, 2009; Dianat et al., 2010;
Darvish et al., 2014; Darvish et al., 2015). Taxo-
nomic arrangement followed Musser and Carleton
(2005). Four external (Table 2) and eight cranial
characters were measured (Table 4) applying a
digital caliper to the nearest 0.01 mm (Instar Inc.,
Hangzhou, China). Fourteen dental characters
(Table 3) were taken using a measuring microscope
accurate to 0.001 mm. Mean and standard deviation
of characters were estimated using SPSS 16 (SPSS
Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

ABBREVIATIONS. BL: body length, TL: tail
length, FL: foot length, EL: ear length,Ml/L: length
of first upper molar, M2/L: length of second upper
molar, M3/L: length of third upper molar, Ml/W:

width of first upper molar, M2/W: width of second
upper molar, M3/W: width of third upper molar,
M/1L: length of first lower molar, M/2L: length of
second lower molar, M/3L: length of third lower
molar, M/1W: width of first lower molar, M/2W:
width of second lower molar, M/3W: width of third
lower molar, UML: length of upper tooth row,
LML: length of lower tooth row, BCH: braincase
height, RH: rostral height, ZYGW: zygomatic bre-
adth, RW: rostral width (maximum distance), IO W:
interorbital constriction, BB: Breadth of braincase,
CL: condylobasal length, BL: bulla length.

RESULTS

Totally, 127 specimens belonging to 5 families,
14 genera and 15 species were captured.

Family MURID AE
Subfamily MURINAE

1. Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758

Type locality. Uppsala, Sweden (Musser &
Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. Worldwide distribution (except
Antarctica) and commensally introduced by human
to islands (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Sardasht, Biskove;
Fariab; Bazman, Sefid Abad; Dalgan; Hudian;
Bampur, Jafar Abad, Ali Abad; Iranshahr, Tigh
Abad; Nikshahr; Fariab, Sardak-i-Sargorich;
Kahnooj; Anbar Abad, Amjaz.

Diagnostic characters. The inner tubercle of
the first loop of the first and second upper molars
is markedly curved backwards; incisors with a
denticle (Bonhomme et al., 1994; Din et al., 1996;
Darvish et al., 2006b; Darvish, 2015).

2 . Apodemus w it her by i Thomas, 1902

Type locality. Iran, Fars Province, Shul
(Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. Plains, mountain and plateau
steppes, and highland semi-deserts (not found in
desert depressions) from southern Europe, Anatolia,
the Middle East except Arabia, probably also occurs
in Afghanistan (Musser & Carleton, 2005), Darvish
et al. (2015) revealed its distributional range in Iran.

206

Khajeh Asghar etalii

Material localities. AnbarAbad, Amjaz.

Diagnostic characters. Pectoral spot; stephan-
odont first upper molar; cusp-like t7 on 2nd upper
molar; U-shaped fronto-parietal suture; posterior edge
of the palatine is straight; large t7 on the first upper
molar (Darvish et al., 2006a; Darvish et al., 2014).

3. Rattus rattus Linneaus, 1758

Type locality. Sweden, Uppsala County,
Uppsala (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. Native to Indian Peninsula, and
introduced worldwide in the temperate zone and
parts of the tropical and subantarctic zones (Musser
& Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Minab, Tarom.

SPECIES

PREVIOUS REPORTS

THIS STUDY

NO.

Jaculus blanfordi

Jaz Murian (1)

Bazman, Shandak; Bampur, Jafar
Abad; Kahnooj, Avaz Abad; Maskutan

5,7, 11, 13

Mus musculus

IranShahr (4); Jaz Murian, Nikshahr,
Kahnooj (3, 14); Jiroft, Anbar Abad
(2, 9)

Sardasht, Biskove; Fariab; Bazman;
Bazman, Sefid Abad; Dalgan; Hudian;
Bampur, Jafar Abad, Ali Abad;
Iranshahr, Tigh Abad; Nikshahr;
Fariab, Sardak-i-Sargorich; Kahnooj;
Anbar Abad, Amiaz

1,4, 5, 6, 7,

8, 10, 12, 13

Apodemus witherbyi

Anbar Abad, Amjaz (2)

AnbarAbad, Amjaz

Nesokia indica

Iran Shahr ( 1 ); Bampur (5)

Bampur, Ali Abad; Kahnooj; Anbar
Abad, Kesht-o-Sanat

7, 13, 17

Rattus rattus

Jiroft (2)

Minab, Tarom

Golunda ellioti

Jiroft, Kahnooj (1 1), (12); Anbar

Abad, Amjaz (2, 10, 12)

AnbarAbad, Amjaz

Acomys dimidi atus

Jiroft (2, 13)

Sardasht, Biskove; Kohe Hidar
village; Fanuj; Fariab

1,2, 4, 11

Meriones persicus

Iran Shahr, Nikshahr (6); Jiroft (2);
Amjaz (2)

Amjaz

Meriones libycus

Iran Shahr, Jaz Murian (1,3)

Bazman, Kargokan, Cheshm-i-
Abegarm; Hudian; Iranshahr, Tigh
Abad; Maskutan

5, 6, 8, 11

Meriones hurrianae

Nik Shahr, Ghasreghand (7)

Gerbillus nanus

Jaz Murian (1)

Minab, Tarom; Bazman, Kalgande;
Jolgechah-i-Hashem; Bampur, Jafar
Abad, Ali Abad; Iranshahr, TighAbad;
Maskutan

3, 5, 6, 7, 8,

Tatera indica

Chah-i-Dadkhoda (7), Iranshahr; Jaz
Murian, Nikshahr, Kahnooj (3, 14);
Jiroft, AnbarAbad (2, 13)

Minab, Tarom; Roodan; Bazman;
Dalgan; Jolgechah-i-Hashem; Hudian;
Bampur, Jafar Abad; Roodbar

3, 4, 5, 6, 7,

Calomyscus

hotsoni

Kohe Hidar village; Fanuj;

Anbar Abad

2, 9,17

Cricetulus

migratorius

Anbar Abad, Amjaz (2)

Anbar Abad

Micotus kermanesis

Anbar Abad

Ellobius fuscocapillus

Bashagerd (8)

Hystrix indica

Jaz Murian (7); Iranshahr (3, 13)

Observed and colleceted its spines in
Kohe Heidar village by the first author

Table 1. Sampling localities of previous reports and present study of rodents from the Jaz Murian depression. 1 : Lay, 1967; 2:
Amir Afzali et al., 2010; 3: Etemad, 1978; 4: Darvish, 2006c; 5: Zaree, 2013; 6: Missone, 1959; 7: Heptner, 1940; 8: Shenbrot
& Krosnov, 2005; 9. Haddadian Shad et al., 2016.; 10: Darvish, 2012; 11: Nazari & Farid, 1991; 12: Madjdzadeh, 2012; 13:
Firouz ,1999; 14: Ziaie, 2008.

A contribution on rodents fauna of the Jaz Murian depression, southeast Iran

207

Diagnostic characters. Tail length longer
than head and body length; ear reaches eye if pulled
down; supraorbital ridges of the skull not parallel
(Darvish, 2015).

4. Nesokia indica (Gray, 1830 in 1830-1835)

Type locality. India (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. Modem range covers Bangladesh,
N-India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria,
Saudi Arabia, Israel- Jordan, NE-Egypt, NW-China,
and Central Asia (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Bampur, Ali Abad;
Kahnooj; Anbar Abad, Kesht-o-Sanat.

Diagnostic characters. Incisors are broad;
breadth of zygomatic arcs is more than a half of the
skull length; skull is with well developed crests
(Darvish, 2015).

5 . Acomys dimidiatus Cretzschemar, 1826

Type locality. Egypt, Sinai.

Distribution. Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, Levant,
Arabian Peninsula, S-Iraq, S-Iran, and S -Pakistan
(Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Sardasht, Biskove; Kohe
Hidar village; Fanuj; Fariab.

Diagnostic characters. Dorsal pledge is
spiny; Tma is incorporated into the prelobe; on
upper first molar t3 is posterior to t2; cusps linked
with crests (Volobouev et al., 2007).

6. Golunda ellioti Gray, 1837

Type locality. India, Dharwar (Musser & Car-
leton, 2005).

Distribution. SE-Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, N- and
NE-India south through Indian peninsula to Sri
Lanka (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Anbar Abad, Amjaz.

Diagnostic characters. Upper incisors is grooved
and upper molars have special columnar structure
with high separated cusps (Darvish et al., 2012)

Taxa

MURID AE

Apodemus whiterbyi

88.50±7.81

102.00i3.84

21.00il.09

16.16i0.75

Mus musculus

72.40i8.13

74.62i8.95

16.23il.85

12.63il.18

Meriones libycus

128.53il6.19

149.54i22.67

34.23i2.52

18.07i2.01

Meriones persicus

155.10

180.60

31.20

17.00

Tatera indica

151.80il3.64

173.22il2.44

37.10i2.99

25.30i3.59

Gerbillus nanus

75.53i4.35

118.00i8.67

23.23il.09

12.07i0.86

Golunda ellioti

135i00

110.00i2.82

26.50i0.70

18.00i00

Nesokia indica

157.25i41.37

109.12i26.68

31.62i4.43

18.16i3.86

Rattus rattus

115.00i00

199.00i33.94

32.00i2.82

22.50i3.53

Acomys dimidiatus

90.50il0.24

106.18i9.80

19.38i0.50

20.00il.60

CALOMY SCIDAE

Calomyscus hotsoni

72.83i4.26

82.50i8.36

18.83i0.75

17.33il.03

DIPODIDAE

Jaculus blanfordi

123.16i7.73

205.33i49.57

67.16i3.18

25.33il.36

CRICETIDAE

Micotus kermanesis

140

Cricetulus migratorius

119

Table 2. Standard external measurements (Mean ± SD, in mm) of different species of rodents in southeast
of Iran (see the text for abbreviations). BL: body length, TL: tail length, FL: foot length, EL: ear length.

208

Khajeh Asghar etalii

Family MURID AE
Subfamily GERBILINAE

7. Meriones persicus Blanford, 1875

Type locality. Iran, Kohrud, 116 km North of
Isfahan (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. Ran, adjacent regions of Transcau-
casia, Turkey (E- Anatolia), Iraq, Turkmenistan, Afgh-
anistan and Pakistan (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Anbar Abad, Amjaz.

Diagnostic characters. Each incisor have a
groove; bullae enlarged; hind soles are bare; tail is
longer than head and body (Corbet, 1978; Darvish,
2015).

8 .Meriones libycus Lichtenstein, 1823

Type locality. Egypt, Alexandria (Musser &
Carleton, 2005).

Taxa N Ml/L M2/L M3/L M1/WM2/WM3/W M/1L M/2L M/3L M/1WM/2WM/3W LML UML

Muridae

Apodemus
w hi ter by i

1.81±

0.07

1.20±

0.04

0.93±

0.06

1.1 5±
0.06

1.06±

0.08

Mus mus cuius

1.83±

0.8

1.03±

0.05

0.64±

0.05

1.11±

0.04

0.92±

0.06

Meriones libycus

2.68±

0.41

1.50±

0.14

0.77±

0.08

1.75±

0.19

1.55±

0.18

Meriones

persicus

Tatera indica

3.18±.

1.75±

0.11

1.11±

0.12

2.39±

0.09

2.06±

0.19

Gerbillus nanus

1.85±

0.10

1.00±

0.06

0.48±

0.04

1.27±

0.06

1.07±

0.07

Golunda ellioti

2.68±

0.09

2.57±

0.06

2.39±

0.07

2.11±

2.28±

0.05

Nesokia indica

3.41±

0.35

2.34±

0.29

2.00±

0.31

3.00±

0.27

2.79±

0.34

Rattus rattus

3.08±

2.34±

0.24

1.60±

0.09

1.95±

0.14

1.83±

0.09

Acomys

dimidiatus

2.24±

0.04

1.51±

0.05

1.01±

0.04

1.53±

0.04

1.45±

0.07

Calomyscidae

Calomyscus

hotsoni

1.55±

0.06

1.22±

0.08

0.60±

0.04

1.10±

0.05

1.05±

0.03

Dipodidae

Jaculus blanfordi

1.83±

0.10

1.72±

0.09

1.39±

0.08

1.76±

0.10

1.78±

0.04

Cricetidae

Micotus

kermanesis

2.67

2.17

2.53

1.67

1.37

Cricetulus
migrator ius

1.91

1.42

1.40

1.27

0.79±

1.56±

1.1 7±

1.05±

1.07±

1.04±

H-

4.12±

3.68±

0.03

0.19

0.03

0.23

0.07

0.13

0.06

0.83

0.06

0.63±

1.43±

0.94±

0.69±

1.04±

0.93±

0.59±

3.30±

3.07±

0.15

0.11

0.09

0.07

0.08

0.05

0.17

0.15

0.86±

2.42±

1.56±

0.91±

1.80±

1.74±

1.02±

5.43±

5.39±

0.12

0.24

0.20

0.13

0.11

0.14

0.50

0.39

1.42±

2.99±

1.92±

1.29±

2.27±

2.23±

1.40±

6.44±

6.19±

0.10

0.13

0.18

0.13

0.15

0.12

0.26

0.24

0.61±

1.74±

1.1 5±

0.69±

1.23±

1.22±

0.67±

3.51±

3.48±

0.05

0.09

0.05

0.09

0.07

0.05

0.31

0.13

1.64±

2.95±

2.17±

1.73±

1.74±

1.76±

1.50±

6.80±

6.73±

0.04

0.00

0.32

0.14

0.12

0.17

0.24

0.02

0.11

2.28±

3.51±

2.48±

2.13±

2.48±

2.67±

2.06±

8.64±

8.42±

0.30

0.51

0.22

0.18

0.24

0.96

0.71

1.40±

2.68±

1.90±

1.84±

1.71±

1.79±

1.61±

6.44±

6.26±

0.12

0.16

0.11

0.04

0.06

0.13

0.14

0.77

0.73

0.92±

1 .93=1=

1.39±

1.04±

1.37±

1.38=1=

0.99±

4.5±

4.1±

0.05

0.06

0.05

0.06

0.09

0.67±

-H

1.24±

-H

o’

1.03±

1.1 3±

0.69±

3.39±

3.26±

0.03

0.06

0.05

0.03

0.02

0.12

0.15

1.31±

2.03±

2.05±

1.68±

1.67±

1.91±

1.40±

5.26±

5.46±

0.10

0.11

0.16

0.05

0.09

0.04

0.19

0.13

1.28 3.70

2.01

2.02

1.62

1.01

1.22

7.94

8.05

1.73

1.41

1.39

1.24

1.26

0.96

4.23

4.40

Table 3. Dental measurements (Mean ± SD, in mm) of different species of rodents from the Jaz Murian depression, southeast
Iran. (Data were not prepared for Meriones persicus ). Ml/L: length of first upper molar, M2/L: length of second upper
molar, M3/L: length of third upper molar, Ml/W: width of first upper molar, M2/W: width of second upper molar, M3/W:
width of third upper molar, M/1L: length of first lower molar, M/2L: length of second lower molar, M/3L: length of third
lower molar, M/1W: width of first lower molar, M/2W: width of second lower molar, M/3W: width of third lower molar,
UML: length of upper tooth row, LML: length of lower tooth row.

A contribution on rodents fauna of the Jaz Murian depression, southeast Iran

209

Distribution. North Africa through Saudi Ara-
bia, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Central
Asia to W-China; probably Anatolia (Musser &
Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Bazman, Kargokan,
Cheshm-i- Abegarm; Hudian; Iranshahr, Tigh Abad;
Maskutan.

Diagnostic characters. Soles are not bare;
claws are black (Darvish et al., 2006b).

9. Tatera indica Hardwicke, 1807

Type locality. Between Benares and Hardwar,
north of India (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. An extensive range from SE- Anato-
lia in Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait through Iran, Afgh-
anistan, and Pakistan into most of Indian Peninsula
north to S -Nepal; also Sri Lanka (Musser & Car-
leton, 2005).

Taxa

BCH

ZYGW

IOW

BB CL

Muridae

Apodemus

whiterbyi

7.92±0.35

6.21i0.45

12.70i0.35

4.32i0.22

4.26i0.15

11.55i0.20 23.30i0.92

4.97i0.65

Mus musculus

7.01±0.31

4.84i0.38

10.97i0.59

3.24i0.24

3.48i0.16

9.33i0.27 19.49il.23

3.56i0.32

Meriones libycus

13.31±0.97

8.77i0.67

20.56i0.96

4.90i0.26

6.64i0.59

17.97i0.80 33.74i2.43

15.04i0.87

Meriones

persicus

Tatera indica

14.33i0.88

10.38il.87

21.68il.78

4.49i0.30

6.75i0.33

17.77i0.53 36.70i2.79

13.82i0.97

Gerbillus nanus

9.11i0.37

6.02i0.73

13.48i0.58

3.26i0.15

4.68i0.30

12.36i0.40 22.41i0.76

10.04i0.27

Golunda ellioti

10.00i0.24

8.30i0.24

15.98i0.07

5.23i0.16

4.41i0.32

12.84i0.27 30.73i0.38

6.52i0.12

Nesokia indica

14.59il.85

12.59i2.16

25.00i3.96

7.29il.08

6.20i0.66

17.04il.31 40.05i6.84

7.86i0.99

Rattus rattus

11.31i0.43

8.86il.39

18.03il.95

5.71i0.65

5.65i0.77

15.44il.51 35.18i4.76

6.25i0.51

Acomys

dimidiatus

8.97i0.26

5.65i0.23

13.91i0.55

3.69i0.14

4.71i0.12

12.45i0.26 26.50il.30

5.28i0.28

Calomyscidae

Calomyscus

hotsoni

7.42i0.31

5.01i0.21

12.16i0.39

3.83i0.18

4.05i0.24

10.89i0.44 20.78il.22

5.44i0.32

Dipodidae

Jaculus blanfordi

14.17i0.45 8.40i0.48

23.44i0.68 5.27i0.18

12.51i0.41 22.64i0.57 31.39il.00 15.62i0.64

Cricetidae

Micotus

kermanesis

8.66

8.23

17.55

5.03

4.70

15.02 32.76

9.39

Cricetulus

migratorius

9.18

7.37

15.10

5.53

4.58

11.77 22.07

5.50

Table 4. Cranial measurements (Mean ± SD, in mm) of different species of rodents from The Jaz Murian depression, south-
east Iran. (Data were not prepared for Meriones persicus ). BCH: braincase height, RH: rostral height, ZYGW: zygomatic
breadth, RW: rostral width (maximum distance), IO W: interorbital constriction, BB: Breadth of braincase, CL: condylobasal
length, BL: bulla length.

210

Khajeh Asghar etalii

Material localities. Minab, Tarom; Roodan;
Bazman; Dalgan; Jolgechah-i-Hashem; Hudian;
Bampur, Jafar Abad; Roodbar.

Diagnostic characters. Bullae is rather small;
transvers bands of molars are separate (Corbet,
1967; Mirshamsi et al., 2007; Darvish, 2015).

10. Gevbillus nanus Blanford, 1875

Type locality. Pakistan, Gedrosia (Musser &
Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. An extensive range from the
Baluchistan region of NW-India, Pakistan, S-Afgh-
anistan, and Iran through the Arabian Peninsula,
Iraq, Levant, North Africa to Morocco, south in the
Sahara to at least and NE-Mali (Musser & Carleton,
2005).

Material localities. Minab, Tarom; Bazman,
Kalgande; Jolgechah-i-Hashem; Bampur, Jafar
Abad, Ali Abad; Iranshahr, Tigh Abad; Maskutan.

Diagnostic characters. Tail is longer than
head and body; auditory meatus with anterodorsal
rim inflated; no curtain within the meatus (Corbet,
1978; Darvish, 2015).

Family DIPODIDAE

11. Jaculus blanfordi Murray, 1884

Type locality. Bushire, Iran (Musser & Car-
leton, 2005).

Distribution. SE coast of Caspian Sea through
Turkmenistan to the Kyzylkum Desert, C-Uzbek-
istan, E- and S-Iran (Lay, 1967), S- and W- Afgh-
anistan and SW Pakistan (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Bazman, Shandak; Bam-
pur, Jafar Abad; Kahnooj, Avaz Abad; Maskutan.

Diagnostic characters. Maxillary tooth row
usually under 5 mm (Corbet, 1978; Darvish, 2015).

Family CALOMYSCIDAE

12. Calomyscus hotsoni Thomas, 1920

Type locality. W-Pakistan, W-Balochistan,
Makran Dist., Gwambulc Kaul, 50 km SW-Panjgur.

Distribution. Recorded from vicinity of type
locality and Baluchistan Province of SE-Iran
(Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Kohe Heidar; Fanuj;
Anbar Abad.

Diagnostic characters. Nasal width is nar-
row; skull is high; diastema is long; intarorbital is
narrow.

Family CRICETIDAE
Subfamily CRICETINAE

13. Cricetulus migratorius (Pallas, 1773)

Type locality. West Kazakhstan, Lower Ural
River (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Distribution. SE-Europe to Romania and Bul-
garia eastwards through Kazakhstan to S-Mongolia
and N- China southwards through Turkey and Tran-
scaucasia to Levant, Iraq, Iran (Lay, 1967), Afgh-
anistan, Pakistan and N-India (Musser & Carleton,
2005).

Material localities. Anbar Abad, Amjaz.

Diagnostic characters. Teeth are no-pris-
matic and with two rows; antero external angles of
parietal is rounded (Corbet, 1978; Darvish, 2015).

Family CRICETIDAE
Subfamily ARVICOLLINAE

14. Micotus kermanesis

Type locality.

Distribution. Dry montane steppe habitats on
isolated mountains from N slopes of Kopet-Dag
Mtns in S-Turkmenistan (Meyer et al., 1996), moun-
tains in E-Iran in the NE (Khorassan Prov., 5 km N-
Kashmar, USNM) and S (Kuh-e Laleh-Zar and
Kuh-e Hazar Mtns south of Kerman; Roguin, 1988),
and the Hindu Kush of N- Afghanistan (Ellerman,
1948; Parvan Province, Shibar Pass, FMNH).

Material localities. Anbar Abad.

Family HYSTRICIDAE

A contribution on rodents fauna of the Jaz Murian depression, southeast Iran

211

15. Hystrix indica Kerr, 1792
Type locality. India

Distribution. Transcaucasus, Asia Minor,
Israel, Arabia to S Kazakhstan and India, Sri Lanka,
Tibet (China) (Musser & Carleton, 2005).

Material localities. Kohe Heidar

DISCUSSION

The Jaz Murian depression was formed from the
Early Tertiary during the southward movement of
Makran, between continental margin of Makran and
Lut basin (Berberian & King, 1981). It was part of
Gondwana land mass possibly an extension of the
Afro- Arabian continental platform (Stocklin, 1968;
Berberian, 1976). From the biogeographic aspects,
south of Iran was known as a bridge between ori-
ental realm and African- Arabian region (known as
Ethiopian realm; Frey & Probst, 1986; Coad &
Vhlenkin, 2004; Madjnoonian et al., 2005). This
dry land surrounded by mountains and desert range
lacks endemic Iranian elements (Misonne, 1959)
and was considered as a unique zoogeographic zone
(Zarudny, 1911). Frey & Probst (1986) in their
synopsis of the vegetation of Iran accounted the
region as a Nubo-Sindian zone which was excluded
from Palaearctic parts of Iran from the phytogeo-
graphic view. Conversely, the depression enjoys
Oriental and Ethiopian elements which could pass
the Sindian plains and Arabian deserts penetrating
Iran from northern shores of Persian Gulf (Missone,
1959; Frey & Probst, 1986). In fact, during the late
Early Miocene, decline in the sea level may have
resulted in faunal exchange via some emerging
islands (Wessels, 1955).

The penetration route of African (Ethiopian) ele-
ments ( Acomys I. Geoffroy, 1838, Gerbillus Des-
marest, 1804 and Meriones Illiger, 1811) into the
region is not clear but Madjnoonian et al. (2005)
proposed Bandar Abbas through Hormoz Strait as
a paleo-corridor during Quaternary. Eastern spiny
mouse {Acomys dimidiatus ) was blocked in the
southeast Iran while Tatera indica could pass the
barriers into the central Plateau of Iran (Madjnoo-
nian et al., 2005). Acomys dimidiatus entered south
Iran from the west and passing northern margin of
Persian Gulf (Fars, Bushehr, Hormozgan, Sistan
and Baluchestan provinces) reaching southern

Pakistan (Etemad, 1978; Firouz, 1999; Frynta et al.,
2010). This study provided new records of the
Eastern spiny mice from Kerman province. Mean
value of tail length of the Jaz Murian specimens
of A. dimidiatus is nearly similar to the Arabian
specimens (Harrison, 1972).

Steppe field mouse (A. witherbyi ) was previously
reported from different localities of Iran (Hossein-
pour Feizi et al., 2009; Darvish et al., 2015). Com-
paring to the specimens from northwest of Iran,
mean value of head and body and tail length of the
Jaz Murian specimens is longer (Darvish et al.,
2014). Considering the fact that genus Apodemus
Kaup, 1829 is a Palaearctic element (Michaux et al.,
2002), the Jaz Murian depression can be interpreted
as a boundary between Palaearctic and Oriental
realms. It is supposed that the Jaz Murian depression
is the southernmost boundary of distributional range
of A. witherbyi in the world. The region might has
also played a role as a corridor for entering Mus
musculus from its origin (north Indian) to central
Iranian Plateau (Bonhomme et al., 1994).

In Mus musculus and Tatera indica the head and
body and tail length of the Jaz murian specimens
were smaller than that of Pakistan specimens but
tail lenght is longer than that of Mus m usculus from
northwest of Iran (Roberts, 1997; Darvish et al.,
2014). The head and the body length of Jaculus
blanfordi from the region are smaller than that of
Pakistan and Turkmenistan specimens but the
average tail length of the Jaz Murian specimens is
longer than the tail length of Pakistan and Turk-
menistan specimens (Shenbrot et al., 2008). The
head and body length of Cricetulus migratorius
from Jaz Murian is longer than the mean value of
the head and body length of Pakistan, but the tail
length is smaller. Also, it shows smaller head and
body and tail length compared to specimens from
the northwest of Iran and Arabia (Harrison, 1972;
Roberts, 1997; Darvish et al., 2014). Mean value of
head and body length of Merion libycus is smaller
than that of Pakistan, but mean value of tail length
is longer. Libyan jirds of the Jaz Murian show
longer mean value of head and body and tail length
comparing to the specimens from northwest of Iran
(Roberts, 1997; Darvish et al., 2014). The head and
body and tail length of the Jaz Murian specimens
of Nesokia indica is smaller than the Pakistan and
Arabian specimens (Harrison, 1972; Roberts,
1997). Also, the Jaz Murian specimens of Calomy-

212

Khajeh Asghar etalii

scus hotsoni show smaller head and body length,
but longer tail length comparing to the Pakistan
specimens (Roberts, 1997).

Indian bush rat Golunda ellioti has been recor-
ded from the Jaz Murian depression (Jiroft,
Kerman) by different authors (Misonne, 1990;
Nazari & Farid, 1991; Madjdzadeh 2012; Darvish
et al., 2012). Actually, the genus Golunda occupied
oriental realm from early Pliocene (Cheema et al.,
1997, 2003) and it seems that the Jaz Murian is the
westernmost boundary of this oriental species
(Ziaie, 2008). The head and body and tail length of
Golunda ellioti from Jaz Murian is longer than that
of Pakistan specimens (Roberts, 1997).

Corbet (1978) mentioned that Meriones hurri-
anae (Jerdon, 1867) (Baluchestan, southeast Iran)
and Rattus niviventer (Hodgson, 1836) (northern
Pakistan) are oriental species which can be found
in the boundary of Palaearctic realm; however, they
were not captured in this study. The total head
and body and the tail length of Rattus rattus from
Jaz Murian specimens were smaller than that of
Pakistan specimens (Roberts, 1997).

For most specimens, except Gerbillus nanus , and
Apodemus whiterbyi, total length of the body is
small, compared to that of their counterparts from
northeast and northwest Iran (Darvish et al., 2006;
Darvish et al., 2014). This pattern of nanism may be
a response to lower precipitation and sparse vegeta-
tion cover in the region. In fact, high temperature
and drought resulting in lower primary productivity
and decline in food level, which in turn cause body
size decline (Sheridan & Bickford, 2011).

CONCLUSION

The Jaz Murian depression is a crossroad between
Palaearctic, Ethiopian and Oriental realms. Because
of the conspicuous geographic and topographic fea-
tures of this transition zone, a complex mixture of
rodent species such as Oriental species i.e. Golunda
ellioti, Meriones hurrianae, Mus musculus, Tatera
indica, Hystrix indica and Ethiopian elements such
as Gerbillus nanus, Meriones libycus and Acomys
dimidiatus beside Palaearctic species i.e. Apodemus
witherbyi, Rattus rattus, Cricetulusmigratorius,
Microtus sp. can be found in the region. Although,
the region is characterized by a low plains surroun-
ded by high mountains, it is not strictly isolated.
Thus, it can be considered as a corridor between three

realms. The specific geographical condition and the
unique topography and climatic situation of the Jaz
Murian depression made the region favorite destina-
tion for zoogeographic and phylogeography studies.
This study was just a preliminary investigation on
the rodent's fauna of the Jaz Murian depression
carried out to contribute to other studies aimed at
revealing specific aspects of the region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Permission to collect specimen was authorized
by the Iranian Department of Environment (Permis-
sion Number: 93/45436; 10th Dec. 2014).

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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 215-222

Diversity and seasonal appearance of aquatic fungi in three
streams of Western Ghat forests of Goa, India

Sreekala K. Nair'& D.J. Bhat 2

'Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, 641 046 India; e-mail: sreekalanair75@gmail.com
department of Botany, Goa University, Goa, 403 205 India

ABSTRACT In the absence of any detailed and intensive investigation on the mycota of freshwater streams

of the northern part of Western Ghats, in the present paper an effort was made to study the di-
versity and seasonal appearance of aquatic fungi of this region. It has been observed, from
the study made among the three seasonal samplings, that monsoon season is the best for re-
covery of this group of fungi.

KEY WORDS Aquatic fungi; Biodiversity; Freshwater streams; Western Ghats.

Received 28.01.2016; accepted 19.04.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

Aquatic fungi in freshwater habitats are repres-
ented by two major groups namely Saprolegniales
(watermoulds) and Aquatic Hyphomycetes. A
number of fungi belonging to Ascomycotina and
Mastigomycotina (zoosporic fungi) and a few
Basidiomycetes also occur in freshwater habitats
but in the dynamics of freshwater stream ecosys-
tem, hyphomycetous fungi are considered as the
most significant participants in view of their ability
to digest a variety of submerged organic matter
(Koushik & Hynes, 1971; Barlocher & Kendrick,
1976; Barlocher, 1992; Graca et al, 1993). Growing
on submerged leaves and twigs, these fungi abound
in fast flowing tree lined streams and well aerated
rivers. The streams contain sufficient runoff organic
material which, in the living or dead state, serve as
a constant source of nutrients for the fungi living in
water. The production of characteristic conidial-
shape-like sigmoid, tetraradiate, helicoids and
branched spores are the significant feature of this
group of fungi.

The aquatic fungi of the streams of Western
Ghat forests of Goa (India) have been a subject of
study since the publication of a preliminary survey
of 1 1 streams of the region carried out by Sub-
ramanian and Bhat in 1981 where Anguillospora
longissima, Tetracladium setigerum (Grove) Ingold
and Triscelophorus monosporus were reported for
the first time from Dudhsagar falls in Goa State.
Since then, a number of publications appeared on
these fungi from the forest streams of Western
Ghats in Karnataka and Kerala and have been
reviewed in detail by Sridhar & Barlocher (1992).

The present work aims at the study of occurrence
and abundance of aquatic fungi on submerged leaf
litter in different seasons ie., the monsoon, post-
monsoon and the summer seasons in Goa state.
Studies were carried out in one stream each in three
wildlife sanctuaries of Goa - ie., Bondla, Cotigao
and Molem (Fig. 1). All the three sites have dense
riparian canopy and have fast running water streams
during monsoons which dry up during the summer
seasons. An attempt was made to discover the diversity
and number of species present in each season.

216

Sreekala K. Nair & D.J. Bhat

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Sampling sites

For the study of aquatic fungi occurring in dif-
ferent seasons, sampling was done at regular inter-
vals in one stream each in three wild life
sanctuaries, Bondla, Cotigao and Mollem. Assum-
ing that the tree canopy may play a decisive role on
the ecology of aquatic fungi by providing organic
matter input, only those streams in the sanctuaries
with dense riparian tree cover were chosen for the
study. Besides abundance and frequency of occur-
rence, diversity of aquatic fungi was also studied
from these sites. The sampling sites are described
below:

Stream- 1 . A seasonal moderately fast flowing
stream originated at a slightly high altitude in the
ghats and flown down through Bondla wildlife sanc-
tuary (120 m asl), in Pondataluka was considered
as stream 1 . The collecting site was about 2 km be-
fore the entry gate to the sanctuary and 60 km
north-west of Goa University campus. The stream
bed at the site was rocky. Banks of the stream on
either sides were lined mainly by Calamus thwaitesii
Becc. and Dendrocalamus strictus (Roxb.) Hook,
and Bambusa arundinaceae (Retz.) Willd, besides

If S-%

MAHARASHTRA

es\ \

•

P«ia|l

★

— , Stream 1

Stream 2

rCY

GOA y

rn o < 7 y

r* V ^

INDIA ^ \

★

Jy / fata

Stream 3

KARNATAKA

Figure 1. Study area: Western Ghat forests of Goa, India.

tree species such as Adina cordifolia (Roxb.) Hook.,
Bauhinia tomentosa L., Dillenia indica L., Grewia
hirsuta Vahl., Hydnocarpus laurifolia (Dennst.)
Sleumer, Indigo feradalzelii Cooke., Stephania
japonica Thunb Miers. and Terminalia tomentosa
Wt. et Arn.

Stream-2. A fast flowing seasonal stream origin-
ated at Anmod Ghat and flown down into Bhagavan
Mahavir sanctuary (230 m asl) was chosen as
stream 2. The collection site was located about 4
km west of Mollem in Sanguem Taluka, 65 km west
of Goa University campus. The stream bed had soft
soil at the collecting site. Even though a variety of
tree species was present in the sanctuary, riparian
vegetation along the stream mainly composed of
Hopea ponga (Dennst.) Mabb, the roots of which
extend into the flowing waters along the sides of
the stream. The other dominant tree species in the
catchment area included evergreen types such as
Careya arborea (Roxb.) De Wilde and Tinospora
cardifolia Miers.

Stream-3 . A moderately fast flowing seasonal
stream, originated above in the ghat and flown
down near Tree-top point of Cotigao wild life sanc-
tuary (280 m asl) in Canacona Taluka, was con-
sidered as stream 3 for the study. The stream had
lateritic soft soil in the bottom and good run off in
monsoon season but gradually dried up during the
late post monsoon and summer months. The site
was 75 km south-east of Goa University campus.
The catchment area was covered by dense vegeta-
tion of semi-evergreen and evergreen tree species,
and some of the dominant riverine trees found in
the area were Careya arborea (Roxb.), Calycopteris
floribunda (Roxb) Lamk., Dillenea indica L.,
Grewia hirsuta Vahl., Kandelia candel (L.) Druce.,
Lagerstoemia lanceolata Wall. Ex Wt. et Am., Ter-
minalia paniculata Roth, and Xylia xylocarpa Taub.

Sampling seasons and intervals

Sampling of aquatic hyphomycetes was done
during three sampling seasons namely monsoon,
post-monsoon and summer season. During mon-
soon, from June to September every year, the wind-
ward western slopes of the Western Ghats receive
a total rainfall of 250-350 cm. The mean annual
temperature varies between 22-36 °C, the min-
imum seldom falling below 18 °C. Humidity ranges
between 60-90%. All along the Western Ghats, in

Diversity and seasonal appearance of aquatic fungi in three streams of Western Ghat forests of Goa, India

217

monsoon the streams are usually gorgeous with flo-
wing water. During post-monsoon (October to Janu-
ary), the streams either have little flowing water or
mostly at many places exhibit pools of stagnant
water bodies. In the summer months (February to
May), the streams are practically dry and without
water, except those perennial ones where flow of
water is very slow.

While raining, fallen leaves from the trees lining
the stream and river banks and adjoining forests get
washed into the streams, the leaf litter in the stream
either remains submerged or gets parked against
rock crevices, fallen logs or any obstacles. These
samples were carefully collected and brought to the
laboratory, assuming that aquatic fungi colonise on
submerged leaf litter.

Samples for floristic study

Spores of Deuteromycotina, Ascomycotina and
Basidiomycotina get trapped in foam of freshwater
streams. If a drop of foam is examined under a light
microscope, spores and hyphal fragments of a
variety of aquatic fungi can be seen.

Fixed foam. Foam accumulated on the surface
of stream water was gathered by gently and re-
peatedly scooping a wide-mouth glass jar or glass
petri plate lid over the foam. The collected foam
was fixed by adding few drops of FAA fixative (a
mixture of Formaldehyde 40% (5 ml), Glacial
Acetic Acid (5 ml) and 70% Ethyl alcohol). The
foam bubbles break into a cream coloured or
slightly turbid liquid at the bottom of the container.
The sample was maintained in 10 ml screw-capped
vials. The vials were appropriately labelled in the
field indicating the sample number, location and
date of collection.

Dried foam. A drop of fresh foam was directly
placed and spread over a clean slide and air-dried
at the collection site. The slides were appropriately
labelled indicating the sample number, location and
date of collection and brought to the laboratory by
arranging them vertically and in rows in a slide box.
These slides were observed under the microscope
by placing a drop of lactophenol-cotton blue mount-
ant over the fixed foam dried area. Examination of
FAA-fixed or air-dried foam under a microscope
revealed the floristics of aquatic fungi of the catch-
ment region. The slides examined were deposited
as specimens at the Herbarium of Botany Depart-
ment, Goa University (GUBH).

Leaf I itter. Leaves of trees lining the stream and
rivers on senescence fall into water. The fallen
leaves act as substrate for growth and colonisation
of aquatic fungi (Ingold, 1975). The submerged and
partially to fully decayed leaf litter and twigs thus
form excellent source for recovery of aquatic fungi.
These leaves were hand-picked, thoroughly washed
in water and placed in clean polythene bags. These
were transported to the laboratory in ice-pack
container. Of the decayed and well-skeletonised leaf
litter brought to the laboratory, 2-3 leaves were
washed thoroughly with de-ionized tap water and
placed in large specimen jars containing 1L of
sterile distilled water. The jars were aerated con-
tinuously for 5-7 days using a fish tank aerator. The
aerated water was filtered through a Millipore filter
(8 pi pore size) and the aquatic spora on the filter
were counted (Iqbal & Webster, 1973).

Statistical Analysis

Data collected during the 24 month study period
were subjected to statistical analysis. Margaliff’s
and Shanon’s index were used for analysis of di-
versity of fungi. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
Test was carried out to analyse the variations in oc-
currence of fungi in different seasons. The follow-
ing formulas were used for statistically analysing
the data obtained during the seasonal study of
aquatic fungi.

Percentage Frequency (% F) =

Total no. of quadrats in which species occurred X 100
Total no. of quadrants sampled

Relative Frequency (R.F.) =

No. of occurrence of a species X 100
No. of occurrence of all species

Density (D) =

Total number of individuals of the species

Total number of quadrants taken

Abundance (A) =

Total number of individuals of a species in all quadrats

Total number of quadrats in which the species occurred

The density of fungi on leaf litter, as expressed in
water by aquatic spora, during the three different
seasons and their significance of occurrence was ana-
lysed using ‘Analysis of Variance ’ (ANOVA) test.

218

Sreekala K. Nair & D.J. Bhat

RESULTS

In all, conidia of 62 species of aquatic fungi
were recorded in varying concentration in the aer-
ated water. Fungal taxa seen as conidia in water and
their average relative abundance (%) are given in
Table 1 . The relative abundance of species of fungi
in 3 different seasons at three sites, namely Cotigao,
Bondla and Molem indicates that during monsoon,
highest number of species were at Bondla (54).
Followed by Cotigao (51) and Molem (45). During
post monsoon, the species richness remained in the
same order of abundance in three sites ie., Bondla
(41), Cotigao (37) and Molem (31). However, the
abundance was in different order in summer,
showing highest number of species at Cotigao (19),
followed by Bondla (15) and Molem (16).

Analysis of variance test (ANOVA) (Table 2) on
seasonal sampling carried out during the year
showed a highly significant variation in the species
richness in three different seasons at three sites and
the order of significance was as follows: Cotigao
(4.47), Bondla (3.31) and Molem (2.45). Less
significant variation was observed between the sites
during the same seasons: Monsoon (1.69), post-
monsoon (1.18) and summer (0.92). The significant
level tested between the places during same seasons
did not show much variation. The F ratio obtained
in monsoon, post-monsoon and summer from
the three sampling sites was 1.84, 1.37 and 0.44,
respectively. This similarity in significance may be
attributed to the similar type of vegetation com-
position seen at the three sites.

Among the three different seasons chosen for
the collection of freshwater fungi encountered on
randomly sampled leaves, highest number of
species were observed during monsoon (June to
September) and the lowest during the summer
(February to May). The results also indicated that
the density and number of species recorded did not
show a significant correlation with the pH and
temperature, which was noted on the sampling sites.
As an overall analysis, it may be said that occur-
rence and species density of fungi of a given stream
ecosystem is largely dependent on factors such as
rainfall, substrate availability and leaf deposition.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that there is no much differ-

ence amongst the 3 sites considered for seasonal
study in their fungal wealth (Fig. 2). This is because
all the three sites had dense riparian canopy and
good flow of water in the streams during monsoon
and post monsoon. Of the fungi recovered, 75.5%
were foam trapped and 56.3% associated with sub-
merged leaf litter (Fig. 3). This clearly showed that
aquatic foam from natural streams will continue to
be the best source of diverse fungi as described by
Deseals (1997).

It may be seen from figure 4 that fungi with
blastic type of conidiogenesis were of higher per-
centage (89.65) than phialidic (10.35) type. It may
be said that from the evolutionary stand point
(Hawkswort et al., 1995), the fungi of aquatic eco-
system need not to possess phialidic conidiogenesis.
This is an instrument largely used for conidiogen-
esis by fungi in terrestrial environment.

The study also revealed (Fig. 5) that aquatic
spora of branched and appendaged type were of
higher percentage (29.31) followed by tetraradiate
(24.14), sigmoid (15.52) andhelicoids (1.72). These
are adaptations for aquatic environment where the
spora can remain afloat and get disseminated to a
much larger distance. It has been realised that fungi
that are taxonomically unrelated while converging
into water, during the course of evolution exhibited
similar morphology as an adaptation to aquatic sys-
tem (Ingold, 1975; Dix & Webster, 1995). As can
be seen from the study, there is no such significance
in the abundance of different types of conidia. All
the three to four types of conidia, ie., appendaged,
branched, sigmoid and tetraradiate were found in
abundance in aquatic systems. It is also clear from
the study that natural foam accumulated on the sur-
face of water was the best source of aquatic fungi
(75.5%) for isolation. However, when aerated,
significantly high percentage was recovered from
submerged leaves (56.3%). This justified our taking
of submerged leaves as a substrate to evaluate the
aquatic flora in the stream ecosystem. Twigs with a
very low percentage (8.8%) occurrence of aquatic
fungi proved to be a poor substrate for isolation.

From the investigation it is clear that monsoon
and post monsoon seasons are the best for recovery
of freshwater fungi from the streams of forests of
Western Ghats, and that those streams with dense
riparian tree canopy and abundant substrate avail-
ability would yield higher diversity of aquatic
fungi.

Diversity and seasonal appearance of aquatic fungi in three streams of Western Ghat forests of Goa, India

219

BONDLA COTIGAO MOLEM

SI.

Name of fungus

Actinospora megalospora Ingold

0.46

0.09

0.19

0.05

0.17

Alatospora acuminate Ingold

0.93

0.49

0.47

0.39

0.05

1.15

0.39

Anguillospora crassa Ingold

3.17

1.22

0.59

3.12

0.74

0.29

1.82

1.24

Cylindrocarpon sp.

1.05

0.46

1.38

0.92

0.42

Cylindrocladium sp. 1

1.75

0.95

0.16

2.30

2.20

0.49

1.02

0.53

0.22

Cylindrocladium sp.2

3.89

2.24

1.88

3.41

1.36

1.19

11.23

7.73

3.46

Anguillospora longissima (Sacc. et P. Syd.)
Ingold

0.39

1.09

0.57

Ardhachandra solenoides (de Hoog)

Subram et Sudha

0.19

0.03

0.29

0.12

0.39

0.18

Ardhachandra sp.

0.82

0.63

0.17

Articulospora tetracladia Ingold

0.19

2.13

1.04

0.59

0.79

0.75

0.35

Bahusutrabeeja angularis V. Rao et de Hoog

1.45

0.59

0.19

1.83

0.92

0.62

1.24

0.04

Beltrania rhombica Penz.

0.75

0.33

3.54

1.86

3.24

0.62

Scutisporus brunneus K.Ando et Tubaki

0.93

0.36

3.19

1.31

0.42

3.46

1.11

0.44

Articulospora sp.

0.53

0.06

Camposporium pellucidum (Grove) S. Hughes

0.63

0.29

Campylospora chaetocladia Ranzoni

1.92

0.85

0.29

1.61

1.04

0.29

3.06

0.84

0.13

Lunulospora curvula Ingold

1.78

0.59

3.04

0.64

1.28

1.06

Centrospora acerina (R. Hartig) A.G. Newhall

0.56

0.06

Lemonniera aquatica De Wild.

0.47

0.29

0.19

0.53

0.08

Chaetendophragmia triseptata Matsush.

0.53

0.16

0.42

0.17

0.44

0.13

Diplocladiella scalaroides G. Amaud ex M.B. Ellis.

1.99

0.79

Condylospora spumigia Nawawi

4.36

5.25

1.78

1.38

8.21

1.55

0.75

Dactylella ellipsospora (Preuss) Grov.

2.47

0.76

0.29

4.16

2.03

0.82

2.39

0.88

24.

Dactyl aria sp.

0.49

0.59

0.53

0.35

0.26

Dactyl aria aquatica Udaiyan

1.25

0.69

1.53

0.67

0.84

0.35

0.22

Dendrospora erecta Ingold

0.92

2.15

1.06

0.37

0.53

Ceratosporium sp.

0.46

0.56

0.69

0.39

0.75

0.35

0.22

Tripospermum myrti (Lind) Hughes

0.86

0.69

0.29

0.19

0.12

0.48

Lateriramulosa uni-inflata Matsush.

0.89

0.06

0.09

0.05

0.19

0.09

0.62

0.22

Dendrosporium lobatum Plakidas et Edgerton
ex J.L. Crane

0.16

0.06

0.07

0.39

Dichotomophthoropsis aquatica Sreelcala et Bhat

0.49

0.12

0.27

Table 1/1. Fungal taxa seen as conidia in water and their average relative abundance (%).

220

Sreekala K. Nair & D.J. Bhat

BONDLA COTIGAO MOLEM

SI.

Name of fungus

Dictyochaeta assamica (Agnihothr.) Aramb.,
Cabello et Mengasc

1.19

0.57

0.09

Endophragmia inaequiseptata Matsush.

0.12

0.09

Flabellospora crassa Alas.

2.84

1.88

1.46

0.29

1.24

0.66

0.08

Flagellospora curvula Ingold

0.96

0.33

Beltraniella odineae Subram.

0.86

0.36

0.16

0.32

0.05

0.35

0.13

Flabellospora verticillata Alas.

0.43

0.29

0.19

0.22

0.66

0.35

0.08

Flabellospora multiradiata Nawawi

0.49

0.39

0.09

0.72

0.12

0.35

Helicomyces roseus Link

0.56

0.26

0.05

Helocosporium sp. 1

8.45

6.97

0.92

6.23

2.87

2.57

Helicosporium sp.2

1.75

0.36

0.26

0.77

0.29

0.84

0.53

0.18

Helicosporium sp.3

3.23

1.92

2.00

0.22

Ingoldiella hamata Shaw

2.08

1.16

1.68

1.26

0.93

Isthmotricladia laeensis Matsush.

0.56

0.26

0.05

0.12

1.99

1.15

Isthmotricladia britanica Deseals

1.46

0.05

Nawawia filiformis (Nawawi) Marvanova

0.53

0.49

0.36

0.69

0.29

0.19

0.84

0.44

0.13

Phalangispora constricta Nawawi et J. Webster

0.66

0.36

0.29

0.19

48.

Mycoleptodiscus indicus (V.P. Sahni) B. Sutton

0.19

0.22

0.05

0.13

0.04

Tetrachaetum elegans Ingold

0.49

0.54

0.35

0.26

Sopagraha sibika Subram. et Sudha

0.69

0.39

0.26

0.72

0.37

0.44

0.04

Speiropsis hyalospora Subram. et Lodha

0.46

0.16

0.07

0.35

0.31

0.08

Speiropsis pedatospora Tubaki

0.65

Subulispora sp.l

0.39

0.42

0.84

Subulispora sp.2

0.23

0.05

0.79

Tetraploa aristata Berk, et Broome

0.63

0.39

Tetrad adium sp.

0.23

0.53

Tetracladium angulatum Ingold

3.17

0.63

0.36

1.28

0.64

0.17

3.86

0.66

0.26

Triscelophorus acuminatus Nawawi

0.29

0.62

Triscelophorus konajensis K.R. Sridhar et Kaver.

0.39

Triscelophorus monosporus Ingold

0.39

Seimatosporium sp.

0.22

Robillarda phragmitis Cunnell

0.26

Total (no. of species)

Table 1/2. Fungal taxa seen as conidia in water and their average relative abundance (%).

Diversity and seasonal appearance of aquatic fungi in three streams of Western Ghat forests of Goa, India

221

Places

Seasons

Experimental Method

Sum of
squares

Degree of
Freedom

Mean

square

F ratio

Significance

Bondla

Between

seasons

8604.65

4302.33

3.13

Yes

Residual

148591.24

108

1375.84

Cotigao

Between

seasons

16697.25

8348.63

4.47

Yes

Residual

199862.1

107

1867.87

Molcm

Between

seasons

6875.37

3437.69

2.45

Yes

Residual

1402.71

Monsoons

Between

places

127646.46

3989.72

1.69

Residual

361992.46

154

2350.60

Post-

Monsoons

Between

places

2281.51

1 140.79

1.18

Residual

102324.58

106

965.33

Summer

Between

places

469.65

234.83

0.92

Residual

1 1782.76

256.15

Table 2. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the three sampling sites.

Foam Submerged Twigs
leaves

Figure 2. Seasonal occurrence of acquatic fungi in different seasons. Figure 3. Substrate specificity of acquatic fungi. Figure
4. Percentage occurrence of conidia based on its conidiogenesis. Figure 5. Percentage appeareance of different types of
conidia.

222

Sreekala K. Nair & D.J. Bhat

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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 223-228

Contribution to the flora of United Arab Emirates: Glinus
lotoides L.s Molluginaceae) and Senna occidentalis L.( Fabaceae
two new records

Tamer Mahmoud 1 *, Sanjay Gairola 1 , Hatem Shabana 1 &Ali El-Keblawy 2

'Sharjah Seed Bank and Herbarium, Sharjah Research Academy, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
"■Corresponding author, e-mail: tamer_mahmed@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT This paper reports Glinus lotoides L. (Molluginaceae) and Senna occidentalis L. (Fabaceae)

as two new records to the flora of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the UAE, G. lotoides
grows in the seasonally inundated land when the water recedes and soils have high clay
contents. This is the only representative species of the genus Glinus in the UAE. Hence, we
added a new genus to the country’s flora. Senna occidentalis was recorded from Wadi Al-Ain
with ca. 15 individuals in its population. This species is considered as a weed elsewhere, so,
there should be further assessments in order to monitor naturalization potential in its new
localities in the UAE. The general distribution of the newly recorded species, habitat pref-
erences and taxonomy with a map of localities in the UAE are presented. The occurrence of
both species in different places in the UAE calls for further investigation and more extensive
field studies to explore the country’s genetic resources.

KEY WORDS Floristic survey; Glinus lotoides ; Senna occidentalis ; new record; UAE.

Received 15.04.2016; accepted 03.06.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is characteri-
zed by a wide variety of habitats (i.e., mountainous,
coastal lowlands, desert and alluvial plains) that
support unique diversity of plant genetic resources.
Despite the UAE is regarded as floristically poor, it
harbors unique plants with remarkable morpholo-
gical, physiological and anatomical adaptations
strategies that enable them tolerating the very harsh
climatic conditions prevailing in the country
(Tourenq & Launay, 2008).

The UAE supports varying amounts of sparse
seasonal vegetation. The flora of the UAE accounts
for ca. 750 species of vascular plants including
important native plant species and is affected by

alien invasive species (El-Keblawy & Abdel Fatah,
2014).

Although it might be regarded that there is a
reasonable knowledge on the general distribution
of vascular plants in the UAE, recent studies
showed new regular discoveries that enriching the
flora of the country (e.g., Gairola et al., 2015;
Mahmoud et al., 2015a, b; Shahid & Rao, 2015).
There are some potentially very interesting remote
areas (e g., mountainous regions) thus have not
been fully explored floristically. In such areas,
certain new plant records or new species to the
UAE are waiting to be recorded. For example, in a
recent survey for the flora of the remote area of
Wadi Helo, El-Keblawy et al. (2016) recorded 6
species new to the UAE flora.

224

Tamer Mahmoud etalii

Since 2009, the research team of the Sharjah
Seed Bank & Herbarium (SSBH) is extensively
exploring plant diversity of the country. It was real-
ized that the exploration of non-recorded species is
vital in assessing the genetic resources, especially
in the more vulnerable and remote high mountains
in this harsh part of the world. As a continuation of
such explorations, some taxa have been recently
collected from the region and added as new records
to the flora of the UAE. The recent contributions to
the flora of the UAE include a series of joint botan-
ical collecting trips involving the staff of Kew
Herbarium and SSBH (e.g., Heller & El-Keblawy,
2013; Gairola et al., 2015; Mahmoud et al., 2015a,
b) and various other researchers (e.g., Feulner,
1997; Boer & Chaudhary, 1999.; Brown et al.,
2006; Shahid, 2014; Shahid & Rao, 2014a, b;
Shahid & Rao, 2015) have revealed the presence of
some spontaneously occurring plant species new to
the UAE. The recently published new records from
the UAE are important additions to Jongbloed
(2003) and Karim & Fawzi (2007). However, a few
noil-indigenous invasive or weedy elements that
have been recorded for the first time among the
flora of the UAE need critical monitoring to assess
their future distribution. The climatic and environ-
mental harshness of the Arabian deserts might
hinder the invasion of alien plant species. However,
the increasing human impacts, such as habitat
fragmentation, encroachment of natural habitats
through farmland and expansion of residential areas
are threatening the natural flora. Some of the unre-

Figure 1. Map showing the sites where G. lotoides
and S. occidentalis was found in UAE.

corded species of the UAE flora might extinct be-
fore being discovered. Present article sheds light on
the distribution, habitats preferences, and taxonomy
of two newly recorded plant species in the UAE.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

During the years 2015-2016, floristic surveys
were undertaken in different parts of the UAE and
samples of a particular plant species were collected
for observation and identification. The digital pho-
tos of plants in their natural habitat were also taken
to facilitate the identification process. Preliminary
identification of Glinus lotoides L. (Molluginaceae)
and Senna occidentalis L. (Fabaceae) was done
using taxonomic keys in different flora books, in-
cluding Flora of Arabian Peninsula and Socotra
(Miller & Cope, 1996). The identification of G.
lotoides was confirmed by Dr. Jacob Thomas, a key
taxonomist in the Arabian flora. Once the species
was identified, the collected material with voucher
numbers, family, species and collection details was
kept at the Sharjah Seed Bank & Herbarium,
Sharjah Research Academy, Sharjah. Flora of UAE
(Karim & Fawzi, 2007) and other available litera-
ture (e.g., Jongbloed, 2003) were thoroughly
checked and have been found that there were no
previous records for G. lotoides and S. occidentalis
from the country.

Therefore, we consider these plants are a new
addition to the flora of UAE. For each species, syn-
onyms, general distribution, habitat preferences,
and taxonomy as well as a list of localities recorded
are presented.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

During our recent floristic surveys, it became
apparent that G. lotoides was recorded for the first
time from UAE. Another newly recorded species S.
occidentalis was found growing in a moist habitat
of wadi Al Ain bed. Furthermore, after going
through the literatures, it has been confirmed that
G. lotoides and S. occidentalis are new records to
the UAE flora.

Glinus lotoides is recorded from the adjacent
countries including Saudi Arabia and Oman (Miller
& Cope, 1996). Figure 1 and Table 1 present the

Contribution to the flora of United Arab Emirates: Glinus lotoides L and Senna occidentalis L. two new records 225

Locality/ Species

Latitude

Longitude

Alt. (m)

Phenology

Local status

Glinus lotoides

Wadi Ham Dam, Fujairah

25.13311

56.28102

Vegetative

Not common

WadiAl Quor Dam, Ras Al
Khaimah

24.90565

56.15346

238

Flowering and
Fruiting

Co-dominant

Wadi Al Mansab Dam, Ras
Al Khaimah

25.06022

55.99275

255

Flowering

Common

Wadi Al Mudaynah Dam,
Ras Al Khaimah

25.03348

56.02315

300

Flowering

Not common

Wadi Shawkah Dam, Ras
Al Khaimah

25.10585

56.04448

295

Flowering

Common

Wadi Al Qasheesh Dam,
Ras Al Khaimah

25.13964

56.01296

240

Vegetative

Common

Wadi Sfmi Dam, Ras Al
Khaimah

25.17176

56.10849

320

Vegetative

Rare

Senna occidentalis

Wadi Al Ain (upstream)

24.20895

55.77321

290

Fruiting

Not Common

Wadi Al Ain (upstream)

24.20232

55.72448

260

Flowering and
Fruiting

Not Common

Table 1 . Recording site details, phenology and local status of Glinus lotoides and Senna occidentalis populations in UAE.

collection localities of G. lotoides and S. occi-
dentalis in the UAE. The population of G. lotoides
was recorded repeatedly in different seasonally
inundated areas, especially in the front of dams
(Figs. 2, 3). In a few sites, G. lotoides occurs in
large numbers and establishes a viable population.
It is worth mentioning that G. lotoides is the only
representative of the genus Glinus in the UAE flora.

The population of S. occidentalis consists of ca.
1 5 individuals and was found in moist, sandy areas
in Wadi A1 Ain (Figs. 4, 5). It is important to mention
here that S. occidentalis is regarded as an alien weed
elsewhere (Holm et al., 1997; Wu et al., 2003).
Therefore, the population of S. occidentalis should
be monitored for its naturalization potential and long-
term observations need to be conducted to prove the
future weedy status of this species in the UAE.

The brief below descriptions of the two newly
recorded species are based on various flora books.
In addition, we relied on the description of our col-
lected specimens from the UAE.

Glinus lotoides L.

Synonyms. Mollugo hirta Thunb., Mollugo
lotoides (Linn.) O. Kuntze, Glinus dictamnoides
Burman f. and Mollugo glinus A. Richard.

Description. Prostrate to spreading annual or
short-lived perennial, up to 50 cm high. Stems
procumbent or decumbent, stellate-tomentose
throughout. Leaves elliptic to obovate and ob-
cordate, to 20 mm long, acute to obtuse, hairy;
petiolate. Flowers in axillary clusters of 3-15, sub-
sessile, shortly pedicellate; pedicel up to 1.5 mm
long. Capsule sub-globose or oblong, ca. 6 mm
long, membranous, enclosed in the sepals. Seeds,
many tuberculate, strophiolate, less than 1 mm long,
orange-brown in colour.

Distribution. Glinus lotoides is native to Eurasia
and Africa and has become widespread in tropical,
subtropical and warm-temperate areas worldwide
(El-Hamidi et al., 1967). Regionally, it is recorded
in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen and Socotra. In the
UAE, it was reported from Fujairah and Ras Al
Khaimah.

Flowering and Fruiting. January-March. In
the UAE, it was recorded in flowering and fruiting
stage in some sites, but in vegetative phase in other
sites.

Habitat. Glinus lotoides was found growing in
occasionally inundated areas in wet clay soils. It
was recorded in seven sites in the front of dams and
water breakers.

226

Tamer Mahmoud etalii

Associate species. Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav.,
Erucaria hispanica (L.) Drace, Launaea capitata
(Spreng.) Dandy, Physorhynchus chamaerapistrum
Boiss., Sisymbrium erysimoides Desf.

Medicinal uses. Glinus lotoides serves a vari-
ety of medicinal purposes. This species is used as
treatment for diarrhea, boils and abdominal diseases
as well as weakness in children (Kirtikar & Basu,
1935; Qureshi et al., 2010). Antihelmintic properties
are reported for G. lotoides from several African
studies (Abegaz & Tecle, 1980; Broberg, 1980).

Senna occidentalis (Linnaeus) Link

Synonyms. Cassia occidentalis L.

Description. Senna occidentalis is an annual or
perennial undershrub, erect, up to 1.5 m high.
Leaves ca. 20 cm; stipules caducous, triangular to
lanceolate, petiole 3-4 cm, with a large, brown,
ovoid gland near the petiole base. Leaflets 3-5 (or
6) pairs, ovate to ovate-oblong; mucronate, oppos-
ite, petiolule ca. 1 mm. Inflorescence pedunculate,
axillary or terminal, corymbose raceme forming
terminal panicles. Flowers ca. 2 cm. Sepals un-
equal, outer ones suborbicular, ca. 6 mm in diam.,
inner ones ovate, 8-9 mm. Petals yellow, purplish
veined, 2 outer slightly larger, shortly clawed.
Legume 9-12 cm long, brown, with pale thick
margins, strap-shaped, falcate, flattened, 10-13 x
ca. 1 cm with septa between seeds. Seeds flat, or-
bicular, pale-brown.

Distribution. Wadi Al-Ain in the UAE. A
circumtropical weed, possibly native to tropical
America; widely introduced and naturalized in the
tropics and subtropics elsewhere (Wu & Raven,
1994).

Flowering and Fruiting. November-June. In
the UAE, flowering and fruiting were recorded
during May.

Habitat. Wadis in shady moist places.

Associate species. Cenchrus ciliaris L., Cyn-
odon dactylon (L.) Pers., Senna italica Mill., Ses-
bania sesban (L.) Merr, Tephrosia apollinea
(Delile) DC., Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf.

Way of introduction in UAE. Unknown. The
recorded locations of S. occidentalis in Wadi Al Ain

basin are adjacent to the territory of the neighboring
country Oman from where the wadi originates. So,
the seeds might have been introduced through this
corridor of the Wadi bed from Oman to the UAE.
Senna occidentalis also might have been introduced
with transported agricultural materials to many
farms present on both sides of the Wadi.

Invasive/weedy status. Casual in the UAE but
need further assessment as this species is listed
among the world's worst weeds (Hsu, 1975; Holm
et al., 1997; Wu et al., 2003).

Medicinal uses. Senna occidentalis has been
known to possess antibacterial, antifungal, antidia-
betic, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective activ-
ity (Yadav et al., 2010). Leaves and seeds are
externally applied as antiperiodic to be useful in the
cure of itch and other cutaneous diseases. A decoc-
tion of the root is said to be diuretic. Seeds are
roasted and used as a substitute for coffee in French
Africa and Argentina.

CONCLUSIONS

Glinus lotoides , a therophyte, was found in sea-
sonally inundated areas. It is obvious that due to the
cryptic nature and seasonal growth cycles of certain
plants, especially in unpredictable desert environ-
ments, ecological surveys are sometimes unable to
detect all species present at particular sites, such as
flooded habitats. Therefore, floristic surveys follow-
ing natural flooding would help to document full
floristic diversity of the temporarily inundated areas.
On the other hand, S. occidentalis is likely to be
found in the early stages of its naturalization in the
UAE. Consequently, regular field assessments of S.
occidentalis should be undertaken to monitor its
population dynamics and naturalization potential.

From the literatures, it is evident that most of the
newly recorded species for the country are desert
annuals. In fact, many desert annuals characterist-
ically form persistence seed banks and can be ab-
sent for many years and only appear in particularly
wet seasons. Therefore, floristic surveys through-
out a range of seasons are suggested to fully docu-
ment the flora present in the country. As the UAE,
like most of the other Arab Gulf countries, is
experiencing a fast growth and development,
particularly in the agricultural exchange, there is a

Contribution to the flora of United Arab Emirates: Glinus lotoides L and Senna occidentalis L. two new records 227

Figures 2, 3. Glinus lotoides : habitat (Fig. 2); flowering twig with fruit capsules (Fig. 3).
Figures 4, 5. Senna occidentalis : flowering twig (Fig. 4); pods (Fig. 5).

possibility of spontaneous occurrence of new vas-
cular plants to the country’s flora. The increased
knowledge of the existence of newly recorded
species and their habitats can assist to detect,
monitor, measure and predict changes in biological
diversity and its conservation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors sincerely thank Sharjah Research
Academy for encouragement and support. Mo-
hammed Hassan and Mohammed Fiaz of the Sharjah

Seed Bank & Herbarium are thanked for their help
in the field work. We also thank Dr Jacob Thomas of
KSU for confirmation of the identity of G. lotoides.

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Broberg G., 1980. Observations of the action of extracts
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El-Hamidi A., Negm S. & Sharaf A., 1967. An invest-
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El-Keblawy A. & Abdelfatah M.A., 2014. Impacts of
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El-Keblawy A., Khedr A. & Khafaga T., 2016. Veget-
ation Composition and Diversity of Wadi Helo: A Case
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Feulner G.R., 1997. First observations of Olea cf.
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Gairola S., Mahmoud T. & El-Keblawy A., 2015.
Sphaeralcea bonariensis (Malvaceae): a newly
recorded introduced species in the flora of the United
Arab Emirates. Phytotaxa, 213: 151-154.

Heller T. & El-Keblawy A., 2013. Seed Conservation in
Sharjah. In: "Plant Life of South West Asia” Con-
ference, organized by Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh, UK on July 5, 2013.

Holm L.G., Doll J., Holm E., Pancho J. & Herberger J.,
1997. World Weeds. Natural Histories and Distribu-
tion. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Toronto.

Hsu C.C., 1975. Illustrations of Common Plants of
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Jongbloed M.V.D., 2003. The Comprehensive Guide to
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Agency, Abu-Dhabi, UAE.

Karim F. & Fawzy N., 2007. Flora of the United Arab
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Kirtikar K.R. & Basu B.D., 1935. Indian medicinal plants
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Mahmoud T., Gairola S. & El-Keblawy A., 2015a.
Parthenium hysterophorus and Bidens pilosa, two
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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 229-232

Quality of swimming waters in the Gulf of Skikda (Algeria)

Souheila Ouamane 1 *, Lyamine Mezedjri 1,2 &AliTahar 2

'SNV Department, Faculty of Science, University August 20th, 55, Skikda 21000, Algeria

laboratory of vegetable biology and environment, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University Badji Mokhtar, Annaba
23000, Algeria; email: pr_tahar_ali@hotmail.com
^Corresponding author, email: ouamane.pg@gmail.com

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to determine the bacteriological and physico-chemical quality of

swimming waters in the region of Skikda (Algeria), a popular tourist area known for its many
beaches, through the water analysis of ten sites. This monitoring program was carried out for
a period of five months.

KEY WORDS swimming waters; bacteriological pollution, physico-chemical parameters; Gulf of Skikda.

Received 20.04.2016; accepted 31.05.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

The sea is an essential element of our life,
source of food and of leisures; it represents, in most
Mediterranean countries, a significant part in the
economy, thanks to tourism, it concentrates in fact
over 30% of international tourism (UNEP/MAP,
2012); its quality has therefore a major importance.
These last years, strong urbanization, tourism and
democratization of aquatic activities involved
an increase in frequentation of the Mediterranean
coastline and therefore a degradation of the quality
of coastal waters.

In this study, we will try to determine the micro-
biological and physico-chemical quality of the
swimming waters of the Gulf of Skikda through
the water analysis of a ten station thus covering the
entire Gulf.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The wilaya of Skikda is located in north-eastern
Algeria bordering the Mediterranean Sea and has
a coastline of over 140 km long. Our study area

gathers two villages and extends over twenty kilo-
meters, it includes, east beaches Filfila and Ben
M'hidi about 1 5 Km and to the west, a road about 3
Km beaches (Fig. 1). In addition the Gulf of Skikda
is a discharge point for many wadis: Wadi Safsaf
the main one, flowing in the center of the Gulf, and
two secondary wadis at Filfila.

The samples, transport and analysis of seawater
samples were conducted according to guidelines for
the monitoring of the quality of swimming waters.
This monitoring program was carried out for a
period of five months (December 2013-April
2013). The collected data were measured in each
seawater sample taken per month per site. The
analysis focuses on the quantification of faecal
indicator bacteria (total coliforms, faecal and faecal
streptococci) using the method of the enumeration
in liquid medium by determining the most probable
number (MPN); as well as determining certain
physicochemical parameters (electrical conduct-
ivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, ...).

The health status of swimming water is assessed
based on the results obtained and compared to
thresholds, quality bacteriological and physico-
chemical criteria present in the Executive Decree
No. 93-164.

230

Sou H El LA OUAMANE ET ALII

Moreover, in order to compare the averages of
the different physico-chemical parameters meas-
ured between the ten sites, we used the test of the
analysis of variance in a criterion of classification
(ANOVA), fixed pattern.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Regarding the average results recorded for the
various physico-chemical parameters, we note that
those are in adequacy with the quality standards
required for swimming waters by the standards in
force (Table 1). The temporal variation of the
concentrations of different germs sought shows that
they fluctuate in the same way showing their dom-
inance during the month of December (Fig. 2). This
can be justified by climatic conditions recorded
during this month which resulted in the discharge
of rainwater directly into the sea without treatments,
the high flows of urban waste and wadis, the agita-
tion of the water, etc. (Mazieres, 1963).

Moreover, presence of enteric bacteria in the sea
water can be justified by several phenomena and
is conditioned by a number of specific parameters
including:

- Physical factors: temperature, absorption / ad-
sorption, dispersion, dilution, sedimentation, light
(bactericidal radiation at shallow depths only) (see
Carlucci & Pramer, 1959; Brisou, 1968; UNEP /
WHO, 1983; Pommepuy et al., 1991; Gourmelon,
1995);

- Chemical factors: salinity (selection factor),
and dietary deficiencies in vitamins, fasting, dissol-
ved oxygen (Carlucci & Pramer, 1959; Brisou,
1968);

- Biological factors: microphage plankton or ad-
sorbent, benthos and nekton (macrophage-plan-
kton), vital competition, bacteriophages (Brisou,
1968; Oger et al., 1983; Gourmelon., 1995).

All these factors act together; either simultane-
ously or in successive steps in time and in space, to
reduce the number of bacteria or eliminate them.

The spatial variation of the concentrations of
different germs sought allows us to see that as, a
whole, the average results recorded are in adequacy
with the quality standards for swimming waters ex-
cept for the fourth site where registered rates are si-
gnificantly higher than the limit values required for
fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci (Fig. 3). The
results obtained at the fourth site, namely the
“Beach la jetee" shows a fecal contamination and,

Figure 1 . Location of the study area and sampling sites, Gulf of Skikda, Algeria.

Quality of swimming waters in the Gulf of Skikda (Algeria)

231

therefore, its poor bacteriological quality. The pres-
ence of an urban emissary explains these results and
justifies its permanent closure for swimming.

Moreover, analysis of total coliforms does not
allow to assess the quality of water because a great
heterogeneity of species is grouped under this term.
In fact, some of them are certainly of fecal origin
and may reflect a fecal pollution of water, but others
are found naturally in the soil or vegetation (Rodier
et al., 2005); Today, only the detection of fecal co-
liforms, specifically Escherichia coli and intestinal
enterococci, in water must seriously let suspect
fecal contamination, since they are the most reliable
enteric pathogens, and therefore the best way to
detect recent fecal contaminations (Payment &
Hartmann, 1998; Scientific Group on Water, 2003).

The results of the univariate analysis of variance
(ANOVA) for the five physicochemical variables
measured, allow us to note the lack of significant
differences between the waters of the ten sites
studied (Table 2), which confirms our previous
observations as to the equivalence of swimming
waters sites studied from the physico-chemical
point of view.

Conduct i
vity

(mS/cm)

Saturation

T(°C)

Salinity

dissolved

0 2 (%)

Site 1
«chateau-

13.82

7.62

36.40

54.72

106.68

vert »

Site 2
«paradis »

13.88

7,7

36.42

54.74

106.62

Site 3
« molo »

14.24

7.60

36.46

54.70

104.88

Site 4
«la jetee »

13.76

7.61

36.04

54.22

98.18

Site 5
«poste 1 »

14.76

7.72

36.24

54.82

106.90

Site 6
«bikini »

13.78

7.62

36.32

54.80

104.62

Site 7
«poste 2 »

14.66

7.75

36.24

54.92

108.08

Site 8
«poste 5 »

14.58

7.74

36.22

54.84

107.90

Site 9
«poste 6 »

14.84

7.67

36.16

54.94

108.88

Site 1 0
«poste 7 »

14.78

7.67

36.34

54.96

108.84

Table 1 . Average results of physico-chemical
parameters measured.

Figure 2. Temporal variation of germs recorded
during the study period.

Figure 3. Spatial variation of germs recorded
during the study period.

232

Sou H El LA OUAMANE ET ALII

Variables

Sources

variation

ddl

SCE

Fobs

T(°C)

Sites

9.55

1.062

0.096 ns

Sites

0.142

0.016

0.108 ns

Sites

0.751

0.083

1.203 ns

Conductivity

(mS/cm)

Sites

2.032

0.226

0.236 ns

0 2 (%)

Sites

450.074

50.008

1.285 ns

Table 2. Results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) of
fixed patterns in comparisons between the sites; for each of
the five physicochemical variables, average values were
considered. Abbreviations: ddl = degrees of freedom; SCE
= sum of squared deviations; CM = mean square; Fobs = F
value Fischer.

CONCLUSION

So, in the light of the results of physico-chemical
analysis, the swimming waters of the different study
sites are good given the Algerian standards, since
results are not above the normal values for swim-
ming waters.

However when considering bacteriological ana-
lyses such waters show, depending on the months
and the sites, although in the standards, a relat-
ively high rate of coliforms and streptococci, thus
allowing us to suggest the existence of a kind
of pollution of various origins (mainly urban waste
and stormwater runoff flowing into the sea without
treatment), observed especially at site 4, but present
at all other sites, even if less obvious.

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survival of bacteria in sea water. Journal of Applied
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Gourmelon M., 1995. Study of the visible light as the
factor limiting the survival of Escherichia coli in the
marine environment, Phd thesis in biological sciences
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in fact sheets on the drinking water and human health,
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OJRA., 2006. Official Journal of the Republic of Al-
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Mazieres J., 1963. Coliforms in marine waters and
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Oger C., Hernandez J.-F., Oudart E. & Delattre J.-M.,
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Payment P. & Hartemann P, 1998. The water contam-
inants and their health effects. Revue Science Water
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UNEP/WHO, 1983. Long-term program of monitoring
and research (MED POL Phase II), assessment of
the current state of the microbial pollution in the
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ures, Geneva.

UNEP/MAP, 2012. The Conference of the contracting
parties to the Barcelona Convention on the protection
of the Marine Environment of the Mediterranean,
Paris.

Pommepuy M., Dupray E., Guillad J.F., Derrien A.,
L’Yavanc J. & Cormier M., 1991. Urban waste dis-
posal and fecal contamination. Oceanologica Acta.
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environment of epicontinental seas. Lille, 20-22
March 1990, sp. vol. 11: 321-327.

Pommepuy M., 1995. Become of enteric bacteria in the
littoral environment. The effect of stress on their
survival, Phd thesis in biological sciences and health,
University of Rennes 1, Rennes.

Rodier J., Bazin C., Broutin J.-P., Chambon P, Cham-
psaur H. & Rodi L., 2005. Water analysis : natural
waters, residual waters, sea waters. 8th edition,
Dunod, Paris, 1383 pp.

Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 233-240

First records of digenean trematodes of two fishes (Teleostei
Sparidae) from the West Algerian coast and comparative
study with Tunisian coast (Mediterranean Sea)

Amel Belial*, NaouelAmel Brahim Tazi, Zakia Hadjou & Zitouni Boutiba

Laboratoire Reseau de Surveillance Environnementale (LRSE), Departement de Biologie, Faculte des Sciences de la nature et de
la vie, Universite d'Oranl - Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerie; e-mail: bellalamel@yahoo.fr
^Corresponding author

ABSTRACT Two species of the Teleostean Diplodus Rafinesque, 1810 Sparidae fish, Diplodus sargus (Lin-

naeus, 1758) (n = 134) and D. annularis (Linnaeus, 1758) (n = 60), from the Algerian west
coast were examined with regards to Digenea parasites occurrence between March 2013 and
December 2014. This investigation led to inventory 12 species of Digenea ( Lepidauchen
stenostoma, Arnola microcirrus , Magnibursatus bartolii, Proctoeces maculatus, Holorchis
pycnoporus, Lepocreadium album , Wardula sarguicola, Monorchis sp., Macvicaria crassigula,
Pseudopycnadena fischtali, Diphterostomum brusinae and Zoogonus rubellus). These species
are reported in the selected locality situated in Oran bay for the first time. Furthermore, Le-
pidauchen stenostoma in D. annularis is reported for the first time in the western Mediter-
ranean. The majority of the recorded digeneans colonize one or two parts of the host digestive
tract, the intestine being the most parasitized site. The calculation of epidemiologic indices
provides information on the occurrence of digeneans identified in these two hosts. The diversity
of Digenea is compared with that of the Gulf of Tunis, the Bizerte lagoon and another locality
in the western Mediterranean. The Algerian west coast shows the highest value in the species
richness of digeneans as compared to that of all the Mediterranean coasts.

KEY WORDS Digenea; Diplodus ; Diversity; Epidemiologic indices; Oran bay.

Received 22.04.2016; accepted 11.06.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

The Sparidae form the most representative fish-
ing family in Algeria. This is one of the largest cur-
rently recognized families that the perciforms order
counts (Tortonese, 1973). Their importance is re-
lated to their specific richness and high commercial
value (Fischer et al., 1987). Indeed, during these last
decades the digenean parasites of the Sparidae

family from the northern shores of the Mediterra-
nean sea have been the subject of numerous studies
(Bartoli, 1987a, 1987b; Bartoli & Gibson, 1989;
Bartoli & Bray, 1996; Bartoli et al., 1989a,
1989b; 2005; Sasal et al., 1999; Temengo et al.,
2005a; Perez -del Olmo et al., 2006, 2007a, 2008;
Kostadinova & Gibson, 2009; Sanchez et al., 2013,
2014). Whereas, on the southern Mediterranean,
little work has been done (Gargouri & Maamouri,

234

Amel Bellal et alii

2008; Gargouri et al., 2011; Derbel et al., 2012;
Bayoumy & Abu-Taweel, 2012; Antar & Gargouri,
2013; Antar et al., 2015). In particular, along the
Algerian coasts the digenean fauna of sparid fishes
is poorly known (Merzoug et al., 2012 and Abid
Kachour et al., 2013) and no study has been carried
out on the genus Diplodus Rafinesque, 1810. The
purpose of this work is to establish a database of
these Trematodes as collected in these fishes from
the Oran bay (north western Algeria). Among the
Sparidae family representatives, the Diplodus
sargus (Linnaeus, 1758) and D. annularis (Lin-
naeus, 1758) species were selected for this study.
The results obtained are compared with those of the
Gulf of Tunis and the Bizerte lagoon. The species
richness is appraised with respect to that of the
Scandola nature reserve (Corsica) in the northern
Mediterranean.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

From March 2013 to December 2014, a total of
1 94 sparid fishes of D. sargus and D. annularis
were caught in the Oran bay. The fish nomen-
clature is taken from Fischer et al. (1987). The
investigated sample of D. sargus comprised 134
individuals while that of D. annularis was consti-
tuted of 60 individuals. The trematodes were col-
lected from fresh fish, fixed by being pipetted into
nearly boiling saline, stained with iron acetocar-
mine, dehydrated through a graded alcohol series,
cleared in dimethyl phthalate and finally examined
as permanent mounts in Canada balsam. The
population descriptors, namely, prevalence, mean
intensity and abundance were calculated as de-
scribed by Buch et al. (1997).

RESULTS

A total of 12 digenean species belonging to 8
distinct families were found in the two sparid fishes
studied. As seen on the Table 1 where the main res-
ults are assembled, they are: Acanthocolpidae
Luhe, 1906; Derogenidae Nicoll, 1910; Fell-
odistomidae Nicoll, 1909; Lepocreadiidae Odhner,
1905; Mesometridae Poche, 1926; Monorchiidae
Odhner, 1911; Opecoelidae Ozaki, 1925 and
Zoogonidae Odhner, 1902. Most recorded di-

geneans colonize one or two parts of the host di-
gestive tract. It should be noted that Lepidauchen
stenostoma Nicoll, 1913, Holorchis pycnoporus
Stossich, 1901 and Diphterostomum brusinae
Stossich, 1889, seem to show clear ecological
preferences and limit their distribution to only one
niche, in this case the intestine. Moreover, all
parasites in both hosts revealed that the majority
of the parasitic species occupies the intestine.
Flosting 12 trematodes, D. sargus has the most
diverse fauna whereas only 8 species were found
in D. annularis. The distribution of the parasitic
indices of the different digenean species vary from
one host species to another. The most striking gap
is observed for the prevalence of Arnola microcir-
rus (Vlasenko, 1931) between that in D. sargus
and that in D. annularis, being equal respectively
to 18.65% and 1.33%. Very similar cases are regi-
stered for Lepocreadium album Stossich, 1904 and
Zoogonus rubellus Looss, 1901.

The calculation of epidemiologic indices
shows that the highest rates of infestation are
found for Macvicaria crassigula (Linton, 1 9 1 0) in
D. sargus and for the species Monorchis sp. in D.
annularis at the level of 33.58% and 40%, respect-
ively. Lepidauchen stenostoma, Proctoeces macu-
latus (Looss, 1901), Wardula sarguicola Bartoli et
Gibson, 1989 and Pseudopycnadena fischtali
Saad-Fares et Maillard, 1986 in D. sargus and
Arnola microcirrus in D. annularis infest less than
5% of the population of their respective hosts. The
other species recorded a prevalence ranging from
5 to 36.66%. The highest mean intensity of in-
festation exceeds 5 parasites per fish for D. annu-
laris by Diphterostomum brusinae and abundance
value is recorded by Diphterostomum brusinae
(1.93) inD. annularis.

DISCUSSION

As already mentioned, this investigation showed
that the Lepidauchen stenostoma, Diphterostomum
brusinae and Holorchis pycnoporus collected
within the digestive systems of D. sargus and D.
annularis are limited to the intestine. Various
authors have discussed the factors that can in-
fluence the processes that lead to niche restriction
in helminthes species and have proposed hypo-
theses regarding the adaptive value of this restriction.

First records of digenean trematodes of two fishes (Teleostei Sparidae) from the West Algerian and Tunisian coasts 235

Present Work

Gulf of Tunis - Gargou- Bizerte Lagoon - Antar
ri & Maamouri (2008) & Gargouri (2013)

Species

Families

Site P(%)

Diplodus sargus n= 1 34

Lepidauchen stenostoma

Acanthocolpidae

1.49

0.01

Arnold microcirrus

Derogenidae

18.65

0.25

1.36

1.42

0.01

Magnibursatus bartolii

Derogenidae

14.92

0.34

2.3

Proctoeces maculatus

Fellodistomidae

2.98

0.02

8.57

0.19

2.17

15.8

0.10.

1.0

Holorchis pycnoporus

Lepocreadiidae

11.19

0.20

1.86

7.14

0.11

1.6

Lepocreadium album

Lepocreadiidae

20.14

0.56

2.81

2.86

0.06

Lepocreadium pegorchis

Lepocreadiidae

10.5

0.10

1.5

Wardula sarguicola

Mesometridae

2.23

0.02

4.29

0.07

1.66

Monorchis parvus

Monorchiidae

1.43

0.04

Monorchis sp.

Monorchiidae

13.43

0.53

Macvicaria crassigula

Opecoelidae

33.58

0.58

1.73

18.57

0.34

1.87

5.3

0.05

1.0

Peracreadium characis

Opecoelidae

1.43

0.17

Pseudopycnadena fischtali

Opecoelidae

1.49

0.02

4.29

0.04

Diphterostomum brusinae

Zoogonidae

17.91

0.59

3.33

12.86

0.50

3.89

5.3

0.10

3.0

Zoogonus rubellus

Zoogonidae

5.97

0.08

1.37

7.14

0.11

1.6

Diplodus annularis n= 60

Lepidauchen stenostoma

Acanthocolpidae

0.05

Arnola microcirrus

Derogenidae

1.33

0.16

1.25

0.8

0.01

1.0

Steringotrema pagelli

Fellodistomidae

0.8

0.01

1.0

Lecithocladium excisum

Hemiuridae

2.94

0.04

1.5

Plolorchis pycnoporus

Lepocreadiidae

0.25

1.66

3.8

0.08

2.2

Lepocreadium album

Lepocreadiidae

0.06

1.33

2.94

0.07

2.5

ACG

11.5

0.40

3.8

Lepocreadium pegorchis

Lepocreadiidae

4.41

0.10

2.33

2.3

0.03

1.7

Prodistomum polonii

Lepocreadiidae

0.8

0.02

3.0

Mon orchis parvus

Monorchiidae

44.12

4.11

9.63

8.5

0.30

3.9

Monorchis sp.

Monorchiidae

1.81

4.54

Macvicaria crassigula

Opecoelidae

21.66

0.38

1.76

10.29

0.19

1.85

DFG

13.1

0.4

3.3

Pseudopycnadena fischtali

Opecoelidae

2.94

0.07

2.5

Diphterostomum brusinae

Zoogonidae

36.66

1.93

5.27

16.17

0.51

3.18

DGH

14.6

0.50

3.5

Zoogonus rubellus

Zoogonidae

11.66

0.11

1.47

0.01

0.8

0.01

2.0

Table 1. Epidemiologic parameters: prevalence (P), abundance (A) and mean intensity (MI) of Digenea in sparid fishes
from the Oran bay and Gulf of Tunis (Gargouri & Maamouri, 2008) and from the Bizerte Lagoon (Antar & Gargouri
2013) for the esophagus (A), stomach (B), pyloric caeca (C), duodenum (D), intestine (E), mid-intestine (F), posterior in-
testine (G), rectum (H) and Gills (I) sites.

236

Amel Bellal et alii

According to Holmes (1990), apart from the
physicochemical gradient in the intestine, factors
as specialization, reproductive efficiency, compet-
ition and host immune mechanisms influence the
selection site. The study of Ricklefs & Schluter
(1993) suggested that the fact that some parasites
are limited to a single microbiotope generates the
presence of a physical or chemical barrier that
prevents other digeneans to cross it. Indeed, a key
factor in niche restriction processes is intra- and
inter-specific competition (Holmes, 1990;
Sukhdeo & Sukhdeo, 1994; Dezfuli et al., 2002).
Rohde (1994) reported that competition, probab-
ility of finding mates, reinforcement of reproduct-
ive barriers and adaptation to environmental
complexity are selective pressures causing niche
restriction. On the other hand, the data shown on
the Table indicate that the stomach is among the
sites that are very little parasitized. This is ex-
plained by the inhospitality of the physical and
chemical conditions in the stomach towards the
parasites (Crompton, 1973). It could also be in-
voked that this absence of parasites at this site
results from the lack of niche saturation (Stock &
Holmes, 1988).

The distribution of parasitic species shows that
Lepocreadium album does not occupy the same
microbiotope in the two host species. Indeed, this
parasite colonizes the intestine and pyloric caeca
in D. sargus whereas it is limited to intestine in D.
annularis. This fact is probably related to the
digestive tube polymorphism of the hosts and their
differential resistance to parasites (Crompton,
1973). The same situation is observed for the
species Arnola microcirrus and Zoogonus rubellus.

It is also noted that the intestine is the most
parasitized site by Lepidauchen stenostoma,
Holorchis pycnoporus, Lepocreadium album ,
Proctoeces maculatus. Monorchis sp., Macvicaria
crassigula and Pseudopycnadena fischtali. In fact,
the intestine is the nutrient-richest site and seems
to influence the parasite specificity towards the
host. Holmes (1990) also stated that the use of
nutrients by parasites is an important factor which
regulates competition among the intestine para-
sites. According to Sasal et al. (1999) each parasite
species which shows this tolerance is generalist.

The distributions of digeneans parasitic indices
in both hosts show inequality towards parasitism.
Indeed, important differences appear with regards

to the prevalence of some parasites: Arnola micro-
cirrus (18.65-1.33%), Lepocreadium album
(20.14-5%) and Zoogonus rubellus (5.97-
11.66%). However, these epidemiological values
are generally higher in the Sparidae from the Oran
bay than those from the Gulf of Tunis (Gargouri
Ben Abdallah & Maamouri, 2008) and Bizerte
lagoon (Antar & Gargouri Ben Abdallah, 2013)
(Table 1). The causes of these variations according
to Combes (1995) and Khan (2012) are numerous
and may be related to the genetics, life environ-
ment, energy consumption, age of the host, poten-
tial host proximity, presence of other parasites,
biogeography, environmental changes, host etho-
logy and immune system. Ternengo et al. (2005b)
suggested that each fish species has a character-
istic parasitac fauna and particular levels of in-
festation. Some parasites recorded in the Oran
bay in D. sargus ( Lepidauchen stenostoma, Mag-
nibursatus bartolii Kostadinova, Power, Fernan-
dez, Balbuena, Raga et Gibson, 2003 and
Monorchis sp.) and D. annularis {Lepidauchen
stenostoma, Arnola microcirrus, Holorchis pycno-
porus and Monorchis sp.) were not collected in
either one of these two fishes in the Gulf of Tunis
(Gargouri Ben Abdallah & Maamouri, 2008)
(Table 1). However, Lepidauchen stenostoma was
described as a parasite of D. annularis in the
Adriatic Sea off the coast of Montenegro (Bray &
Bartoli, 1996) and reported in D. sargus from
Scandola nature reserve (Corsica) by Bartoli et al.
(2005). Hence, we report it for the first time in the
western Mediterranean in D. annularis. Similarly,
Magnibursatus bartolii was encountered in an-
other sparid species, Boobs boobs (Linnaeus,
1758), from the North-east Atlantic coast, Spain
(Kostadinova et al., 2003), in Oblada melanura
(Linnaeus, 1758) (Gargouri Ben Abdallah &
Maamouri, 2008) in the Gulf of Tunis, in Spams
aurata Linnaeus, 1758 from the Bizerte Lagoon
(Gargouri Ben Abdallah et al., 2011) and in
D. sargus off the coast of Buriana, Spain
(Kostadinova & Gibson, 2009). Arnola microcir-
rus was described as a parasite of D. annularis in
the Black Sea (Gaevskaya & Korniychuk, 2003)
and reported in Corsica (Kostadinova et al., 2004).
Holorchis pycnoporus was recorded in many
different regions of the Mediterranean (Bray &
Cribb, 1997). By contrast, some parasite species
as Peracreadium characis Bartoli, Gibson et Bray,

First records of digenean trematodes of two fishes (Teleostei Sparidae) from the West Algerian and Tunisian coasts 237

1989, Lecithocladium excisum (Rudolphi, 1819)
Liihe, 1901, Lepocreadium pegorchis (Stossich,
1901), Monorchis parvus Looss, 1902 and
Pseudopycnadena fischtali that were found in the
Gulf of Tunis were not collected during this
research in the Oran bay. Several factors may
influence the parasite community. One is probably
related to the low frequency of intermediate hosts
in the biotope due to a harmful effect of pollution
on them and parasite free stages. Others are linked
to environmental parameters (MacKenzie 1999,
Khan 2012), the geographical distance (Perez- Del
Olmo, 2008) and the sampling site (Ternengo et
al., 2009). Perez- Del Olmo (2007) demonstrated
that significant changes were noted in the structure
of parasite communities in Boops boops after the
Prestige oil spill in 2002. However, it should be
noted that Lecithocladium excisum and Lepocre-
adium pegorchis were reported respectively in
Boops boops (Merzoug et al., 2012) and in Pagel-
lus erythrinus Linnaeus, 1758 from the in Oran
bay (Abid Kachour, 2014).

Our results compared to those from the Bizerte
Lagoon (Antar et al., 2013) show variations with
respect to the diversity of the digenean (Table 1).
Indeed, in D. sargus, nine species of Trematodes
( Lepidauchen stenostoma, Arnola microcirrus ,
Magnibursatus bartolii, Holorchis pycnoporus,
Lepocreadium album , Wardula sarguicola,
Monorchis sp., Pseudopycnadena fischtali and
Zoogonus rubellus ) are recorded only in the
present study, although their absence of represent-
ation in the Bizerte lagoon could be explained by
the small number of hosts studied (n = 19). It
should be noted that Lepocreadium album was
found for the first time in the Oran bay in Boobs
boobs (Merzoug et al., 2012). Furthermore,
Lepidauchen stenostoma and Monorchis sp. are
observed only among D. annularis from the Oran
bay. On the other hand, Steringotrema pagelli (Van
Beneden, 1871) Odhner, 1911, Lepocreadium
pegorchis , Prodistomum polonii Bray et Gibson,
1990 and Monorchis parvus are recorded in the
Bizerte lagoon but absent in the Oran bay. And
more recently, Antar et al. (2015) revealed the
presence of Macvicaria bartolii Antar, Gorgieva,
Gargouri Ben Abdallah et Kostadinova, 2015 in D.
annularis from the Bay of Bizerte whereas this
parasite was not collected in this investigation.
This fact might be connected with the successful

completion of life cycles of these parasites in the
Bizerte Lagoon, a confined environment limiting
the dispersal of the larval stages. Indeed, Maillard
(1976) showed that a digenean which completes
its life cycle in the ponds and the lagoons has a
higher chance of completion than that having a
marine life cycle.

As compared to the data of digenean species in
the sparid fishes from Scandola nature reserve
(Corsica) in the western Mediterranean (Bartoli et
al., 2005), our results show a significant richness
in D. sargus and D. annularis from the Oran bay.
Altogether, seven species of digenean parasites
were not mentioned in Corsica: Lepidauchen
stenostoma , Arnola microcirrus , Holorchis pycno-
porus , Lepocreadium album , Monorchis sp.,
Zoogonus rubellus and Magnibursatus bartolii. In
the Oran bay, the first six ones were found in D.
sargus and the last three in D. annularis. Similarly,
in the Tunisian coast as well as the Bizerte
Lagoon, Lepidauchen stenostoma, Magnibursatus
bartolii, and Monorchis sp. were not reported in
D. sargus, whereas Lepidauchen stenostoma and
Monorchis sp. were not found in D. annularis
(Table 1).

The causes of this species diversity may be
related to the passage of the Atlantic waters.
Indeed, the Oran bay is undoubtedly under the
influence of these Atlantic currents through the
Straits of Gibraltar which can periodically convey
nutrients (fish, invertebrates, etc ...) between the
Mediterranean and the Atlantic. This mixing
process increases the probability of intermediate
hosts transfer. Consequently, the life cycle of
various taxa may explain this parasite biodiversity
in the two investigated hosts in the Western Al-
gerian coast. The wider digenean diversity ob-
served in the Scandola Nature reserve is probably
related to the equilibrium stability of the eco-
system that is devoid of major pollutants and
opens directly to the Western Mediterranean basin
(Bartoli et al., 2005). Thus, the Digenea diversity
is related to the high general level of biodiversity
reported in that region (Miniconi et al., 1990;
Verlaque, 1990; Merella, 1991; Verlaque et al.,
1999). On the other hand, Gargouri Ben Abdallah
& Maamouri (2008) suggested that the relatively
important digenean diversity of sparidae off the
Tunisian coasts is related to the geographical
situation of Tunisia. The latter, representing also a

238

Amel Bellal et alii

transition zone between the Western and Eastern
Mediterranean, undergoes the influence of both
the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar and the
Red Sea via the Suez Canal. Furthermore,
Thieltges et al. (2008) mentioned that the origin
of this differential distribution of digenean
frequencies between the different Mediterranean
environments may be related to the frequency of
the intermediate hosts and the variation in physical
and chemical parameters of the biotope that can
influence the host as well as the free-living larval
stages of parasites.

Finally, in this study, all the parasites exposed
in Table 1 are recorded for the first time in D.
sargus and D. annularis from the Oran bay
although they were already described in the same
hosts in other regions of western Mediterranean
(Bartoli et al., 1989a; Bartoli et al., 1989b; Bartoli
& Gibson, 1989; Bartoli & Bray, 1996; Bray &
Bartoli, 1996; Fepommel et al., 1997; Jousson et
al., 1998; Jousson et al., 1999; Sasal et al., 1999;
Jousson et al., 2000; Kostadinova et al., 2004;
Bartoli et al., 2005; Ternengo et al., 2005a;
D'Amico et al., 2006; Gargouri Ben Abdallah &
Maamouri, 2008; Kostadinova & Gibson, 2009;
Derbel et al., 2012; Antar & Gargouri, 2013).

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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 241-248

Preliminary survey of hill stream fishes in Upper Cyber
Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, West
Thailand

Sitthi Kulabtong 1 & Rujira Mahaprom 1,2

'Save wildlife of Thailand, Wangnoi District, Ayuttaya Province 13170, Thailand; e-mail: kulabtong2011@hotmail.com
2 Bureau of Conservation and Research, Zoological Park Organization under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King, Thailand;
e-mail: Rujira.ma@hotmail.com
’Corresponding author

ABSTRACT Fields survey of freshwater fish in Cyber Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary,

at Ban Cyber, Khok Khwai Subdistrict, Hui Kod District, Uthai Thani Province, West Thailand
were carried out in December 2015. We found 10 families and 22 species of hill stream fishes.
Schistura desmotes (Fowler, 1934) and Homalopteroides smithi (Hora 1932) (Cypriniformes
Balitoridae) are dominant in transparent and running fast stream ecosystem and Neolissochilus
stracheyi (Day, 1871) and Mystacoleucus marginatus (Valenciennes, 1842) (Cypriniformes
Cyprinidae) are dominant in running slowly stream and pool of the headwater stream ecosys-
tem. One alien species in this area is Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859 (Cyprinodontiformes
Poeciliidae). Two species, Pseudohomaloptera cf. leonardi (Hora, 1941) (Cypriniformes
Balitoridae) and Channa cf. gachua (Hamilton, 1822) (Perciformes Channidae), still have an
unclear taxonomic status. The Thai local names, habitat and distribution data of hill stream
fishes are provided.

KEY WORDS hill stream fishes; Cyber Stream; Huai Kha Khaeng; Wildlife Sanctuary; Thailand.

Received 27.05.2016; accepted 19.06.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary
(HKKWS) is a 278,000 ha (2,780.14 km 2 ) world
heritage (Southeast-Asia, Uthai Thani Province of
Thiland) (Sukmasuang, 2009; Simcharoen et al.,
2014). Climate of HKKWS is classified as tropical
savanna, with six forest type categories: hill ever
green (13%), moist ever green, dry ever green
(25%), mixed ever green (48%), dry dipterocarps
(7%) and a small successional community (The
Faculty of Forestry, 1989; WEFCOM, 2004).

The Sanctuary is important as in-situ conserva-
tion for the diversity of flora and fauna, and ecosys-

tem. According to a Forest Research Center report
(1997), HKKWS consists of of 130 mammals, 360
birds, 81 reptiles, 37 amphibians and 105 fish.

Cyber Stream is part of the Huai Khun Kaew
Basin and the West Thailand Watershed. The geo-
graphy of Upper Cyber Stream is a hill and a little
flat land, but the lower area is relatively flat (Royal
Irrigation Department, 2012). Upper Cyber Stream
is characterized by its own ecological features
which differentiate it from the other hill stream eco-
system systems of Thailand. Although it is certainly
of interest, nevertheless is poorly investigated and
little is known about hill stream fishes occurring in
this area. In order to obtain a more detailed know-

242

Sitthi Kulabtong & Rujira Mahaprom

Figures 1-3. Study area, Upper Cyber Stream, outside Huai
Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Uthai Thani Province, West
Thailand.

ledge on this item, we carried out this survey project
on Cyber Stream fishes, outside HKKWS area but
near to Cyber forest (a protect station of HKKWS)
at Ban Cyber, Khok Khwai Subdistrict, Hui Kod
District, Uthai Thani Province, West Thailand (Figs.
1-3) in December 2015. The area was separated
into 3 regions in accordance to the ecosystems;
namely:

1. Transparent running fast stream eco-
system (Fig. 2). The average width of the stream is
about 10 m, average depth is less than 1 m, the bot-
tom is a combination of sand, gravel and large rock.

2. Transparent running slow stream eco-
system (Fig. 3). The average width of the stream is
about 15 m, average depth is about 1-2 m, the bot-
tom is a combination of sand, large rock, clay and
sandy mud, the stream is transparent and running
slowly.

3. Pool of the headwater stream ecosystem.
The average width of the stream is about 10 -15 m,
average depth is about 1-1.5 m, the bottom is a
combination of clay and sandy mud, the area is
transparent to turbid.

ACRONYMS. Standard length (SL)

RESULTS

Order CYPRINIFORMES Bleeker, 1859
Family CYPRINIDAE Cuvier, 1817

Danio albolineatus (Blyth, 1860)

Pearl danio

Habitat. This species (Fig. 4) was found in the
pool of the headwater stream and transparent run-
ning fast stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Ir-
rawaddy Basin and Salween Basin in Myanmar;
Sumatra, Indonesia; Indochina, Laos, Mekong
Basin and Maeklong drainages in Thailand.

Thai local name. Pla sel bai pai lek.

Rasbora paviana Tirant 1885
Sidestripe rasbora

Habitat. This species (Fig. 5) was found in the
pool of the headwater stream, transparent running
fast stream and the main stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Indo-
nesia; Malaysia; Indochina, Mekong Basin, Chao

Preliminary survey of hill stream fishes in Upper Cyber Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand 243

Phraya Basin and Maeklong Basins, northern
Malay Peninsula in Thailand.

Thai local name. Pla sel kray.

Rasbora borapetensis Smith 1934
Blackline rasbora

Habitat. This species was found in the pool of
the headwater stream and transparent running fast
stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Indo-
china, Mekong Basin, Chao Phraya Basin and
Maeklong Basins, northern Malay Peninsula in
Thailand.

Thai local name. Pla sel hang dang.

Mystacoleucus marginatus (Valenciennes, 1842)
Indian river barb

Habitat. This species (Fig. 6) was found in trans-
parent slowly stream and pool of the headwater
stream ecosystem.

Distribution. This species is known from
Myanmar to Indonesia.

Thai local name. Pla kee yok or Pla num lung.

Remarks. This species is dominant in trans-
parent slowly stream and pool of the headwater. In
Thailand, M. marginatus can be found in many
ecosystems such as reservoir and large running
fast rivers (Kottelat, 1998; Petsut & Kulabtong,
2015).

Barb odes rhomb eus (Kottelat, 2000)

Waterfall barb

Habitat. This species (Fig. 7) was found in tran-
sparent and running fast stream ecosystem.

Distribution. This species is known from Mekong
Basin, Chao Phraya Basin, Maeklong Basins,
eastern Gulf of Thailand Drainages and peninsular
Thailand.

Thai local name. Pla Ta pean num tok.

Neolissochilus stracheyi (Day, 1871)

Mahseer

Habitat. This species (Fig. 8) was found in the

pool of the headwater stream and transparent run-
ning slow stream.

Distribution. This species is known from
Maeklong River, Chao Phraya River, Southeast
Basin and Peninsular Thailand; Mekong Basin in
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam; Salween
Basin, Thailand and Myanmar.

Thai local name. Pla plong.

Remarks. This species is dominant in pool and
slow stream. In nature, adult Mahseer groups in-
habit pools and runs over gravel and cobble in slow
hill stream but juveniles commonly can be found in
or near rapids (Rainboth, 1996; Kottelat, 2001;
Kunlapapuk & Kulabtong, 2011).

Osteochilus vittatus (Valenciennes, 1842)
Bonylip barb

Habitat. This species was found in transparent
running fast stream to main stream.

Distribution. This species is known from
Myanmar; China; Sumatra, Java, Borneo in In-
donesia; Mekong Basin, Chao Phraya Basin,
Maeklong Basin, eastern Gulf of Thailand Drain-
ages; Malay Peninsula.

Thai local name. Soi nok kaw.

Garra cambodgiensis (Tirant 1884)
Stonelapping minnow

Habitat. This species (Fig. 9) was found in the
transparent running fast stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Mekong
Basin, Chao Phraya Basin, Peninsula Thailand;
Cambodia; Vietnam.

Thai local name. Pla lia hin

Garra nasuta (McClelland, 1838)

Stonelapping minnow

Habitat. This species (Fig. 10) was found in the
transparent running fast stream.

Distribution. This species is known from India;
Myanmar; South China and Indochina.

Thai local name. Pla mood

Family BALITORIDAE Swainson, 1839

244

Sitthi Kulabtong & Rujira Mahaprom

Schistura desmotes (Fowler, 1934)

Loach

Habitat. This species (Fig. 11) was found in the
transparent running fast stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Chao
Phraya Basin, Maeklong Basin in Thailand; Malay
Peninsula. India; Myanmar; South China and In-
dochina.

Thai local name. Pla mood

Remarks. This species is dominant in this study
area. In Thailand, can predominantly be found in
fast flowing streams over gravel substrate and,
sometimes, in pools of hill areas.

Homalopteroides smithi (Hora, 1932)

Gecko fish

Habitat. This species (Fig. 12) was found in the
transparent running fast stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Indo-
china to Malaysia Peninsula; Indonesia.

Thai local name. Pla jing jok.

Remarks. This species is dominant in rapid
stream ecosystem.

Pseudohomaloptera cf. leonardi (Hora, 1941)
Gecko fish

Habitat. This species (Fig. 13) was found in the
transparent running fast stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Cent-
ral, East, South Thailand; Malaysia

Thai local name. Pla j ing j ok.

Remarks. In Thailand, the taxonomic status of
this taxon is still unclear.

Family COBITIDAE Swainson, 1838

Lepidocephalichthys berdmorei (Blyth, 1860)
Burmese loach

Habitat. In this study, only one specimen was
found in the transparent running fast stream and the
pool of the headwater stream.

Distribution. This species is known from India;

Bangladesh; Myanmar; China; Thailand; Laos; Pen-
insular Malaysia.

Thai local name. Pla eed.

Order SILURIFORMES Cuvier, 1817
Family BAGRIDAE Bleelcer, 1858

Batasio tigrinus Ng et Kottelat, 2001
Hill stream bagrid catfish

Habitat. In this study, only one specimen was
found in the transparent running fast stream over
gravel substrate.

Distribution. This species is known from
Maeklong Basin and West Thailand.

Thai local name. Pla ka yang pu kao

Pseudomystus siamensis (Regan, 1913)

Asian Bumblebee Catfish

Habitat. In this study, only one specimen was
found in the transparent running fast stream over
gravel substrate.

Distribution. This species is known from
Mekong Basin, Chao Phraya Basin, Maeklong
Basins, eastern Gulf of Thailand Drainages and
peninsular Thailand.

Thai local name. Pla ka yang hin.

Hemibagrus nemurus (Valenciennes, 1840)
Yellow Catfish

Habitat. In this study, only one specimen was
found in the transparent slow stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Indo-
china to Indonesia.

Thai local name. Pla kod luang.

Order BELONIF ORME S L.S. Berg, 1937
Family BELONIDAE Bonaparte, 1835

Xenentodon cancila (F. Hamilton, 1822)
Freshwater garfish

Habitat. In this study, only one specimen was
found in the transparent slow stream.

Distribution. This species is known from India

Preliminary survey of hill stream fishes in Upper Cyber Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand 245

Figures 4-10. Freshwater fish in Cyber Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, West Thailand. Figure 4. Dcmio
albolineatus, 31 mm SL. Figure 5. Rasbora paviana, 51 mm SL. Figure 6. Mystacoleucus marginatus, 63 mm SL. Figure .
Puntius rhombeus, 25 mm SL. Figure 8. Neolissochilus stracheyi, 78 mm SL. Figure 9. Garra cambodgiensis, 38 mm SL.
Figure 10. Garra nasuta , 73 mm SL and mouth of Garra nasuta.

246

Sitthi Kulabtong & Rujira Mahaprom

Figures 11-1 6. Freshwater fish in Cyber Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, West Thailand. Figure 13.
Schistura desmotes, 63 mm SL. Figure 14. Homalopteroides smithi, 35 mm SL. Figure 15. Pseudohomaloptera cf. leonardi ,
70 mm SL. Figure 16. Poecilia reticulata , male, 23 mm SL. Figure 17. Poecilia reticulata, female, 26 mm SL. Figure 18.
Channa cf. gachua, 133 mm SL.

Sub-continent to Southeast Asia. Introduced in
America.

Thai local name. Pla kra tung hav.

Order SYNBRANCHIFORMES Bonaparte, 1838
Family MASTACEMBELIDAE Bleeker, 1870

Mastacembelus favus Hora, 1924
Tire track eel

Habitat. This species was found in the pool of
the headwater stream and transparent running slow
stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Thai-
land to Malay Peninsula.

Thai local name. Pla kra ting.

Order CYPRINODONTIFORMES L.S. Berg, 1940
Family POECILIIDAE Bloch et Schneider, 1801

Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859
Guppies

Habitat. This species (Figs. 14, 15) was found
in the pool of the headwater stream.

Preliminary survey of hill stream fishes in Upper Cyber Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand 247

Distribution. This species is native to South
America; introduced to many different countries in
the world.

Thai local name. Pla hang nok yung.
Remarks. Alien species in Thailand.

Order PERCIFORMES Bleeker, 1859
Family AMBASSIDAE Klunzinger, 1870

Parambassis siamensis (Fowler, 1937)

Siamese glassfish

Habitat. This species was found in the pool of
the headwater stream and transparent running slow
stream.

Distribution. This species is known from Indo-
china to Malay Peninsula; introduced in Singapore
and Indonesia.

Thai local name. Pla pan ghav.

Family NANDIDAE Bleeker, 1852

Pristolepis fasciata (Bleeker, 1851)

Malayan leaffish

Habitat. This species was found in the pool of
the headwater stream and transparent running slow
stream.

Distribution. This species is known from
Myanmar to Indonesia.

Thai local name. Pla mor chang yab.

Channa cf. gachua (Hamilton, 1822)

Dwarf snakehead

Habitat. This species (Fig. 16) was found in
running slow stream and the pool of the headwater
stream.

Distribution. This species is known from In-
dian Sub-continent to Southeast Asia.

Thai local name. Pla gung.

Remarks. In Thailand, the taxonomic status of
this taxon is still unclear, being reported from time
to time as C. gachua or C. limbata.

CONCLUSIONS

In this work a total of 1 0 families and 22 species
of hill stream fishes were recorded from Upper
Cyber Stream, outside Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife
Sanctuary, West Thailand. In particular, 1 alien
species, Poecilia reticulata is reported for Upper
Cyber Stream and two species, Pseudohomaloptera
cf. leonardi and Channa cf. gachua still have an
unclear taxonomic status.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to reviewers for review-
ing this manuscript. We would like to thanks Miss
Buppa Amkat, Chairman and Mr. Songwut Sujaree,
Vice chairman of Save wildlife of Thailand for
financial support and providing help during the
field survey. Finally, a special thanks to all rangers
of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary and to
all partners of Save wildlife of Thailand Team for
helping in collecting the specimens employed in
this study.

REFERENCES

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Forest Research Center, 1997. Application of Remote
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248

Sitthi Kulabtong & Rujira Mahaprom

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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 249-252

Princidium ( Testedium ) laetum (Brulle, 1 836) new to Italian
fauna (Coleoptera CarabidaeTrechinae Bembidiini)

Calogero Muscarella 1 & Maurizio Pavesi 2 *

'Cooperativa Silene, Via D’Ondes Reggio 8A Scala G, 90127 Palermo, Italy; e-mail: calogero@silenecoop.org
2 Museo di Storia Naturale, Corso Venezia 55, 20121 Milano, Italy; e-mail: maurizio_pavesi@yahoo.com
^Corresponding author,

ABSTRACT The Mediterranean ground beetle Princidium ( Testedium ) laetum (Brulle, 1836) (Coleoptera

Carabidae Trechinae Bembidiini) is herewith first recorded for Italy, on Favignana Island
(Egadi Archipelago). The site of the species is a small complex of coastal temporary pools.
Notes on the species and considerations on the significance of its local occurrence are given.

KEY WORDS Egadi Islands; new species to Italy; Princidium ( Testedium ) laetum; Carabidae.

Received 27.05.2016; accepted 19.06.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

Favignana, with an area of about 20 km 2 , is the
larger island of Egadi Archipelago, west of Sicily
(Trapani province). It is about 9 km in length and
4.8 km in maximum width, situated less than 10 km
from the major island. The sea between the two is
shallow, the depth not exceeding 1 3 m, so that even
during minor marine regressions in the past they
have been connected to each other by an emerged
land bridge.

The island is crossed in its widest point by the
“Montagna Grossa” range, running from North to
South, reaching 302 m a.s.l. with the Mount Santa
Caterina (302 m). East and west of the range there
are two plains, “la Piana” (= “the Plain”) and “il
Bosco” (= “the Wood”) respectively. The formerly
existing woodlands have been almost completely
destroyed; the landscape is at present rather bare,
largely dominated by grasslands and garrigues with
some typical elements of the Mediterranean
maquis, such as wild olive ( Olea europaea L.),
mastic (Pistacia lentiscus L.), arboreal euphorbia

( Euphorbia dendroides L.). Nevertheless, flora
includes many elements of great phytogeografic
interest, as well as a number of endemic ones. A
floristic survey, dating to sixties of XX century, on
Egadi islands records for Favignana about 570
species (Di Martino & Trapani, 1967). Recent
surveys are expected to result in increase of this
number (La Rosa, pers. comm.).

The first zoological surveys on Favignana date
to sixties of XX century, within the CNR “Piccole
Isole” (= small islands) project. Results refer mainly
to Amphibia and Reptilia (Bruno, 1970; Lanza,
1973) and to some Arthropoda groups, namely
Coleoptera Tenebrionidae (Focarile, 1969; Mar-
cuzzi, 1970), Carabidae (Magistretti, 1971), Staphyl-
inidae (Bordoni, 1973), Curculionidae (Magnano
& Osella, 1973; Osella, 1973), Chrysomelidae
(Daccordi & Ruffo, 1975); Chilopoda (Matic,
1968); Diplopoda (Strasser, 1969); Araneae Dys-
deridae (Alicata, 1973); terrestrial Isopoda (Camso,
1973). Since then, further contributions resulted in
increased knowledge for Coleoptera Tenebrionidae
(Aliquo, 1993, 1995), Rhynchota (= Hemiptera)

250

Calogero Muscarella & Maurizio Pavesi

Heteroptera (Carapezza, 1993) and terrestrial Mol-
lusca (Riedel, 1973; Beckmann, 2002; Fiorentino
et al., 2004).

Princidium ( Tes tedium ) laetum Brulle, 1836 is
a Mediterranean (extending to Macaronesia)
species, whose recorded range includes Iberian
peninsula, Canary Islands (type locality), North
Africa, Greece and Turkey (Marggi et al., 2003),
though not recorded for the latter in Casale & Vigna
Taglianti (1999). It lives in warm areas, where it
inhabits borders of standing, often temporary
waters, including artificial basins, and also damp
soils not close to open water.

In April and May 2016 one of us (CM), during
a field trip in Favignana Island (Egadi Archipelago,
Sicily), noticed a population of P. laetum in a small
coastal wetland. The present record is the first one
for Italy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study area

The biotope where P. laetum was discovered
(37°56'58"N - 12°18'05"E) is situated close to Punta
Faraglione, on the north-western coast of the Fav-
ignana Island (Figs. 1, 2). It is a small complex of
Mediterranean temporary pools on brown soils with
calcarenite and dolomite outcrops (Abate et al.,
1994). It is an extremely significant environment,
from biologic and conservation viewpoint, recog-
nized by the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) as Site

of Community Importance (Genovesi et al., 2014).
Several rare plants, Aristolochia navicularis Nardi,
Limonium dubium (Guss.), L. hyblaeum Brullo, L.
virgatum (Willd.), L. bocconei (Lojac.) Litard., L.
lojaconoi Brullo e.g., are found here (La Rosa, pers.
comm.).

Sampling

On 5-6.IV.20 16 and 13.V.2016, several P. laetum
individuals were observed and photographed (Fig.
3) by one of us (CM), close to one single pool
within the said area; some of them were collected
in order to confirm determination and are now
housed in the authors’ collections. Beetles were
found on damp soil, not far from the water edge,
under stones or hidden into the crevices. No other
hygrophilous Coleoptera were found to co-occur
with them, and no individual was seen at the re-
maining pools of the area, despite of seemingly
quite similar conditions.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

It looks quite surprising that none of the ento-
mologists that previously collected on Favignana
ever noticed such a conspicuous and unmistakable
insect as P. laetum , no doubt one of the most hand-
some among European and Mediterranean ground
beetles; even more because in this kind of small
islands, aquatic habitats are rare, and when existing
are hardly overlooked by researchers. According to

Figures l, 2. Favignana Island: temporary pool west of Punta Faraglione, habitat of Princidium ( Tes tedium ) laetum.

Princidium (Testedium) laetum (Brulle, 1836) new to Italian fauna (Coleoptera Carabidae)

251

Focarile (1969) and Osella (1973), Favignana was
visited in March, May- June and October, i.e. in
periods at least partly suitable for findings of this
species. At least the former author should have
visited this or some such habitat, since Magistretti
(1970), upon Focarile’s materials, records for Fav-
ignana (sub Bembidion tethys Net.) Phyla tethys
(Netolitzky, 1926), a hygrophilous ground beetle.
Incidentally, with possible exception of Distichus
planus (Bonelli, 1813), listed sub Scarites planus
Bon., that may be found either at the pools (more
likely) or at seashore, no other hygrophilous ground
beetles {Dyschiriodes Jeannel, 1941 s .1 . , Bembidion
Latreille, 1802 s.l., Tachys Dejean, 1821 s.l .,Pogo-
nus Dejean, 1821 s.l., Chlaenius Bonelli, 1810 s.l.,
e.g.) are recorded for the island.

In our opinion it seems not unlikely that at the
time P. laetum simply did not exist there, and that
its occurrence may result from a recent colonisation
from airborne individuals (aeroplankton). In genera
related to (and by several authors treated as sub-
genera of) Bembidion , most species are good fliers,
probably unable to fly actively over very long
distances, yet no doubt able to stay on flight for
several hours, reaching even quite far areas when
supported by southern winds. The minimum
distance between Tunisian coast, where P. laetum
occurs, and Favignana is less than 150 km, clearly
at reach of such fliers. Anyway, the fair number of
individuals seen together, only in a small spot,
excludes that all of them may have come from over-
seas, and proves at least occasional local breeding.
The local absence of potential competitors may
have favoured the subsequent settlement. It is at
present unknown whether the species permanently
occurs on Favignana, or only does so as a temporary
occurrence, not to persist in the next future.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to thank Michele Zilioli (Museo di
Storia Naturale, Milano, Italy) for the pictures of
the prepared specimen. We also thank Paolo Neri
(Forli, Italy) for informations about the species,
Alfonso La Rosa (Palermo, Italy) for communica-
tion of unpublished floristic data about Favignana
and Paolo Balistreri (Favignana, Italy) for accom-
panying one of us (CM) on trips around the Fav-
ignana Island.

Figures 3-5. Princidium ( Testedium ) laetum , from Fav-
ignana. Fig. 3. Living animal in situ. Fig. 4. Idem, habitus.
Fig. 5. Idem, aedeagus.

252

Calogero Muscarella & Maurizio Pavesi

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Aliquo V., 1993. Dati nuovi e riassuntivi sui Coleotteri
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Bordoni A., 1973. I Coleotteri Stafilinidi delle isole
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Beckmann K.-H., 2002. Elemente einer Revision der
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Bruno S., 1970. Anfibi e Rettili di Sicilia. Studi sulla
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Carapezza A., 1993. Eterotteri nuovi per le isole Eolie,
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Caruso D., 1973. Isopodi terrestri delle Isole Eolie ed
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(excl. Cicindelidae) of Anatolia, and their biological
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Daccordi M. & Ruffo S., 1975. Coleotteri Crisomelidi
delle Isole Egadi e descrizione di una nuova specie
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civico di Storia naturale, Verona, 1: 427-437.

Di Martino A. & Trapani S., 1967. Flora e vegetazione
delle isole di Favignana e Levanzo nelTArcipelago
delle Egadi. I. Favignana. Lavori dell’Istituto di
Botanica e del Giardino Coloniale di Palermo, 22
(1965): 122-228.

Fiorentino V., Cianfanelli S., Manganelli G. & Giusti F.,
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(Canale di Sicilia): biodiversita e conservazione.
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Focarile A., 1969. Sintesi preliminare delle attuali cono-
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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 253-256

Biological data of Burmese carplet Amblypharyngodon atkin-
sonii (Blyth, 1 860) in South Myanmar (Cypriniformes Cyprsn-
idae): a preliminary report

Sitthi Kulabtong

Save wildlife of Thailand, Wangnoi District, Ayuttaya Province, Thailand; e-mail: kulabtong2011@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT The present paper reports on biological data of Burmese carplet, Amblypharyngodon atkin-

sonii (Blyth, 1 860) in Tanintharyi River, Tavoy, Tanintharyi Division, South Myanmar. The
study indicated that this fish is a surface and mid- water feeder. According to stomach content,
it can be considered as planktivorous and insectivorous. Food items can be separated into
five groups, namely phytoplanktons, zooplanktons, aquatic insects, plant materials and organic
matters, the first two being the main items. Females of A atkinsonii were found to be predo-
minant. The length-weight relationship was related by the equation, W = 0.000003 1SL 3 5221 ;
(R 2 = 0.94). Fecundity ranged from 1,548-4,020 eggs. Fecundity-length relationship was re-
lated by the equation, Fe = 0.88046SL 1 9560 ; (R 2 = 0.87) and Fecundity-weight by Fe =
914.4292W 0 - 6182 ; (R 2 = 0.88).

KEY WORDS Amblypharyngodon atkinsonii', feeding habit; fecundity; Myanmar.

Received 03.12.2016; accepted 19.01.2016; printed 30.03.2016

INTRODUCTION

The Tanintharyi River originates at Tanow Sri
mountain range, frontier of Thailand and Myanmar
at an altitude of 2,074 m. This river system runs
through Tanintharyi Division, Southern Myanmar
after passing by several towns, including Tagu,
Banlaw, Wunna, Thamihla, Tharapon and Kahan
and flows into the Andaman Sea at the Tanintharyi
Estuary, Myeik City with a total length of about 250
kilometers. Tanintharyi River is a major river of
southern Myanmar and a very important river basin
(Grosberg, 2005), but very little is known about
aquatic resources in this area, including biological
data of fish populations.

The freshwater cyprinid fish genus, Amblypha-
ryngodon Bleeker, 1860, order Cypriniformes
Bleelcer, 1859, family Cyprinidae Cuvier, 1817, has
been reported from Indian Subcontinent to South-
east Asia (Blyth, 1860; Talwar & Jhingran, 1991
Kottelat, 2013; Doi, 1997).

In Myanmar, it comprises two valid species:
Amblypharyngodon mola (Hamilton, 1822) repor-
ted from West to Central Myanmar and A. atkin-
sonii (Blyth, 1860) (Fig. 1) reported from Central
to South Myanmar (Vidthayanon et al., 2005). In
Myanmar it is poorly known, on the contrary, in
India A. mola is a popular food, particularly in the
Indian sub-continent. Amblypharyngodon mola is
a species, mostly planktivorous, inhabiting in

254

SlTTHI K.ULABTONG

ponds, reservoirs, slow-moving streams or main
stream. The spawning season is all year round and
fecundity was found to range from 1,021-13,812
eggs (Suresh et al., 2007; Gupta & Banerjee, 2013,
2014; Mondal & Kaviraj, 2013). At present, nothing
is known on A. atkinsonii.

A survey project aimed at studying freshwater
fishes in Tanintharyi River, Tavoy, Tanintharyi Di-
vision, South Myanmar was carried out in August
2014. Specimens of A. atkinsonii were collected
by beach seine along with other fish including
Esomns ahli Hora et Mukerji 1928, Puntius chola
(Hamilton, 1822), Mystus pulcher (Chaudhuri,
1911), Parambassis ranga (Hamilton, 1822),
Trichogaster labiosa Day, 1877, Pseudopocryptes
elongatus (Cuvier, 1816), Odontamblyopus rubi-
cundus (Hamilton, 1822) and others. The purpose
of this study is provide new preliminary data on
biology of A. atkinsonii.

ACRONYMS AND ABBRE VATION S . Stand-
ard length = SL; head length = HL.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Field study was carried out in August 2014.
Fifteen specimens of Burmese carplet were col-
lected by beach seine (lxl mm). Feeding morpho-
logy was investigated according to Nakabo
(2002); stomach content analysis was performed
as in Hyslop (1980); sex, length-weight relation-
ship and fecundity were studied as reported by
Krebs (1998).

RESULTS
Feeding habit

Feeding morphology of Burmese carplet (Fig.
2) showed that the position of the mouth is in the
upper part of the head (superior mouth), this char-
acter indicated that this fish is a surface and mid-
water feeder. Average values of intestinal length
(compared to standard length) is 300.77±6.57. Gill
rakers are short, sparse, pointed in shape, average
number of first gill rakers is 12±3. Particularly, A.
atkinsonii is compressed, body length is about 42-
54 mm, body depth is 33.6-35.5% SF. Head

length is 26.6-26.8% SF. Eye is large, eye dia-
meter is 25.7-27.3%HF (73-1.6% SF). Post or-
bital length is 66.7-67.1% HE (17.7-18.6% SF),
snout length is short, 12.1-14.9% HE (3. 2-4. 6%
SF) and interorbital width is 37.3-39.2% HE
(10.2-10.8% SF). Based on stomach content ana-
lysis, the fish can be considered as planktivorous
and benthivorous. Food items can be separated
into five groups, i.e. phytoplanktons, zooplank-
tons, aquatic insects, plant materials and organic
matters. Phytoplanktons and zooplanktons were
the main ones.

Sex

The number of female specimens we found was
higher than males, namely 1 1 females and 5 males.
This finding is in line with other papers reporting
on sex ration in A. mola (see Afroze et al., 1991;
Mondal & Kaviraj, 2013; Gupta & Banerjee, 2013;
2014).

Length-Weight relationship

Total length ranged from 42 mm to 54 mm and
weight from 1.63 to 3.9 grams. The length- weight
relationship equation (sexes combined) was:

W= 0.000003 1ST 3 5221
(R 2 = 0.94)

Where

W = weight of specimens (g)

SF = standard length of specimens (mm)

Fecundity

Fecundity ranged from 1,548-4,020 eggs. Fi-
near relationships were estimated between fecun-
dity and standard length and weight, respectively.

Fecundity - Fength relationship

Fe = 0.88046SF 1 - 9560
(R 2 = 0.87)

Where

Fe = fecundity of specimens (eggs)

SF = standard length of specimens (cm)

Biological data of Burmese carplet Amblypharyngodon atkinsonii in S-Myanmar (Cyprini formes Cyprinidae) 255

Figure 1 .Amblypharyngodon atkinsonii, 54 mm SL, from South Myanmar. Figures 2-4. Feeding morphology of
Amblypharymgodon atkinsonii'. Figure 2. The position of the mouth, Figure 3. Gill rakers, Figure 4. Intestine.

Fecundity - Weight relationship

Fe = 914.4292W 06182
(R 2 = 0.88)

Where

Fe = fecundity of specimens (eggs)

W = weight of specimens (g)

CONCLUSIONS

Very preliminary data discussed herein suggest

that Burmese carplet in South Myanmar is plankti-
vorous and benthivorous; fecundity (1,548-4,020
eggs) was found to be related to body length and
weight.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for
their invaluable editorial advice; a special thank to
Sawika Kunlapapuk, Lecturer of Silpakorn Univer-
sity, Phetchaburi IT campus, Thailand for providing
the data and for help in collecting the specimens
employed in this study.

256

SlTTHI K.ULABTONG

REFERENCES

Afroze S., Hossain M.A. & Parween S., 1991. Notes on
the size frequency distribution and length-weight
relationship of freshwater fish Amblypharyngodon
mola (Hamilton) (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae). Uni-
versity Journal of Zoology, Rajshahi University, 10
& 11: 103-104.

Blyth E., 1860. Report on some fishes received chiefly
from the Sitang River and its tributary streams,
Tenasserim Provinces. Journal of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, 29: 138-174.

Doi A., 1997. A review of taxonomic studies of cyprini-
form fishes in Southeast Asia. Japanese Journal of
Ichthyology, 44: 1-33.

Grosberg R.R.M., 2005. Myanmar (Burma). Lonely
Planet Publishing, 404 pp.

Gupta S. & Banerjee S., 2013. Studies on some aspects
of Reproductive biology of Amblypharyngodon mola
(Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822). International Research
Journal of Biological Sciences, 2: 69-77 .

Gupta S. & Banerjee S., 2014. Feeding and breeding
biology of Amblypharyngodon mola - A review.
International Journal of Aquatic Biology, 2: 85-90.

Hyslop E., 1980. Stomach content analysis-a review of

methods and their application. Journal of Fish Bio-
logy, 17:411-429.

Kottelat M., 2013. The fishes of the inland waters of
southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibiography of
the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves
and estuaries. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supple-
ment No. 27: 663.

Krebs C.J., 1998, Ecological methodology. Addison
Wesley Longman, Menlo Park, California, 620 pp.

Mondal D.K. & Kaviraj A., 2013. Feeding and repro-
ductive biology of Amblypharyngodon mola (Cyp-
riniformes: Cyprinidae) from two floodplain lakes
of India. International Journal of Aquatic Biology, 1:
125-131.

Nakabo T., 2002. Fishes of Japan with pictorial key the
species. Tokai Univrsity Press, 1749 pp.

Suresh V.R., Biswas B.K., Vinci G.K., Mitra K. &
Mukherjee A., 2007. Biology of Amblypharyngodon
mola (Hamilton) from a floodplain wetland, West
Bengal. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 54: 155-161.

Talwar P.K. & Jhingran A.G., 1991. Inland fishes of India
and adjacent countries. Vol. 1-2. A. A. Balkema,
Rotterdam. 541 pp.

Vidthayanon C., Termvidchakorn A. & Pe M., 2005.
Inland fishes of Myanmar. Southeast Asian fisheries
development center, 160 pp.

Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 257-260

About the wide Mediterranean distribution of the “geograph-
ically localized” Clelandella myriamae (Gofas, 2005) (Gastro-
podaTrochidae)

Salvatore Giacobbe 1 * & Antonio Di Bella 2

'University of Messina, Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, Viale Stagno d’Alcontres

31, 98166 Messina, Italy

2 Via Messina 12, 98066 Patti, Messina, Italy

"■Corresponding auhor, e-mail: sgiacobbe@unime.it

ABSTRACT Almost one thousands of empty shells recognized as Clelandella myriamae (Gofas, 2005)

(Gastropoda Trochidae) have been collected from the Gioia Basin (South Tyrrhenian) and, in
minor number, from the Strait of Messina. The records remarkably increase the areal known
for this bathyal species, previous known only from Levantine Basin.

KEY WORDS bathyal; Clelandella', first record; gastropod; Mediterranean.

Received 22.04.2016; accepted 11.05.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

Before Gofas (2005), who described five new
species from northeastern Atlantic and Mediter-
ranean, the genus Clelandella Winckworth, 1932
(Gastropoda Trochidae), was only known for C.
miliaris (Brocchi, 1814), whose areal extends from
Norway to West Africa and Mediterranean Sea. A
further species has been added by Vilvens et al.
(2011) for Western Sahara. All such new species
appeared geographically localized, as an effect of
insular segregation, as suggested for the endemic
Mediterranean C. myriamae (Gofas, 2005). This
latter species, that has been first collected south of
Crete, broadly sympatric with C. miliaris (Gofas,
2005), has been later recorded in the Nile Deep-Sea
Fan, both located in the eastern Mediterranean
(Gaudron et al., 2010).

In this paper, the finding of numerous C. myri-
amae dead specimens from the Messina Strait and

close Tyrrhenian sea, is reported, testifying of a
wider areal than previous known.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The Strait of Messina and Tyrrhenian coasts of
Calabrian (Fig. 1) have been respectively explored
in the framework of the projects POP ’95 and POR
Calabria 2005. Seafloor sediments, in both invest-
igations, have been sampled by means of a modi-
fied van Veen crab covering 0.25 square meter
surface (75 dm 3 in volume).

Samples have been washed on board with sea-
water, by means of sieve series of 8 mm, 4 mm, 1
mm, 0.5 mm meshes, and fixed in ethylene 75%.
In laboratory, after removing of benthic fauna,
sediments have been washed with fresh water and
dried at 45°C. From dried sediments, all shell
remains have been extracted and classified at the

258

Salvatore Giacobbe & Antonio Di Bella

Figures 1-3. Clelandella myriamae. Mediterranean distribution (Fig. 1) and new findings (Fig. 2).

The shell-shape variability (Fig. 3).

The wide Mediterranean distribution of the “geographically localized” C\e\ande\\a. myriamae (Gastropoda Trochidae) 259

species level, as far as possible. All C. myriamae
specimens have been counted and set aside for
further investigation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

From the investigated death assemblages,
nearly a thousand of empty shells were recognized
as C. myriamae. Most specimens have been
collected in the Gioia Basin, south Tyrrhenian
(Fig. 2), by two sampling stations located 371 m
(St. IB) and 335 m depth (St. 1C). Both stations
were characterized by a mixture of coarse sand
(80-90%) and gravel (9-10%), rich in bioclastic
fragments. A further dozen specimens, sampled
inside the Messina Strait (Fig. 2), were found at
lower depth (-185 m: St. PIC01), in a coarse bio-
clastic substrate.

The sampled shells showed a remarkable mor-
phological variability (Fig. 3), ranging between
the two “typical” and “aberrant” forms cited by
Gofas (2005). Such variability has been recently
investigated by Sanfilippo et al. (in press) on the
specimens collected in the 1C station. The present
samplings of C. myriamae testify of a wider distri-
bution of this species rather than the Levantine
Basin only, overcoming the eastern-western
Mediterranean boundary (Bianchi, 2007). Further-
more, the two records from Tyrrhenian and Mess-
ina should be considered as bio-geographically
distinct, although separate by twenty kilometers
only.

The Strait of Messina, in fact, is interposed
between two basins, Tyrrhenian at north, and Ionian
at south, with different oceanographic character-
istics. Moreover, the Strait of Messina itself is quite
different from both the close Tyrrhenian and Ionian
basins, due to the peculiar tidal regime and related
upwelling phenomena, and for this reason is con-
sidered a biogeographically distinct “micro-sector”
(Bianchi et al., 2010).

The bathymetric range of the species is also
wider than known, extending at least from the upper
(present records) to the deeper bathyal zone (first
records). In terms of habitat, the peculiar environ-
ment of mud volcanoes which provided the first
specimens of C. myriamae (Curlier et al., 2010)
does not involve a specialized adaptation towards

extreme habitats supported by chemosynthetic pro-
duction.

In fact, the finding of juveniles in different
devices with organic and inorganic substrate,
according to Gaudron et al. (2010), might indicate
C. myriamae a sulphide tolerant species that
opportunistically colonizes locally enriched sub-
strates in oligotrophic areas. Such an opportunistic
behavior might explain the relevant number of dead
specimens (very higher than each other associated
mollusc species) that have been found in a rel-
atively small sediment volume, thus suggesting C.
myriamae may reach high population densities.
Nevertheless, is unclear what food source might
support a high population density in the Strait,
lacking any evidence of present hydrothermal
activity as well as of massive organic matter
deposition. In this respect, records of alive speci-
mens from the same area (Vazzana, pers. comm.),
if confirmed, might provide useful indications about
the population dynamics and life strategy of such
scarcely known species.

REFERENCES

Bianchi C.N., 2007. Biodiversity issues for the forth-
coming tropical Mediterranean Sea. Hydrobiologia,
580: 7-21.

Bianchi C.N., Morri C., Chiantore M., Montefalcone
M., Parravicini V. & Rovere A., 2010. Mediter-
ranean Sea biodiversity between the legacy from
the past and a future of change. In: Stambler N.
(Ed.). Life in the Mediterranean Sea: a look at
habitat changes. Nova Science Publishers, New
York, 1-60.

Carlier A., Ritt B., Rodrigues C.F., Sarrazin J., Olu K.,
Grail J. & Clavier J., 2010. Heterogeneous energetic
pathways and carbon sources on deep eastern Medi-
terranean cold seep communities. Marine Biology,
157:2545-2565.

Gaudron S.M., Pradillon F., Pailleret M., Duperron S.,
Le Brins N. & Galil F., 2010. Colonization of organic
substrates deployed in deep-sea reducing habitats
by symbiotic species and associated fauna. Marine
Environmental Research, 70: 1-12.

Gofas S., 2005. Geographical differentiation in Clelan-
della (Gastropoda: Trochidae) in the northeastern
Atlantic. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 71: 1 33—
144.

Sanfilippo R., Giacobbe S., Rosso A., Battaglia G. &
Paladino R., in press. Shell polymorphisms in the

260

Salvatore Giacobbe & Antonio Di Bella

bathyal Mediterranean top snail Clelandella myri-
amae Gofas, 2005. Journal of Conchology.

Vilvens C., Swinnen F. & Deniz Guerra F., 2011. A new

species of Clelandella (Gastropoda: Trochoidea:
Trochidae: Cantharidinae) from Western Sahara.
Novapex, 12: 49-55.

Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 261-272

Second contribution to the knowledge of Longhorn Beetles
of the Syrian Coastal Region (Coleoptera Cerambycidae)

Khaldoun Ali 1 * & Pierpaolo Rapuzzi 2

'Plant Protection Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria
2 Via Cialla 48, 33040 Prepotto, Udine, Italy; e-mail: info@ronchidicialla.it
‘'Corresponding auhor, e-mail: ali86klialdoun@gmail.com

ABSTRACT Knowledge relating to the Longhorn Beetles of Syria was extended in this study, with special

emphasis on the Coastal Region (SCR), which was the focal point of a previous study we
published last year (2015). This contribution provides a detailed account about additional
species and subspecies that were collected from different areas and localities of the SCR, in as
much as reporting two new species to be recorded for the first time from the Syrian territory,
namely: Stenopterus atricornis Pic, 1891 and Pogonocherus barbarae Rapuzzi et Sama, 2012.
Among the examined catches, one specimen was identified down to the genus level, but its
species status is doubtful and its validity still needs further examination. All availabe faunistics,
biogeographies and bionomics of all the reported species and subspecies are given. Moreover,
a complete, refined and annotated checklist of the Syrian C erambycidae was introduced, with
special reference to all taxa recoreded from SCR up to the time of publication of this work.

KEY WORDS Syria; Syrian Costal Region; Longhorn Beetles; Cerambycidae; new data; faunistics.

Received 24.04.2016; accepted 02.06.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

The biodiveristy of the Middle East (ME) is rather
unique and might be one of the largest in the
world, especially that ME serves as a junction
between three major biogeographic regions (i.e.
realms) viz. Palaearctic, Afro-tropical and Oriental
(Krupp et al., 2009). In the grand scheme, ento-
mology in ME is still inchoate, and reseach en-
deavors are still hindered by a lingering dearth of
resources. However, more effort has been dedic-
ated towards "uncovering" the Middle Eastern
fauna of insects (e.g. Cerambycidae) in recent
years, which yielded substantial biodiversity data
reflected in the notable increase of published work
relating to that region (e.g. Sama et al., 2002;

Sama et al., 2010a, b; Ozdikmen, 2007, 2008a, b,
c; Ali et al., 2015).

Situated at the heart of ME, Syria harbors an out-
standing ecological diversity which gives rise to an
astounding "biologcal richness" manifested in over-
whelmingly diversified faunae and florae. In reality,
the knowledge concerning that richness remains
sketchy and not well established. In regards to the
scope of this study, the Syrian fauna of Longhorn
Beetles (Cerambycidae) is insufficiently docu-
mented, and full accounts are - basically - non
existant. Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that
there is only one ckecklist providing a brief cross-
referenced record of species and subspecies repor-
ted from the Syrian territory as a whole (Hariri,
1971). Still, given the recent surge in taxonomic

262

KHALDOUN Au & PlERPAOLO RAPUZZI

reserch projects trageting ME, region-wise period-
ically-updated databases are being issued on a
regular basis. Accordingly, Syrian fauna is more
likely to encompass more species and subspecies of
Cerambycidae than previously reported (Danilevsky,
2012a). Furthermore, taxonomic statuses of taxa are
rather dynamic and veiy liable to change with the
course of time, which renders earlier work severly
outdated and addresses a crucial need for profound
amendments in order for taxonomic databases to be
more acurate and attract more validity (Loble &
Smetana, 2010).

In line with the novel taxonomic research out-
reaches in ME, our endeavor was set out to bridge
the gaps inflicting the knowldege of Cerambycidae
in Syria. The Syrian Coastal Region (SCR) was
under our initial limelight of focus due to the typical
Mediterranean climate and heterogenous geography
it features, which holds an implication for a signi-
ficant ecological importance in terms of biod-
iversity and species richness. Consequently, a
detailed study of the Cerambycidae fauna of SCR
was published by Ali et al. (2015), accounting for
5 1 species and subspecies with 9 species (including
subspecies )to be recorded for the first time from the
Syrian territory.

In this study, we meant to build upon the previous
contribution, and provide an account for new
species and subspecies collected from Syria, with
new taxa to be recorded for the first time as well.
In light with recent insecurity situations engulfing
vast streches of the country, a comprehensive
survey of Cerambycidae fauna covering the whole
land of Syria was technically unfeasible. Neverthe-
less, we provide an up-to-date checklist of Syrian
Cerambycidae with reference to the taxa recoreded
from the region of concern i.e. SCR.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study area

The study area is a small "strip" of land with a
heterogenous geography; ranging from low plains
to rocky highlands and mountains reaching more
than 1000 m of elevation. The area features a typ-
ical Mediterranean climate, with mildly cold win-
ters and relatively hot and wet summers. The
clement weather combined with the highly diver-

sified flora provide ideal ecological micro-habitats
for many fauna communities to diversify, and in-
sects in this regards are a core component of the
Syrian fauna.

Collection, preservation, and identification

Specimens of adult Cerambycidae were col-
lected by the first author (if not mentioned other-
wise) from many areas and localities situated
across the SCR between early February and late
August throughout 2014-2015. Furthermore, col-
lections pertaining to fellow rearchers, which
included specimens originating from Syria were
also examined.

Interested readers can refer to Ali et al. (2015)
for a detailed account concerning collection meth-
odology, handling and curation techniques.

Specimens were identified according to: Bense,
1995, Ozdikmen & Turgut, 2009, Rapuzzi & Sama,
2012, Rapuzzi & Sama, 2013b.

Each identified specimen was pictured using an
Olympus SP 800 UZ digital camera, and all speci-
mens were permanently preserved in the Entomo-
logy Laboratory belonging to the Plant Protection
Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen Uni-
versity, Syria.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

During this study a total of 5 species including
2 subspecies belonging to 5 genera in 5 tribes were
reported. The species status of one specimen was
uncertain and further examination is still needed to
determine its validity.

A detailed list of the identified taxa is given
below. With the following order:

The classification scheme follows Danilevsky
(2012a).

Collection sites and localities with their geo-
graphical data (e.g. latitude, longitude, and altitude)
are provided in alphabetical order.

Global distribution data are given in alphabetical
order, based on Danilevsky (2012a).

Chorotypes were based on the geographic range
of distribution based on Danilevsky (2012a); with
a further reference where appropriate.

Bionomics, when available, are given, based on:

Second contribution to the knowledge of Longhorn Beetles of the Syrian Coastal Region

263

Hoskovec & Rejzek, 2013, Sama et al., 2010a, b,
Rapuzzi & Sama, 2012, 2013b, Ozdikmen, 2013.

Remarks, and personal observations were also
provided where relevant.

An up-to-date checklist of Syrian Cerambycidae
is provided (with special reference to species repor-
ted from SCR) based on: Breuning, 1962; Ozdik-
men, 2008; Loble & Smetana, 2010; Kotan & Sama,
2011; Danilevsky, 2012a, b; Rapuzzi et al., 2011,
Rapuzzi & Sama, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013a, b; Sama
& Rapuzzi, 2011; Ozdikmen et al., 2012, 2014; Ali et
al., 2015, in addition to data obtained from exami-
ning collections belonging to some fellow resear-
chers.

Family CERAMBYCIDAE Latreille, 1802

Subfamily PRIONINAE Latreille, 1802

Tribe Prionini Latreille, 1802

Genus Mesoprionus Jakovlev, 1887

Type species: Prionus asiaticus Faldermann, 1837

l. Mesoprionus lefebvrei (Marseul, 1856)

Examined material. Latakia Province. Latakia
Area: Bisnada, 21.0 m, 35°48'14.97"E,

35°32'52.65"N, 23. IX. 2014 (1 female)/ Qismin,

191.0 m, 35°54T8.6"E, 35°38T.2"N, 17. IX. 2014
(1 male)/ Latakia, 20.0 m, 35°46'51.7"E,
35°31'47.1"N, 3. V. 2015 (1 male)/ Serskieh, 55.0

m, 35°55T0.40"E, 35°42T9.84"N, 10. VIII. 2015
(1 female).

Tartus Province. Baniyas Area: Al-Qadmus,

919.0 m, 36° 9'40.13"E, 35° 6'6.53"N, 30. XI. 2014
(1 female). Safita Area: Safita: 310.0 m, 36°
7'5.14"E, 34°49T.75"N, 16. X. 2014 (1 male).

Chorotype. Turano-Mediterranean / Balkano-
Anatolian (Ozdikmen et al., 2012).

Distribution. Europe (Albania, Bulgaria,
Greece, Macedonia, European- Turkey, Serbia
and Montenegro); Asia (Cyprus and Turkey).

Bionomics. Polyphagous on decidous plants
(e.g. Acacia mollissima Willd., Ligustrum ovali-
folium Hassk., Quercus ithaburensis Decne.,
Platanus sp., Ficus sp.); life cycle usually takes
2-3 years; adults are usually encountered between
June-August.

Remarks. Specimens were collected by the

hand from trunk and branches of some deciduous
trees, and some specimens were collected from light
traps situated near forest sites, and it is considered
as a forester species.

Subfamily CERAMB Y CINAE Latreille, 1802
Tribe Cerambycini Latreille, 1802

Genus Cerambyx Linnaeus, 1758

Type species: Cerambyx cerdo Linnaeus, 1758

2. Cerambyx cfr. dux Faldermann, 1837

Examined material. Latakia Province. Jableh
Area: Qutaolabyah, 215.0 m, 36° 1'8.98'E,
35°17T3.14"N, 16. V. 2014 (1 male); 27. VI. 2015
(1 male).

Chorotype. Unknown.

Distribution. Unknown.

Bionomics. Unknown.

Remarks. Our first encounter with this species
was in 2014, and it is rather rare in SCR. We were
unable to verify the species status; therefore, fur-
ther examination is needed. Specimens were en-
countered on the branches of oak trees ( Quercus
sp.).

Tribe Purpuricenini J. Thomson, 1861

Genus Purpuricenus Dejean, 1821

Type species: Cerambyx kaehleri Linnaeus, 1758

3. Purpuricenus inters capillatus inter scapillatus

Plavilstshikov, 1937

Examined material. Latakia Province. Jableh
Area: Mazar Al-Qatria: 142.0 m, 35°55'32.1"E,
35°30'56.0"N, 16. VIII. 2015 (1 male, 1 female).

Chorotype. E-Mediterranean / Palestino-Cyp-
rioto-Taurian (Rapuzzi & Sama, 2013).

Distribution. Asia (Syria and Turkey) [Type:
“Syria”].

Bionomics. Oligophagous on some deciduous
trees (e.g. Quercus calliprinos Webb., Rhamnus pa-
laestina Boiss., Primus sp.); life cycle usually takes
2-3 years; adults are usually encounterd between
May-August.

264

KHALDOUN Au & PlERPAOLO RAPUZZI

Remarks. Not frequently encounterd in SCR,
specimens were found on the trunk of an oak tree
(: Quercus sp.).

Subfamily LAMIINAE Latreille, 1 825

Tribe Pogonocherini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Pogonocherus Dejean, 1821

Type species: Cerambyx hispidus Linnaeus, 1758

5. Pogonocherus barbarae Rapuzzi et Sama, 2012

Examined material. Latakia Province. Latakia
Area: Wadi Qandil: 48.0 m, 35°50'28.9"E,
35°43'20.7”N, 13. VI. 2014 (1 male).

Chorotype. Unknown.

Distribution. Turkey and Syria.

Bionomics. Usually associated with Pinus nigra
J.F. Arnold.

Remarks. This is the first record of this species
from Syria. It is very rare in SCR; the specimen was
found on a branch of the host plant.

Tribe Phytoeciini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Phytoecia Dejean, 1835

Type species: Cerambyx cylindricus Linnaeus, 1758

Subgenus Phytoecia Dejean, 1835

Type species: Cerambyx cylindricus Linnaeus, 1758

4. Phytoecia caerulea caerulea (Scopoli, 1772)

Examined material. Tartus Province. Baniyas
Area: Blawzeh: 462.0 m, 36° 1'5.23"E, 35°
8'59.40"N, 23. V. 2015 (2 males, 1 female).

Chorotype. Turano-European (Ozdikmen,
2008).

Distribution. Europe, Asia (Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Georgia, Iran, Kazakhastan, Syria, Tajikistan,
Terkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan).

Bionomics. Oligophagous on some herbaceous
plants (e.g. Sinapsis sp., Sisymbrium sp., Rapistrum
sp.); life cycle usually takes one year; adults are
usually encountered between March-June.

Remarks. Frequently encounterd in SCR,
especially during early spring (April); specimens
were collected by sweeping some herbaceous
plants.

CONCLUSIONS

In total, and in accordance with new data
provided in this study, the Cerambycidae fauna of
SCR comprises: 139 species including 39 sub-
species, belonging to 76 genera, in 35 tribes alloc-
ated to 5 subfamilies. The proposed checklist below,
and relevant databases will be updated as more pro-
gress towards building the complete Cerabycidae
fauna of Syria is achieved.

As a final point, the diversity in SCR that has
been uncovered up to now is significantly high,
which highlights the faunistic importance of the
longhorn beetles in Syria. Interestingly, the SCR
account for approximately 85% of all species and
subspecies reported from Syria (as can be inferred
from the checklist), and this further enhances our
discussion about the high ecological importance of
SCR, but this does not negate the need for further
studies to be carried out in order to obtain more data
and "excavate" more species that are waiting to be
discovered from other regions, especially that SCR
represents - roughly speaking - only about 2.5% of
the total area of Syria.

CHECKLIST OF CERAMBYCIDAE OF SYRIA

The species marked by * are recorded from the area
examined in this paper (SCR).

Subfamily PRIONINAE Latreille, 1802
Tribe Aegosomatini J. Thomson, 1861

Genus Aegosoma Audinet-Serville, 1832
*scabricorne (Scopoli, 1763)

Tribe Ergatini Fairmaire, 1864

Genus Callergates Lameere, 1904
*gaillardoti (Chevrolat, 1854)

Genus Ergates Audinet-Serville, 1832
*faber faber (Linnaeus, 1760)

Tribe Macrotomini J. Thomson, 1861

Genus Prinobius Mulsant, 1 842
*myardi atropos (Chevrolat, 1854)

Second contribution to the knowledge of Longhorn Beetles of the Syrian Coastal Region

265

Tribe Prionini Latreille, 1802

Genus Mesoprionus Jakovlev, 1887
* lefebvrei (Marseul, 1856)

Genus Prionus Geoffroy, 1762
[coriarius (Linnaeus, 1758)]

*komiyai (Lorenc, 1999)

Tribe Remphanini Lacordaire, 1868

Genus Rhaesus Motschulsky, 1875
*serricollis (Motschulsky, 1838)

Subfamily APATOPHY SEINAE Lacordaire, 1869
Tribe Apatophyseini Lacordaire, 1869

Genus Apatophysis Chevrolat, 1860
Subgenus Apatophysis Chevrolat, 1860
katbehi Rapuzzi et Sanaa, 2013

Subfamily LEPTURINAE Latreille, 1802
Tribe Lepturini Latreille, 1802

Genus Anastrangalia Casey, 1924
*montana montana (Mulsant et Rey, 1863)

Genus Gramm opt era Audinet-Serville, 1835
Subgenus Grammoptera Audinet-Serville, 1835
*baudii pistacivora Sama, 1996
* grammopteroides (Pic, 1892)

Genus Pachytodes Pic, 1891
*erraticus erraticus (Dalman, 1817)

Genus Pedostrangalia Sokolov, 1 897
Subgenus Neosphenalia Lobl, 2010
*emmipoda (Mulsant, 1863)
riccardoi riccardoi (Holzschuh, 1984)

Genus Pseudovadonia Lobanov, Danilevsky et
Murzin, 1981

*livida livida (Labricius, 1777)

Genus Stenurella Villiers, 1974
*bifasciata nigrosuturalis (Reitter, 1895)

Genus Stictoleptura Casey, 1924
Subgenus Stictoleptura Casey, 1 924
*benjamini ehdenensis Sama et Rapuzzi, 2000
*cordigera cordigera (Luessly, 1775)

*excisipes (K. Daniel et J. Daniel, 1891)

*heydeni (Ganglbauer, 1889)

*sambucicola (Holzschuh, 1982)

Genus Vadonia Mulsant, 1863
*unipunctata syricola Holzschuh, 1993

Tribe Rhagiini Kirby, 1837

Genus Anisorus Mulsant, 1862
*heterocerus (Ganglbauer, 1882)

Genus Cortodera Mulsant, 1863
*colchica colchica Reitter, 1890
*longipilis Pic, 1898
*semilivida Pic, 1892
syriaca syriaca Pic, 1901

Genus Rhagium Labricius, 1775
Subgenus Megarhagium Reitter, 1913
*syriacum Pic, 1 892

Genus Rhamnusium Latreille, 1829
* bicolor praeus turn Reitter, 1895

Subfamily SPONDYLIDINAE Audinet-Serville, 1832
Tribe Anisarthrini Mamaev et Danilevsky, 1973

Genus A locerus Mulsant, 1862
*moesiacus (Lrivaldszky von Lrivald, 1837)

Tribe Asemini J. Thomson, 1861

Genus Arhopalus Audinet-Serville, 1 834
*ferus

*syriacus (Reitter, 1895)

Subfamily CERAMBYCINAE Latreille, 1802
Tribe Achrysonini Lacordaire, 1 868

Genus Icosium PH. Lucas, 1854
*tomentosum atticum Ganglbauer, 1882

Tribe Brachypteromini Sama, 2008

Genus Brachypteroma Heyden, 1863
*holtzi Pic, 1905

Tribe Callichromatini Swainson, 1 840

266

KHALDOUN Au & PlERPAOLO RAPUZZI

Genus Aromia Audinet-Serville, 1834
*moschata ambrosiaca (Steven, 1809)

Tribe Callidiini Kirby, 1837

Genus Callidium Fabricius, 1775
Subgenus Callidium Fabricius, 1775
*syriacum Pic, 1892

Genus Leioderes L. Redtenbacher, 1 849
*tuerki (Ganglbauer, 1886)

*fasciatus Villers, 1789

Genus Phymatodes Mulsant, 1839
Subgenus Phymatodellus Reitter, 1913
*rufipes syriacus Pic, 1891

Subgenus Phymatodes Mulsant, 1839
*testaceus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Genus Poecilium Fairmaire, 1864
*antonini Rapuzzi, Sama et Tichy, 2011
*fas datum (Villers, 1789)

* lividum (Rossi, 1794)

*wrzecionkoi Rapuzzi et Sama, 2009

Genus Pyrrhidium Fairmaire, 1864
*sanguineum (Linnaeus, 1758)

Genus Ropalopus Mulsant, 1839
Subgenus Ropalopus Mulsant, 1839
*eleonorae Sama et Rapuzzi, 2002
ledereri wittmeri Demelt, 1970

Genus Semanotus Mulsant, 1839
* russicus russicus (Fabricius, 1777)

Tribe Cerambycini Latreille, 1 802

Genus Cerambyx Linnaeus, 1758
*cerdo cerdo Linnaeus, 1758
*dux (Faldermann, 1837)

* nodulosus Germar, 1817
*scopolii nitidus Pic, 1892
*welensii Kuster, 1845

Genus Neoplocaederus Sama, 1991
laszlokotani Kotan et Sama, 2011

Tribe Certallini Fairmaire, 1864

Genus Certallum Dejean, 1821
*ebulinum (Linnaeus, 1767)
thoracicum Sharp, 1880

Tribe Clytini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Chlorophorus Chevrolat, 1863
*dinae Rapuzzi et Sama, 1999
*gratiosus gratiosus (Marseul, 1868)
nivipictus (Kraatz, 1879)

* sartor (O. F. Muller, 1766)

*trifasciatus (Fabricius, 1781)

*varius damascenus (Chevrolat, 1854)

Genus Clytus Laicharting, 1784
ciliciensis Chevrolat, 1 863
*kabateki Sama, 1988
*madoni Pic, 1891
* rhamni Germar, 1817

Genus Plagionotus Mulsant, 1 842
*arcuatus (Linnaeus, 1758)

*bobelayei (Brulle, 1832)

* detritus africaeseptentrionalis Tippmann, 1952

Genus Xylotrechus Chevrolat, 1860
Subgenus Xylotrechus Chevrolat, 1860
*arvicola (Olivier, 1795)

*stebbingi Gahan, 1906

Tribe Deilini Fairmaire, 1864

Genus Deilus Audinet-Serville, 1834
[fugax (Olivier, 1790)]

* kadleci rugosicollis Rapuzzi et Sama, 2012

Tribe Graciliini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Axinopalpis Dejean, 1835

* gracilis gracilis (Krynicki, 1832)

Genus Penichroa Stephens, 1839
* fas data (Stephens, 1831)

Tribe Hesperophanini Mulsant, 1839
Subtribe Hesperophanina Mulsant, 1839

Genus Hesperophanes Dejean, 1835
*sericeus Fabricius, 1787

Second contribution to the knowledge of Longhorn Beetles of the Syrian Coastal Region

267

Genus Stromatium Audinet-Serville, 1834

* unicolor (Olivier, 1795)

Genus Trichoferus Wollaston, 1854
*fasciculatus fasciculatus (Faldermann, 1837)
*griseus (Fabricius, 1792)

*kotschyi (Ganglbauer, 1883)

Tribe Hylotmpini Zagajkevitch, 1991

Genus Hylotmpes Audinet-Serville, 1834
*bajulus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Tribe Molorchini Gistel, 1848

Genus Glaphyra Newman, 1840
kiesenwetteri hircus (Abeille de Perrin, 1881)

Genus Molorchus Fabricius, 1792
*juglandis Sama, 1982

Tribe Nathriini Amett, 1962

Genus Nathrius Brethes, 1916
*brevipennis (Mulsant, 1839)

Tribe Phoracanthini Newman, 1840

Genus Phoracantha Newman, 1840
*recurva Newman, 1840
*semipuncta ta (Fabricius, 1775)

Tribe Purpuricenini J. Thomson, 1861

Genus Purpuricenus Dejean, 1821
Subgenus Purpuricenus Dejean, 1821
* budensis (Gotz, 1783)
dalmatinus Sturm, 1843
* desfontainii inhumeralis Pic, 1891
^ inter scapillatus inters capillatus Plavilstshikov,
1937

inters capillatus hermonensis Rapuyzzi et Sama,
2013

Tribe Stenhomalini Miroshnikov, 1989

Genus Stenhomalus A. White, 1855
Subgenus Obriopsis G. Muller, 1948

* bicolor ( Kraatz, 1862)

Tribe Stenopterini Gistel, 1 848

Genus Callimus Mulsant, 1846

* angulatus angulatus (Schrank, 1789)

Genus Lampropterus Mulsant, 1862
Subgenus Lampropterus Mulsant, 1862
*femoratus (Germar, 1824)

Genus Procallimus Pic, 1907
*egregius (Mulsant et Rey, 1863)

Genus Stenopterus Illiger, 1804
*atricornis Pic, 1891
*flavicornis Kiister, 1846
*rufus syriacus Pic, 1892

Subfamily LAMIINAE Latreille, 1 825
Tribe Acanthocinini Blanchard, 1 845

Genus Acanthocinus Dejean, 1821
*griseus Fabricius, 1792

Genus Leiopus Audinet-Serville, 1835

* syriacus Ganglbauer, 1884
*wrzecionkoi Sama et Rapuzzi, 2011

Tribe Acanthoderini J. Thomson, 1 860

Genus Aegomorphus Haldeman, 1 847
*grisescens (Pic, 1898)

Tribe Agapanthiini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Agapanthia Audinet-Serville, 1835
Subgenus Agapanthia Audinet-Serville, 1 835
*frivaldszkyi Ganglbauer, 1884
*lais Reiche et Saulcy, 1858
* suturalis (Fabricius, 1787)

Subgenus Epoptes Gistel, 1857
* coeruleipennis Frivaldszky, 1878
* kirbyi Gyllenhal, 1817

* pustulifera Pic, 1905

Genus Calamobius Guerin-Meneville, 1 847
*fdum (Rossi, 1790)

Tribe Apodasyini Lacordaire, 1872

268

KHALDOUN Au & PlERPAOLO RAPUZZI

Genus Anaesthetis Dejean, 1835 Subgenus Oberea Dejean, 1835

anatolica Holzschuh, 1969 *oculata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Tribe Batocerini J. Thomson, 1864

Genus Batocera Dejean, 1835
*rufomaculata rufomaculata (De Geer, 1775)

Tribe Dorcadionini Swainson et Shuclcard, 1 840

Genus Dorcadion Dalman, 1817
Subgenus Cribridorcadion Pic, 1901
boucardi Pic, 1942
*drusoides Breuning, 1962
*halepenseKi-aeLtz, 1873
impressicoUe Kraatz, 1873
[koechlini Pic, 1898]
libanoticum Kraatz, 1873

* saulcyi javeti Kraatz, 1873

* saulcyi saulcyi J. Thomson, 1865
[syri ense Breuning, 1943]

Tribe Monochamini Gistel, 1848

Genus Monochamus Dejean, 1821
Subgenus Monochamus Dejean, 1821
* galloprovincialis Olivier, 1795

Tribe Phytoeciini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Coptosia Fairmaire, 1864
Subgenus Barbarina Sama, 2010
*nepheloides (Sama, 1997)

Subgenus Coptosia Fairmaire, 1864
brunnerae Sama, 2000
* compacta sancta Reiche, 1877
*ganglbaueri Pic, 1936

Genus Mallosia Mulsant, 1862
Subgenus Enmallosia Danilevsky, 1990
imperatrix Abeille de Perrin, 1885

Subgenus Semnosia K. Daniel, 1 904
baiocchii Sama, 2001

Genus Oberea Dejean, 1835
Subgenus Amaurostoma J. Muller, 1906
*erythrocephala erythrocephala (Schrank, 1776)

Genus Opsilia Mulsant, 1862
*coerulescens (Scopoli, 1763)

Genus Oxylia Mulsant, 1862
*argentata languida (Menetries, 1839)

Genus Phytoecia Dejean, 1835
Subgenus Blepisanis Pascoe, 1866
*vittipennis leuthneri (Ganglbauer, 1886)

Subgenus Helladia Fairmaire, 1864
*alziari Sama, 1992

armeniaca armeniaca Frivaldszky, 1878
ferrugata Ganglbauer, 1884
* humeralis (Waltl, 1838)
insignata Chevrolat, 1854
orbicollis adelpha Ganglbauer, 1886
paulusi bludanica Sama, 2000
pontica Ganglbauer, 1884
*praetextata nigricollis Pic, 1891
*pretiosa Faldermann, 1837

Subgenus Musaria J. Thomson, 1 864
* as tarte astarte Ganglbauer, 1886
*wachanrui Mulsant, 1851

Subgenus Neomusaria Plavilstshikov, 1928
*inapicalis Pic, 1905
*alepensis Pic, 1931
*merkli Ganglbauer, 1884
mesopotamica Breuning, 1948
*waltli Sama, 1991

Subgenus Phytoecia Dejean, 1835

*asiatica asiatica Pic, 1891

*caerulea bethseba Reiche et Saulcy, 1858

*caerulea caerulea (Scopoli, 1772)

kabateki Sama, 1997

*manicata Reiche et Saulcy, 1858

*pubescens Pic, 1895

*rufipes latior Pic, 1895

*virgula (Charpentier, 1825)

Genus Pilemia Fairmaire, 1864
* griseomaculata Pic, 1891
*hirsutula hirsutula (Frolich, 1793)
*vagecarinata Pic, 1952

Second contribution to the knowledge of Longhorn Beetles of the Syrian Coastal Region

269

Figs. 1-3. Alcbes (now Akbez), Hatay province (SE Turkey).

270

KHALDOUN Au & PlERPAOLO RAPUZZI

Genus Pygoptosia Reitter, 1 895
*speciosa (Frivaldszky, 1884)

Tribe Pogonocherini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Exocentrus Dejean, 1835
*adspersus Mulsant, 1846
*ritae Sama, 1985

Genus Pogonocherus Dejean, 1821
*anatolicus K. Daniel et L. Daniel, 1898
*barbarae Rapuzzi et Sama, 2012

Tribe Pteropliini J. Thomson, 1 860

Genus Niphona Mulsant, 1839
Subgenus Niphona Mulsant, 1839
*picticornis Mulsant, 1839

Tribe Saperdini Mulsant, 1839

Genus Saperda Fabricius, 1775
*quercus ocellata Abeille de Perrin, 1895

Tribe Tetropini Portevin, 1927

Genus Tetrops Stephens, 1829
*praeustus praeustus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Notes on the checklist

The records of Prionus coriarius (Linnaeus,
1758) (Lobl & Smetana, 2010) need to be con-
firmed. It is more likely that all the records of
Deilus fugax (Oliver, 1790) must be referred to the
recently described species D. kadleci rugosicollis
Rapuzzi et Sama, 2012. Dorcadion boucardi and
Do. syriense Breuning, 1943 are described from
Amanos Mountains (Turkey) and never reported
from Syria, so they are extraneous to the Syrian
fauna. The real status of Do. koechlini Pic, 1898
needs to be checked. It was described from “Syria”
by Pic (1898) and compared with Do. triste Frivald-
sky, 1845. Later Breuning (1962) transfered it as a
“morpha” of Do. divisum Germar, 1839.

Stenopterus atricornis Pic, 1891 is recorded for
the first time from Syria on the basis of specimens
preserved in Kadlec collection (National Museum
Praha, Czech Republic) with the following data:

“W Syria: 28 Km S Jisr ash Sughur, Qal at Burzay,
4.VI.1999, Kadlec lgt”.

Some species were erroneously recorded from
Syria, e.g. Rosalia alpina syriaca Pic 1895, 1892;
Stictoleptura scutellata inscutellata (Pic, 1892);
Isotomus syriacus (Pic, 1902) and so on, because
the type locality “Syria, Akbes”. It is due to a
mistake in the correct identification of this locality.
For long time it was regarded as village some-
where in Syria but only recentely right situated in
Turkey.

Akbes (now Akbez) is a small village in Hatay
province (SE Turkey) not far from the Syrian
border and here, in the 1881, was build an abbey
(Notre-dame-des-Neiges) by several french trap-
pist monks. One of them was father Delagrange,
entomologist, that for long time collected insects
in the area around the abbey and sent them to
European specialists (Pic and Reitter for example)
who described many new taxa from his stuff. This
abbey was abandoned during the First World War
and the monks went back to France. In that time
this territory was under the Ottoman administra-
tion inside the Alep province. After the war the
abbey started again its activity but, during the
kurdish revolt in 1926, was definitively destroyed
and closed.

One of the authors (P. Rapuzzi) had the oppor-
tunity to travel several times in that area and found
the correct place of this abbey, now presidium of
the red crescent. Of the old abbey remains only the
stone walls and the orchards (Figs. 1-3). The place
now is called Salman U§agi and is located close to
the village of Akbez (Hatay province).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are veiy grateful to Dr. Jiri Hajelc for the
opportunity to study the collections preserved in
National Museum of Praha, Czech Republic. We
are also grateful to A. Diab for her precious support.
We are also sincerely thankful to all fellowre-
searchers who helped us in several kinds of ways,
and thanks to their contributions this work was
broght to the light! We are very grateful to sister
Grazia and brother Xavier of “Le Piccole Sorelle di
Gesu” and “I Piccoli Fratelli di Gesu” for the old
pictures of the Akbez’s abbey.

Second contribution to the knowledge of Longhorn Beetles of the Syrian Coastal Region

271

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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 273-286

Seasonal biodiversity of cyanobacteria in besmirched habitats

Vaishali Gupta*, Jaishree Dubey & Naveen K.Verma

Department of Botany, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Central University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India
^Corresponding author, e-mail: vaishaligupta28@gmail.com

ABSTRACT Cyanobacteria inhabit a diverse range of ecosystems, a number of features often contribute to

their success. Growth of these organisms in many ecosystems is limited by the availability of
nutrients. High load of solids, carbon and nutrients indicate proliferation of cyanobacteria,
while low nutrient condition diminishes cyanobacterial growth. This study examines cy-
anobacterial diversity in domestic and hospital sewage of Sagar, Madhya Pradesh (M.P),
India, from January 2013 to December 2013. Cyanobacterial biodiversity was higher during
study period and dominated by Aphanocapsa, Chroococcus, Phormidium and Nostoc species.
The present investigation exhibits a baseline of information on cyanobacterial diversity
associated with wastewater under the influence of urbanization. Massive urbanizations in
developing countries have polluted fresh water bodies and terrestrial areas nearby. This in-
formation can be utilized to identify cyanobacterial species for bioremediation of sewage.
There are a number of Cyanophyceae members which are tolerant to organic pollution and
resist environmental stress by pollutants. These species may be further used as pollution
indicators for such habitats. Cyanobacterial species can constrain future pollution and can play
a key role to accomplish the dream of pollution- free environment.

KEY WORDS Biodiversity; bioremediation; cyanobacteria; urbanization.

Received 12.04.2016; accepted 11.06.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, water pollution is a serious concern;
due to unplanned urbanization and industrialization
most of the resources have reached to a point of
crisis. Dumping of different waste materials in
different drainage systems pollutes aquatic bodies
and surrounding terrestrial environment, thus af-
fecting the growth of vegetation and aquatic life.

Cyanobacteria are common components of
phytoplanktonic community in most aquatic eco-
systems. The ecophysiology of cyanobacteria can
provide them with a substantial advantage over
other phytoplanktons. The recent studies on cy-

anobacteria have emphasized their important role
in ecosystems. The abundance and composition of
cyanobacterial population in surface waters of
ponds and lakes have been discussed by many
studies. Cyanobacteria flourish well either in
nutrients-rich warm water or, at times, in water with
apparently low temperature and bright light condi-
tions (Philipose, 1960; Seenayya, 1972; Fogg,
1975). The number of water bodies suffering from
eutrophication is increasing around the world. Such
an eutrophication primarily comes from municipal
wastewater, agricultural runoff, domestic sewage,
stability of water column and increased light ex-
posure.

274

Vaishali Gupta etalii

Cyanobacteria are pioneer oxygenic, gram neg-
ative, photosynthetic prokaryotes and are widely dis-
tributed. The cyanobacterial diversity of sewage can
be used as biomonitor of organic pollution load in
other water habitats and surroundings. Cyanobac-
terial community structure was found to be influen-
ced by anthropogenic activities. The use of
cyanobacteria as an indicator of water quality and
pollution has been emphasized by Venkateswarlu
(1981). Only a few researchers (Manoharan &
Subramanian, 1992a, b; Boominathan, 2005;
Vijayakumar, 2005) have investigated the effect
of effluents on the physiology and biochemistry of
the cyanobacterial systems.

To develop suitable and an efficient wastewater
treatment system, it is obligatory to understand the
mutual influence and interactions between the
effluents and the organisms, so that manipulations
to improve the treatment system may become
feasible and hence the future scenario must select
suitable species of cyanobacteria which would be
minimally influenced by the adverse conditions in
the effluent, but would help removing pollutants
maximally (Singh & Saxena, 1969; Rai & Kumar,
1979; Sahai et al., 1985; De la Noue &
Proulx,1988; Wilkinson et al., 1989).

Sagar, located in Bundelkhand region of Mad-
hya Pradesh, has exhibited urbanization rapidly in
last few years. It has a lake, Lakha Banjara, lying
in the middle of the city, which has become a
besmirched aquatic habitat. During the past few dec-
ades, partially treated and untreated wastewaters
were discharged into the lake and surrounding crop-
lands and used for agriculture, pisciculture and
other domestic purposes. Keeping the above facts
in view, the present study was aimed at the analysis
of physico-chemical properties of wastewater in
relation to cyanobacterial diversity.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Sampling sites

District Sagar is situated in the north central re-
gion of Madhya Pradesh, India, and lies between
the north latitude 23° 10’ to 24°27’ and east lon-
gitude 78°4’ to 79°21’ at an altitude of 1758 feet
above the sea level. A number of temporary and
residential water bodies are present in this region.

The city harbours a shallow rained fresh water
lake, Lakha Banjara (23°49'N and 78°44'E) with
small catchment. A hot summer and general
dryness characterize the climate of the area. The
climate of Sagar can be categorized as “monsoon
type” and commences from mid June and con-
tinues till September. This period is distinguished
by heavy rains, high temperatures and relatively
high humidity. About 90% of the annual rainfall is
received during this period. The monsoon is fol-
lowed by a brief post-monsoon period October to
November, when temperature remains high and the
humidity decreases considerably; only a nominal
precipitation occurs and wind velocity is also
lower. Winter starts from late November and con-
tinues up to February. It is characterized by low
temperature, low irradiant and moderate relative
humidity. The average annual rainfall varies from
565 mm to 1680 mm. The maximum temperature
recorded was 44.8 °C in the month of May and
the minimum temperature was 5 °C in January
(IMD, 2013). Keeping in mind inflow sources of
wastewater, present study was carried out at the
besmirched sites of Lakha Banjara Lake viz. Site
1, Site 2 and Site 3.

Sites are subjected to human interferences and
receive discharges from the surrounding localities
which make the water highly polluted and pol-
lutants like domestic sewage, straw, hospital
discharge and industrial effluent etc. get accumu-
lated in large quantities.

Collection of sample

The wastewater samples were collected in
triplicates (2 liters each) from each of the three sites
in sterilized colored plastic bottles (Tarsons
Products Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India) from January
2013 to December 2013 in every month of all
seasons Winter (W), Summer (S) and Rainy season
(R). Samples were taken in the mid of the each
month in bottles thoroughly cleaned with diluted
HC1 (AR grade, 99.9% Merck Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai,
India) and rinsed with distilled water twice, dried
in an oven (Yarco) and then analyzed for various
physico-chemical parameters.

Physico-chemical study

Physico-chemical analysis of waste water was

Seasonal biodiversity of cyanobacteria in besmirched habitats

275

Madhya Pradesh State

/lA\

UTTAR PRADtSH

Sfrahgarh'

Blna

Malthone* '<

Banda

Sagar District

. , Ktiurai

— /

. r . ' v ’ . Damoh

v,d,sh ? - Sagar

vRahatgarti * Gartiakota

a *

Jaisinagar c ReNiVp

7TK >

Raisen ^ $ v~

I Kesli , Deori

'X* ™ \

* -

Narsinghpur

study sites

Figure 1. Map showing the locations of three different sampling sites of Sagar District,

Madhya Pradesh State in India.

performed as per the standard methods of Adoni
(1985) and APHA (2005). Turbidity (Turb), Dis-
solved Oxygen (DO), pH and temperature (Temp)
were recorded onsite during collection of samples.
pH, Temp and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) were
recorded with the help of digital meters. Turbidity
was measured by Secchi disk method (Cialdi &
Secchi, 1865). Water samples were taken directly
from the sites into Biological Oxygen Demand
(BOD) bottles for BOD and DO, and fixed instantly
with manganese sulphate and alkaline iodide azide.
They were analyzed immediately for DO and after
five days for BOD as per Winkler’s Modified
method (APHA, 2005). Chemical Oxygen Demand
(COD) was estimated by Close reflux method.
Alkalinity (Aik) and Hardness (HN) were determi-
ned by Titrimetric method as per APHA (2005).
Phosphate (Ph) and nitrate (N) were carried out by
the Molybdophosphoric acid method and Brucine
method respectively (APHA, 2005).

Cyanobacterial quantification

Samples were collected from each of three ex-
perimental sites and fixed with 1% Lugol’s iodine
solution (AR grade, 99.9% Merck) for cyanobac-
terial quantification. Serial dilutions were prepared
for enumeration of Most Probable Number (MPN)
of cyanobacteria (Buchanan & Fulmer, 1928) and
tabulated.

Isolation of cyanobacteria

One ml of sample was added to agar plates made
with 25 ml of sterilized BG-11 media (Rippka et
al., 1979) and Chu No.- 10 (Chu, 1942) in petri
dishes and simultaneously one ml of sample was
inoculated in 50 ml of sterilized BG-11 and Chu
No.- 10 broth media in flask. After inoculation
samples were incubated for 45 days at 2500 lux
light intensity for 16 hours and 8 hours of dark

276

Vaishali Gupta etalii

interval at temperature 25±2 °C. After 12 days of
incubation, cyanobacterial colonies appeared on the
agar plates and on broth media in flasks. Isolated
species further spread on to fresh agar plates. After
the development, colonies appearing in agar plates
were examined microscopically and transferred to
agar slants. This process was repeated until axenic
cultures were obtained.

Microscopic analysis

Cyanobacterial species were observed under
microscope for morphometric analyses. Camera lu-
cida drawings were prepared and taxonomically
important data such as trichome shape, filament
color, akinetes and heterocyst shape, size, position
and number were recorded. Identification of cy-
anobacteria was done using the keys given by
Desikachaiy (1959) and Komarek & Anagnostidis.
(1986; 1989).

Data analysis

Following formulae were applied for data ana-
lysis

Frequency of occurrence (FO)

_ Number of samples containing the species
Total number of samples examined

Relative Frequency (RF)

Number of samples containing a species

RF = zr-, x — Hhr- — — x 100

lotal number of occurrence of all the species

Relative Density (RD)

Number of CPU of a species in all samples

= i i x i00

Total number of CPU all the species in all the samples

Relative Abundance (RA)

Number of samples containing the species

RA = — — x 100

Total number of occurrence of all the species

Diversity index- Shannon-Wienncr diversity index {Shannon, 1948)

H = -Y O’OOnl’i)

Where,

H - Shannon- Wienner diversity index
S - The number of species in the sample
Pi - The relative abundance of each group of
organisms

N - Total number of individuals of all kinds
iij - Number of individuals of i th species

Statistical analysis

The samples were analyzed in triplicates and a
computer statistical software was used to calculate
minimum and maximum mean with standard error.
To understand the influence of seasonal physico-
chemical properties of sampling sites on cyanobac-
terial diversity, correlation analyses and
comparisons among them were performed using
IBM SPSS- 16.0 with level of significance main-
tained at 95% for each operation.

RESULTS

During the present investigation water samples
were collected in three seasons i.e. Winter, Summer
and Rainy season from three sewage sites associ-
ated with lentic water body. Cyanobacterial species
were observed microscopically and further illus-
trated with the help of camera lucida. Taxonomical
characteristics such as presence of heterocysts,
akinetes, hormogonia and size of vegetative cells
etc. were studied. During the study period, a total
of 45 species from 24 different cyanobacterial
genera were isolated (Table 1). Of these 45 species,
9 were unicellular, 4 non-heterocytous filamentous
and 32 heterocytous filamentous forms.

Genera belonging to orders Cliroococcales and
Nostocales showed the highest relative abundance
in all three sites. Relative abundance of Hydrococ-
cus rivularis Kiitzing, 1833 was exceptionally high
at Site 3. Relative abundances of the two species of
Haplosiphon were high at Site 1 and Site 2. The
presence of Chroococcus indicus Zeller, 1873 was
observed in all seasons at all three sites. Aphano-
capsa spp., Gleocapsa spp. and Phormidium spp.
were recorded at all sites in all seasons.

The pH is one of major characteristics which de-
termine the growth of cyanobacteria (see Verma &
Mohanty, 1995; Prasanna & Nayalc, 2007). In all
the study, pH of water was in the alkaline mean
range of 7.50 to 8.50 in all seasons at all the sites
shown in figure 1 .

Generally speaking, water temperature plays an
important role either in controlling the occurrence
and abundance of phytoplankton (Nazneen, 1980)
or in regulating the periodicity of cyanobacteria
(Mahar et al., 2009). In this study, temperature val-
ues were minimum in rainy season at Site 1 with an

Seasonal biodiversity of cyanobacteria in besmirched habitats

277

average of 19.7°C and maximum with an average
of 29.7°C in summer season (Fig 2).

Maximum Turbidity of 39.8 NTU was recor-
ded in rainy season at site 1 and minimum, 16.9
NTU, in summer at site 2. Turbidity is also a limit-
ing factor of productivity because it affects light
penetration (Semila Pushpam et al., 2014). Max-
imum TDS was recorded in pre-monsoon season
with an average of 414 mg L' 1 at site 2 and min-
imum of 289 mg L 1 at Site 1 (Fig 2). According
to Goher (2002) TDS is a chemical constituent of
water and contributes to productivity within water
body. Due to high load of nutrients, an enhanced
growth of cyanobacterial flora was noticed during
pre and post-monsoon period. The high amount of
TDS during pre-monsoon season might be due to
the increase in the rate of evaporation. High con-
centration of TDS is an indication of nutrients
enrichment leading to eutrophication (Gonzalves
et al., 1946). Besides it, high level of alkalinity
indicates the pollution level of surrounding of
lentic water body. Among all sites, maximum
alkalinity (461 mg L 1 ) was recorded at Site 1 in
winter season and minimum values (289 mg L 1 )
at Site 2 in rainy season (Fig. 2). According to
Solanlci et al. (2010), decomposition of sewage
materials coupled with mixing of garbage and
industrial effluent increase the level of alkalinity
in waste water bodies.

DO was lowest (3.30 mg L 1 ) at Site 1 in winter
season and highest (4.70 mg L 1 ) in rainy season at
Site 3 (Fig. 3). With an increase in water tempera-
ture, the DO was reduced in summer, whereas the
DO was maximum during monsoon due to low tem-
perature and increased mixing of waters. As per
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India
(CPCB, 2010) threshold level of DO is 4.0 mg L 1
for supporting aquatic lifes. Very low DO indicates
limited growth of aquatic flora, irrespectively of
heavy load of nutrients.

The maximum value of BOD (22.28 mg L 1 )
was recorded during summer at Site 3 and the min-
imum one (12.75 mg L 1 ) at Site 2 in rainy season
(Fig. 3). High BOD in summer could be due to high
evaporation and elevated temperature coupled with
effluent of organic pollution load and reduced water
inflow.

Discharge of treated and untreated sewage and
other waste into the water body led maximum COD
value up to 49.22 mg L 1 at Site 3 in winter and min-

imum, 28.35 mg L" 1 , at Site 2 in summer (Fig. 3).
According to Tiwari (2001) hardness of water,
mainly due to presence of calcium and magnesium
content, indicates water quality. Maximum hardness
(178.44 mg L 1 ) was recorded at Site 1 in summer
season and minimum (64.9 mg L 1 ) at Site 2 in rainy
season.

According to Gupta & Dubey (2014) phosphate
gets accumulated in sewage due to excessive use
of detergent. Maximum of phosphate (0.40 mg L 1 )
was estimated at Site 1 in rainy season and min-
imum (0.15 mg L' 1 ) at Site 3 in winter. The max-
imum nitrate value, 20.8 mg L 1 at Site 3 in
summer, can be attributed to effluent; whereas the
minimum value (7.9 mg L' 1 at Site 1 in rainy sea-
son) might be due either to mixing of waters or bio-
logical nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria. At site
1 a maximum mean value of cyanobacterial count
(6650.3) in summer, and a minimum (1826.8) at
site 2 in rainy season, were recorded. The min-
imum TN/TP ratio (8.1) was recorded in winter at
site 2 and the maximum (20) at site 3 in summer.
TN/TP ratio plays an important role in cyanobac-
terial diversity.

The correlation between the different physico-
chemical parameters of Site 1, Site 2 and Site 3 is
given in Tables 2-A. pH is positively correlated with
TCC at all three sites. pH is statistically (p < 0.01)
higher during summer season and no significant dif-
ference was noted among the sites. Temperature is
the main factor influencing the species richness and
diversity of phytoplankton. Temperature values
showed variation among sampling sites. Statistic-
ally (p < 0.01), Site 1 temperature was higher than
Site 2 and Site 3. Tables 2 to 4 show an inverse re-
lationship between DO and temperature. Alkalinity
showed significantly difference (p < 0.01) in pH
within Site 1 and slighlty differences were noted
among the sites. BOD and nitrate show significant
differences (Annova test, p < 0.05) with respect to
the TCC during the seasons within sites. There was
no significant difference (p < 0.05) in hardness
considering the seasons and sampling sites. Annova
at p < 0.05 shows significant differences in BOD
and COD values during the seasons within the sites.
COD shows significantly differences in the COD
during the seasons within the sites. TCC shows sig-
nificant differences at p < 0.05 within the sites dur-
ing the seasons and shows significant differences
with DO and COD during seasons within sites.

278

Vaishali Gupta etalii

Agarkar (1998) and Nair (1999) reported vari-
ation in correlation of the physico-chemical para-
meters and phytoplankton. In our present study
both heterocystous and nonheterocystous forms
are found in wastewater, while Rai & Kumar
(1976) did not find heterocystous cyanobacteria in
polluted water. Our observations of presence of
nonheterocystous genera such as Oscillatoria,
Phormidium, Gleocapsa and Chroococcus are in
line with previous results (Palmer, 1969; Ghadai

et al., 2010).

Diversity indices of different genera of cy-
anobacterial populations were calculated with the
aid of Shannon Wienner index (see Table 4). Genus
Chrococcus had the highest diversity index (8.30)
at Site 3, while Aphanothece and Anabaenopsis had
the same lowest diversity index (0.03) at Site 3.
Aphanocapsa, Anabaena, Anabaenopsis , Aulosira,
Haplosiphon and Phormidium showed diversity
indices between 2 to 3.

10 . 00 -

8 . 00 -

6 . 00 -

4.00-

2 . 00 -

0 . 00 -

50.00-

40.00-

-a

B 30.00-
ZJ

i-
c

v 20 . 00 -

10 . 00 -

0 . 00 -

Wi niter

Winter

Summer

Season

Summer

Season

riri

Rainy season

600.00-

500.00-

& 400. 00H
c

js:

(13

300.00-

200 . 00 -

100 . 00 -

0 . 00 -

Rainy season

□ Srtel 0Site2 QSile3

Writer Summer Rainy season

Season

Summer

Season

Rainy season

Figure 2. Seasonal variation of mean pH, Temperature, Turbidity and Alkalinity of three waste watersites.

Seasonal biodiversity of cyanobacteria in besmirched habitats

279

£Z

Winter

Summer Rainy season

Season

OJ>

Winter Summer Rainy season

Season

60 . 00 -

50 . 00 -

40 . 00 -

<2 30 . 00 -

20 . 00 -

10 . 00 -

0 . 00 -

Winter

Summer

Season

Rainy season

I I Srtel

30 . 00 -

20 . 00 -

10 . 00 -

0 . 00 -

50 . 00 -

40 . 00 -

30 . 00 -

20 . 00 -

10 . 00 -

0 . 00 -

T .

Winter

Summer

Season

Rainy season

Winter

Slte2 CJSrteS

Summer

Season

Rainy season

Figure 3. Seasonal variation of mean DO, BOD, COD, Total Hardness with Ca

and Mg of three wastewater sites.

280

Vaishali Gupta etalii

500 . 00 -

400.00-

<r>

Q 300.00-1

<1>

200 . 00 -

100 . 00 -

0. Do-

'Ll

30.00-

q_ 20.00-

■u

10 . 00 -

0 . 00 -

Wlnter

[

: ■ :

Winter

250.00-

200 . 00 -

Oi
70

o 150.00-

tz
ro

^ 100 . 00 -

50.00-

0 . 00 -

f: I

: * : •

: : :

jin

.1J1

Winter Summer Rainy season

Season

Winter Summer Rainy season

Season

Summer

Season

Rainy Season

Winter

Summer

Season

Rainy Season

: : :

: • :

: ; :
! : :

Summer

Season

6 , 000 . 00 -

4,000.00-

2 , 000 . 00 -

0.00-

Rainy Season

□ Sitel

Winter

Site2 C]Site3

Summer

Season

Rainy Season

Figure 4. Seasonal variation of mean TDS, Chloride, Phosphate, Nitrate, TN/TP and
Total cyanobacterial count (TCC) of three wastewater sites.

Seasonal biodiversity of cyanobacteria in besmirched habitats

281

SITE 1 SITE 2 SITE 3 SITE 1 SITE 2 SITE 3

Species

Anabaena

azollae

96.30

3.99

1.74

1.05

55.56

1.20

0.31

0.54

0.00

Anabaenopsis

arnoldii

88.89

3.69

2.45

1.61

51.85

1.45

0.39

0.55

0.56

1.02

3.09

Aphanocapsa
b if or mis

92.59

3.84

0.63

0.40

85.19

6.02

1.16

0.43

6.16

1.06

0.29

Aphanocapsa

koordersi

25.93

1.08

0.32

0.72

18.52

1.69

0.85

1.04

2.24

0.42

0.32

Aphanocapsa

littoralis

18.52

0.77

0.43

1.34

22.22

3.61

1.37

0.78

2.52

2.04

1.37

Aphanothece

microscopic

29.63

1.23

0.47

0.93

25.93

3.37

2.59

1.59

1.96

3.69

3.18

Aulosira

fertilissima

62.96

2.61

0.39

0.36

29.63

1.93

1.24

1.33

0.56

0.10

0.31

Calothrix

castellii

66.67

2.76

0.80

0.70

7.41

0.48

0.38

1.64

0.28

0.48

2.88

Calothrix
march ica

55.56

2.30

1.33

1.39

0.00

0.84

0.16

0.32

Calothrix

parietina

62.96

2.61

0.41

0.38

3.70

0.24

0.35

3.03

0.84

0.44

0.88

Chloroglea

fritschii

22.22

0.92

0.44

1.15

3.70

0.24

0.26

2.20

0.28

0.06

0.37

Chroococcus

disperses

51.85

2.15

0.35

0.39

55.56

6.27

5.45

1.80

6.72

4.40

1.11

Chroococcus

indicus

77.78

3.23

6.27

4.68

96.30

5.30

6.99

2.72

2.24

4.17

3.15

Chroococcus

micrococcus

70.37

2.92

4.70

3.89

51.85

4.82

5.85

2.51

2.52

4.71

3.16

Chroococcus

minor

70.37

2.92

5.50

4.54

59.26

3.37

5.81

3.56

1.96

5.96

5.15

Chroococcus

tenax

96.30

3.99

5.14

3.10

59.26

3.86

2.48

1.33

2.24

6.97

5.26

Chroococcus

turgidus

88.89

3.69

4.70

3.36

81.48

3.86

3.95

2.11

1.68

3.14

3.16

Chroococcus

varius

92.59

3.84

12.53

7.87

74.07

2.89

7.44

5.32

4.76

1.88

0.67

Gleocapsa

atrata

77.78

3.23

5.00

3.74

44.44

3.61

4.25

2.43

0.84

0.44

0.89

Gleocapsa

calcarea

55.56

2.30

4.67

4.88

3.70

0.24

0.29

2.48

1.12

5.92

8.94

Haplosiphon

flagelliformis

66.67

2.76

2.82

2.46

44.44

2.89

4.66

3.33

2.24

3.57

2.70

Haplosiphon

luteolus

48.15

2.00

4.86

5.86

25.93

1.69

3.83

4.69

2.52

6.16

4.13

Homoeothrix

Juliana

59.26

2.46

2.51

2.46

33.33

0.24

0.39

3.31

1.12

2.38

3.60

Table 1. Diversity of cyanobacteria in three different wastewater sites.
For the explanation of the abbreviations see in the text.

282

Vaishali Gupta etalii

SITE 1 SITE 2 SITE 3 SITE 1 SITE 2 SITE 3

Species

Hydrococcus

rivularis

44.44

1.84

1.88

2.46

3.70

2.17

4.09

3.90

0.28

3.18

19.20

Johannesbaptisia

pellucida

25.93

1.54

1.10

2.46

3.70

0.24

0.15

1.27

0.56

1.39

4.20

Lyngbya

aerugineo-coerulea

33.33

1.38

1.41

2.46

66.67

4.34

0.72

0.34

2.52

1.79

1.20

Lyngbya

palmarum

7.41

0.31

0.17

1.35

3.70

4.34

1.63

0.78

1.96

0.41

0.35

Mastigocladus

laminosus

7.41

0.31

0.19

1.48

22.22

0.24

0.18

1.55

1.12

0.22

0.33

Merismopedia

glauca

18.52

0.77

0.32

1.01

66.67

1.20

0.53

0.90

0.56

0.21

0.64

Microcoleus

chthonoplastes

11.11

0.46

0.17

0.87

18.52

0.96

0.90

1.92

0.56

0.26

0.78

Microspora

tumidula

7.41

0.31

0.20

1.59

14.81

1.45

0.30

0.43

0.56

0.24

0.72

Myxosarcina

burmensis

3.70

0.15

2.35

3.70

0.24

0.37

3.15

0.00

Nodularia

spumigena

40.74

1.69

1.57

2.24

14.81

0.96

0.78

1.67

2.24

1.99

1.50

Nostoc

calcicola

62.96

2.61

2.66

2.46

25.93

1.69

2.84

3.47

4.76

3.37

1.20

Nostoc

carneum

59.26

2.46

2.51

2.46

48.15

3.13

4.29

2.83

5.04

3.18

1.07

Nostoc

linckia

51.85

2.15

2.19

2.46

55.56

3.61

4.54

2.60

3.92

2.78

1.20

Nostoc

paludosum

40.74

1.69

1.72

2.46

44.44

2.89

1.03

0.74

2.52

2.18

1.47

Nostoc

spongiaeformae

66.67

2.76

3.29

2.87

18.52

1.20

0.81

1.39

4.48

4.17

1.57

Oscillatoria

angusta

62.96

2.61

2.04

0.19

3.70

0.24

0.18

1.52

2.24

2.58

1.95

Oscillatoria

tenuis

48.15

2.00

1.88

2.27

11.11

1.45

2.62

3.75

2.24

1.59

1.20

Oscillatoria

willei

55.56

2.30

1.25

1.31

22.22

0.72

1.69

4.84

1.96

2.38

2.06

Phormidium

dimorphum

66.67

2.76

1.74

1.52

40.74

2.65

2.69

2.10

2.52

2.20

1.48

Phormidium

jenkelianum

96.30

3.99

2.33

1.41

33.33

2.17

1.44

1.38

7.28

2.96

0.69

Phormidium

molle

66.67

2.76

2.02

1.76

40.74

0.72

1.82

5.19

4.20

0.79

0.32

Phormidium

purpurascens

40.74

1.69

0.63

0.89

11.11

2.65

4.86

3.79

2.24

2.56

1.93

Table 1. Diversity of cyanobacteria in three different waste watersites.
For the explanation of the abbreviations see in the text.

Seasonal biodiversity of cyanobacteria in besmirched habitats

283

Temp

Turb

Aik

TDS

BOD

COD

Chi

TCC

TVIP

Temp

0.783**

Turb

-0.129

-0.279

Aik

0.749**

0.453

-0.369

TDS

-0.226

-0.413

0.070

-0.034

-0.346

-0.416

0.155

-0.115

0.333

BOD

0.250

0.669*

-0.550

0.165

-0.306

-0.429

COD

-0.236

-0.358

-0.139

-0.069

0.238

0.073

-0.519**

0.192

0.077

0.146

-0.193

0.194

-0.285

0.169

-0.399**

-0.293

-0.188

-0.173

-0.099

0.503

0.331

-0.207

0.564

-0.494

0.171

0.259

-0.111

0.206

-0.238

-0.171

0.314

-0.111

-0.395

0.306

0.533

0.724**

-0.710**

0.450

-0.215

-0.492

0.791**

-0.176

0.076

0.083

0.480

Chi

-0.134

0.081

0.181

-0.431

0.185

0.257

0.230

-0.444

0.341

-0.159

-0.094

-0.108

-0.580*

-0.574

0.217

-0.502

0.194

0.193

-0.426

0.442

-0.057

0.074

-0.443

-0.508

0.177

TCC

0.296

0.644*

-0.839**

0.231

-0.242

-0.233

0.749**

-0.130

-0.018

0.121

0.134

0.826**

0.038

-0.365

TV I P

-0.018

-0.476

0.260

0.284

0.380

0.253

-0.582*

0.494

-0.110

0.071

-0.069

-0.391

-0.300

0.333

-0.647*

Table 2. Correlation between the physico-chemical parameters of Site 1. For abbreviations see in the text.

Temp

Turb

Aik

TDS

BOD

COD

Chi

TCC

TVIP

Temp

0.434

Turb

-0.428

0.125

Aik

0.696*

0.262

-0.399

TDS

0.129

-0.394

0.047

-0.047

0.099

0.206

-0.465

0.457

-0.258

BOD

0.657*

0.551

-0.437

0.489

-0.239

0.037

COD

-0.177

-0.785**

-0.356

-0.194

0.160

-0.138

-0.342

0.156

0.189

-0.294

0.341

-0.158

-0.030

0.434

-0.051

0.381

-0.058

-0.592*

0.386

0.021

0.171

0.500

0.167

0.069

-0.358

-0.251

0.110

0.079

-0.464

-0.180

0.009

0.226

0.180

0.046

0.773**

0.453

0.535

0.267

0.002

0.009

0.779**

-0.128

0.204

0.409

-0.483

Chi

0.644*

0.088

0.458

0.394

0.024

-0.015

0.337

0.247

0.145

0.397

-0.207

0.635*

-0.194

-0.159

0.578*

-0.223

0.408

-0.633*

-0.393

-0.132

0.062

-0.313

0.091

-0.458

-0.331

TCC

0.326

0.526

-0.412

0.241

-0.426

0.138

0.801**

-0.391

0.409

0.547

-0.032

0.650*

0.359

-0.455

IN/IP

-0.033

-0.344

0.122

0.270

-0.152

0.105

-0.322

0.276

-0.368

-0.276

0.474

-0.402

0.070

-0.083

-0.499

Table 2. Correlation between the physico-chemical parameters of Site 2. For abbreviations see in the text.

284

Vaishali Gupta etalii

Temp

Turb

Aik

TDS

BOD

COD

Chi

TCC

TVIP

Temp

0.503

Turb

-0.339

-0.145

Aik

0.556

-0.110

-0.292

TDS

0.077

-0.027

0.161

-0.213

-0.376

-0.429

0.459

-0.377

0.026

BOD

0.489

0.572

-0.567

0.090

0.032

-0.294

COD

-0.089

-0.652*

-0.090

0.322

-0.403

0.076

-0.578*

0.109

0.737**

-0.080

-0.251

-0.087

-0.377

0.256

-0.581*

0.635*

0.684*

-0.258

0.316

0.077

-0.790**

0.321

-0.283

0.625*

-0.432

-0.468

-0.048

0.065

-0.618*

0.420

-0.294

0.546

-0.331

-0.643*

0.675*

0.499

-0.691*

0.314

-0.148

-0.534

0.838**

-0.172

0.177

0.453

-0.235

Chi

0.698*

0.258

-0.590*

0.503

0.110

-0.609*

0.648*

-0.046

-0.070

0.462

-0.424

0.879**

0.332

0.576*

0.252

0.082

0.344

-0.182

0.176

-0.553

0.464

0.592*

-0.502

-0.077

-0.075

TCC

0.405

0533

-0.710**

0.015

-0.309

-0.401

0.814**

-0.280

0.298

- 0.111

0.884**

0.624

-0.235

-0.132*

TV I P

0.085

-0.309

0.144

0.057

0.486

0.194

0.019

-0.199

-0.201

-0.113

-0.276

-0.164

-0.007

-0.180

0.402

Table 2. Correlation between the physico-chemical parameters of Site 2. For abbreviations see in the text.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Sagar lake had become hypertrophic due to un-
balanced physical and chemical factors (Vaishya &
Adoni, 1993) which raised the trophic level of water
body. Cyanobacteria are important primary produ-
cers in food web in many aquatic environments.
The present study reveals that the physico-chemical
characteristics of wastewater determine the growth
and diversity of cyanobacteria. Species belonging
to the genera Chroococcus, Gleocapsa, Haplosi-
phon and Phormidium were dominant at all sites.
These taxa are adapted to flourish under stress
environment and are able to utilize high load of
nutrients and immobilize pollutants. Our observa-
tion on presence of Anbaena spp., Oscillatoria spp.
and Nostoc spp. in wastewater is in line with the
findings of Deep et al. (2013). Aphanocapsa and
Anabaena were found to be very frequent, which
suggests their potential to exploit sewage waste.
Availability of nitrate and phosphorus nutrients at
Site 3 can justify the highest diversity of species.
Increased nutrients such as nitrate, phosphate, chlor-
ide and temperature accelerated the growth of cy-

anobacteria. In fact, different physico-chemical prop-
erties effect relative frequency, relative density, re-
lative abundance and occurrence of cyanobacteria.
Species can tolerate fluctuation of available re-
sources, predation and high load of chemical con-
taminants. Cyanobacterial flora of wastewaters
should be defined genotypically and metabolically
in their natural microbial community and anthropo-
genic stressed environment. High pH values ac-
celerate the pollution rate in lake. pH 6-8.5 is ideal
for planktonic growth (Veerendra et al., 2008). In
present study pH 7-8 increased the growth of cy-
anobacteria in all 3 sites. Trophic level of water
rises due to high alkalinity (Kumar & Sharma,
1991) and it favours abundance of cyanobacteria
(Nandan et al., 2002). Alkalinity was high in sum-
mer at site 3 which induced the growth of cy-
anobacteria (Tiwari & Shukla, 2007); but other
nutrients limited the growth as compared to the
other two sites. High turbidity influences primary
productivity because it affects the penetration of
light in water body, moreover, causing particles to
absorb phosphate, nitrogen and potassium in ionic
form, turbidity limit the growth of phytoplankton

Seasonal biodiversity of cyanobacteria in besmirched habitats

285

(Pandey et al., 1999). Phosphorus and nitrogen are
limiting factors for the growth of cyanobacteria
(Lapointe, 1989; Larned, 1998; Russ & McCook,
1999). Increasing nutrients availability at Site 1 in
summer season resulted in a better growth of cy-
anobacteria (Miller et al., 1999). Agricultural runoff
and domestic sewage from catchment area increase
the phosphate level in Site 1 , 2 and 3 during sum-
mer. These results imply that biodiversity of cy-
anobacteria was driven by local environmental
factors such as temperature, pH, DO, nitrate and
phosphorus contents.

Physico-chemical parameters and biological
monitoring together provided evidence of evolution
of microbes of polluted habitats. These species are
stress tolerant, so they easily grow on these envir-
onments and can be further deployed for biore-
mediation and carbon sequestration purposes.
Bloom forming species were also encountered near
cultivated land and freshwater lake, thereby it is to
be considered a threat for aquatic flora and fauna.
The discharge of untreated wastewater nearby the
lake area and agricultural land should be immedi-
ately stopped.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors express gratitude to Head, depart-
ment of Botany of Dr. Hari Singh Gour University,
Sagar (M.P.) for providing laboratory facilities. Fin-
ancial assistance to carry out the study through Uni-
versity Grant Commission (UGC) New Delhi to
VG is also highly acknowledged.

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Biodiversity Journal, 2016, 7 (2): 287-293

A new alien limpet for the Mediterranean: Lottia sp. (Patello-
gastropoda Lottiidae)

Danilo Scuderi'& Douglas J. Eernisse 2 *

'Via Mauro de Mauro 15b, Piano Tavola, 95032 Belpasso, Catania, Italy

Department of Biological Science, California State University, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92831, USA
"■Corresponding auhor, e-mail: deernisse@fullerton.edu

ABSTRACT Some living specimens of a new limpet were found between January and August 2015 in

the intertidal of the eastern coast of Sicily (Jonian Sea, Mediterranean). The study of the shell
morphology and anatomical soft parts of these specimens has revealed fundamental differences
compared with the native, mostly Patellidae, species. Further observations of the morphology
of the radula led to the provisional identification of the newly introduced limpet as a Lottiidae,
tentatively a Lottia sp. A more precise species identification was not achieved, and will need
to await ongoing DNA sequencing and further comparative studies. The new record of an
introduced species for the Mediterranean is the first limpet so recognized, and the species
appears to be represented by a range of sizes, implying that is well established along the inter-
tidal Sicilian rocky-shores and is successfully recruiting in this region.

KEY WORDS Species introduction; new record; invasive species; biogeography; Gastropoda; Mollusca.

Received 05.04.2016; accepted 21.05.2016; printed 30.06.2016

INTRODUCTION

The discovery from Italian shores of a limpet
whose shell features clearly differed from the about
10 known Mediterranean limpet species, all of
which belong to Patellidae Rafmesque, 1815 and
one to Lottiidae Gray, 1 840 (CLEMAM, 20 1 6), led
us to conclude that this was an introduced exotic
species of Lottiidae not yet recorded from the
Mediterranean. Our molecular investigations are
still ongoing, but here we report the occurrence of
this newly introduced species and present shell,
radula, and morphological evidence for our as-
signment to Lottiidae, and tentatively to the genus
Lottia Gray, 1833.

True limpets are assigned to Patellogastropoda
Lindberg, 1986, whose members have a different
shell geometry and microstructure and morpholo-

gical distinctions in gills, pericardial structure, and
alimentary system (reviewed by Lindberg, 1988).
Most authorities now follow Ponder & Lindberg
(1996; 1997) in considering patellogastropods a
monophyletic taxon that is either sister taxon to all
other extant gastropods (e.g., Lindberg, 1998) or is
at least a distinctive clade of gastropods whose
higher phylogenetic position has been somewhat
unstable in molecular analyses (Nakano & Sasaki,
2011; Zapata et al., 2014). Within patellogastro-
pods, Patellidae is characterized by an anti-tropical
distribution (Koufopanou et al., 1999) and this
family has been considered the monophyletic sis-
ter taxon of all other extant patellogastropods
(Lindberg, 1988; Lindberg & Hedegaard, 1996) or
as sister taxon to all other patellogastropods except
for Eoacmaeidae Nakano & Ozawa, 2007 (ibid.).
Although patellogastropods exhibit more variation

288

Danilo Scuderi & Douglas J. Eernisse

in shell micro structure than all other gastropods
combined (MacClintock, 1967; Lindberg, 1988),
shell microstructure itself is known to be subject to
phenotypic plasticity (Lindberg, 1998; Gilman,
2007) so is not an infallible indicator of phylogen-
etic affinity and this complicates the assignment of
limpet fossil shells to extant families.

One of the most interesting aspects of the evolu-
tionary history of patellogastropods is the striking
restriction of different families to specific geo-
graphic regions (Powell, 1973; Lindberg, 1986;
Lindberg, 1988; Koufopanou et al., 1999; Nakano
& Ozawa, 2007; Reisser et al., 2012). Radiations of
particular genera of limpets have been surprisingly
restricted to particular ocean basins, probably
reflecting the relatively short planktonic duration of
the typically lecithotrophic larval stage of limpet
genera that have been studied (Amio, 1963; Rao,
1975; Wanninger et al., 1999; Wanninger, Ruthen-
steiner & Haszpmnar, 2000; Kay & Emlet, 2002;
earlier references therein). The first known long-
distance introduction of a patellogastropod is
documented by Nakano & Espinoza (2010), who
reported for the W- Africa a new alien Cellana from
the Indian Ocean.

The northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean is
dominated by Patellidae, with Lottidae represented
by only two species, of which only Tectura virginea
(Muller O.F., 1776) is inside the Mediterranean
(Koufopanou et al., 1999). Conversely, the North
Pacific is dominated by numerous species of
Lottiidae, with only a single Patellidae species, the
nearly extinct giant, Scutellastra mexicana
(Broderip et G.B. Sowerby I, 1829), restricted to
the vicinity of the Gulf of California, Mexico.

Patellogastropod taxonomy is confounded by
the relatively simple shell geometry, convergent
shell shape and sculpturing and impressive pheno-
typic plasticity. This has produced a confusing
history of generic names first proposed to be geo-
graphical widespread, and later re-evaluated as
groupings based on only superficial similarity. Even
within species there can be striking variation. For
example, there are many known cases of pheno-
typic plasticity that correspond to ecotypes char-
acteristic of particular microhabitats or host asso-
ciations. These can further confound identifications
that are based only on shell morphology.

Seven families currently compose Patellogast-
ropoda: Acmaeidae, Eoacmaeidae, Lepetidae, Lot-

tiidae, Nacellidae, Patellidae and Pectinodontidae
(Nakano & Sasaki, 2011).

In European waters two species of Lottiidae are
reported (CLEMAM, 2016): Tectura virginea and
Lottia testudinalis (Muller O.F.,1776). Both were
previously assigned to Acmaea Eschscholtz, 1833
but this genus and the family, Acmaeidae, is now
restricted to relatively few North Pacific species.
Instead, these two species are currently assigned to
Lottiidae. Tectura virginea, the type species of
Tectura Gray, 1847, appears to be a highly diver-
gent monotypic lineage that has little to do with
other Lottiidae species (Eernisse, unpublished).
Lottia testudinalis has often been incorrectly re-
ferred to the genus Tectura but this species also
occurs in the North Pacific (Lindberg, 1979) and is
closely related to multiple other Lottia species
there, based on mitochondrial DNA evidence (D.J.
Eernisse, unpublished). Because all of its close
relatives are also found in the North Pacific, this im-
plies a geologically recent invasion of this species
to the North Atlantic through the Arctic Ocean.

In the Mediterranean, there is also one alien
species of Cellanidae, Cellana rota (Gmelin, 1791),
which is somewhat similar to Lottiidae in general
shell characters. However, besides the shell and
anatomical differences associated with limpets in
this family when compared with Lottiidae, C. rota
is common only along the extreme eastern coasts of
the Mediterranean.

Here we report for the first time the discovery
of a species of Lottia in the Mediterranean. The new
alien species was assigned to Lottiidae on account
of the presence of a single ctenidium (compared
with none in Patellidae), the absence of the
rachidian tooth in the radula and reduction of the
marginal. The population of this new alien species
seems well established along the eastern rocky-
shore of Sicily in the vicinity of Catania. We suspect
that the present finding is due to a human-mediated
introduction because this relatively striking species
was never reported previously anywhere in the
Mediterranean. Whether this species has entered
through one of the two most important alloch-
thonous species entrances, the Strait of Gibraltar or
the Suez Canal, is unknown.

Because of the difficulties inherent in the iden-
tification of lottiid species and because the family
is still poorly known in many parts of the world, the
geographical origin of the Mediterranean invader is

A new alien limpet for the Mediterranean: Lottia sp. (Patellogastropoda Lottiidae)

289

unfortunately still unknown. Our attempts to use
existing literature on Lottiidae to identify this
species confidently has been problematic. There
are some other morphologically similar species
found in the Caribbean, Eastern Pacific, Japan, and
Oceania, but we have so far found contrary evid-
ence discounting each of the species known to
us from these regions as a satisfactory match.
Although our identification to species is still in
doubt, we suspect that our ongoing activities to
undertake DNA sequencing could at least help
narrow our identification to a specific species group
and geographic region. One of us (DJE) has ob-
served that Lottiidae species tend to cluster together
in regional monophyletic groupings (D.J. Eernisse,
unpublished observation), so sequences could help
reveal where to look. For all these reasons and
because the radula features have allowed us to make
a tentative generic assignment, we refer to the new
alien Lottiidae for now simply as Lottia sp., await-
ing sequencing of other studies for a more precise
identification.

ABBREVIATIONS. DEC: Douglas Eernisse
collection (California, USA); DSC: Danilo Scuderi
collection (Catania, Italy); HMC: Henk Mienis
Collection (Tel Aviv, Israel).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

After the finding of a single unrecognized
limpet shell near the southern branch of the har-
bour of Catania, Sicily, a more thorough sampling
was undertaken between the harbour of Catania to
the rocky artificial substrates of Messina, almost
150 km away from Catania. We only found this
species of Lottia in localities close to Catania,
within about 5 km from the harbour. Two col-
lecting methods were followed: collection of
specimens by hand from the rocky substrates in the
intertidal environment and a visual census method
without removing specimens from the substrate.
The hand-collected material yielded 55 living
specimens between January and August 2015
(DSC and DEC), while almost 150 specimens were
observed with the visual census sampling during
the same period. Representative specimen vouch-
ers will be deposited in appropriate museums fol-
lowing our ongoing molecular studies.

For morphological analysis, shells were meas-
ured and shell shape was studied after removing
the soft body from each specimen’s shell. Radular
composition as well as the external soft body parts
were observed with a stereoscope and documented
by photographs and drawings. Some individuals
were preserved in ethanol and the related shells
were numbered, photographed, and separately
process or stored for ongoing DNA studies. Some
shells of C. rota from Israel (HMC) were studied
for comparisons.

RESULTS

Lottia Gray, 1833

Type species: Lottia gigantea Sowerby, 1834

Lottia sp.

Examined material. Catania, eastern coast of
Sicily, 30 living specimens, intertidal breakwater of
the harbour and 15 living specimens along the
northern rocky shore of the city (DSC).

Description. Medium size: typical length 16
mm, height 5 mm (maximum 18.2 mm length and
7.0 mm height). Shell patelliform, relatively flat but
some what conical, moderately solid (Figs. 1-8).
Profile medium-high, aperture oval. Anterior slope
slightly concave, not very steep; apex in the anterior
third (Fig. 8). Dorsal sculpture has about 35-45
major ribs, almost flat, each alternated by 2-4 nar-
rower and not very marked ribs (Fig. 9). Numerous
concentric growth lines can be detected between
ribs, more marked on young shells. A few nodules
are sometimes present on uneroded shells at the
intersections of ribs. External colour cream with
dark radial lines (Figs. 1-3). Internal side shiny,
opalescent, not metallic as in Patellidae, with inter-
mediate area pale cream to azure, almost ochre to
dark brown on the central area (Fig. 4). The external
dark lines become visible through the otherwise
translucent shell toward the margin, where a dark
marginal band, alternated with whitish stains,
encircles the aperture (Fig. 4).

Foot round and whitish (Fig. 10); attachment
muscles whitish with few dark stains. A single
ctenidium is found in the nuchal portion of the
mantle cavity (Fig. 12), and there is no branchial
cordon (secondary gill) as found in some other
patellogastropods. Mouth and lateral side of ceph-

290

Danilo Scuderi & Douglas J. Eernisse

alic tentacles orange but otherwise white (Fig. 11).
Snout and head pale purplish (Fig. 11). External
side of the edge of mantle yellowish, internal side
pale but bright green (Fig. 13). Marginal mantle
tentacles short and fine, about 0.2 mm in length,
numerous (Fig. 13). Radula with one pair of uncini
per row (Fig. 14); first lateral teeth pointed, second
lateral teeth broad and rounded, third lateral teeth
slightly reduced and rounded; ribbon segment
almost elongated (Figs. 14-15).

Variability. Size of shell ranges froml5 to 18
mm in length, 12-16 mm wide and 4 to 7 mm high.
Colour variations of dorsal shell surface usually
with whitish striped by dark radial lines, sometimes
coalescing to form mottled markings (Figs. 3, 6), to
almost uniformly dark (Fig. 5). Internal central area
can be uniformly whitish (Fig. 7) or completely
brown-black (Fig. 5, left). The continuous band
along the internal margin of the shell can be uni-
formly dark (Fig. 5, right), or rarely the entire spe-
cimen is whitish with a few brown strips (Fig. 6).
Sculpture can be faint or eroded in some specimens.

Distribution. In the Mediterranean the species
is known only from the above-mentioned material,
representing the first record for this basin. The ori-
ginal geographical distribution remains unknown
pending successful identification.

DISCUSSION

Based on the reported variation from the liter-
ature of morphological characters of the shell,
external soft parts, and radula of Mediterranean
patellogastropod species, we identified this newly
discovered species as not only distinct from any of
the known limpet species, but also as a member of
a family, Lottiidae, which is nearly absent from the
region. However, this left the challenge of a specific
identification of this species, and members of Lot-
tiidae worldwide are still poorly known and their
taxonomy is notorious for its difficulty. At a higher
level, they are especially distinguished by the
presence or absence of a primary ctenidium or ac-
cessory (secondary) gill-like structures between the
mantle edge and the foot known as a branchial cor-
don, characteristic layers of their shell, and radular
tooth arrangement. Lottiidae have a ctenidium and
generally lack secondary gills, among other fea-

tures. At a species level, members of Lottidae are
distinguished by their shape including position of
the apex and lateral profile, fine details of their shell
sculpture, their shell colour to some extent, their
radular teeth arrangement, and characteristics (in-
cluding colour) of external soft parts, although
poorly documented for most species. Intraspecific
variability for the characters mentioned is known.
In order to identifythis exotic species, we focused
our studies on the group of Lottiidae characterized
by a subcentral (only slightly antertior) apex,
broadly oval profile, weak but definite rib sculptur-
ing, shells drab with long dark stripes, whitish
animals almost entirely lacking pigmentation
except for parts of the head, and radula with almost
elongated lateral teeth.

Following here are species to which the Medi-
terranean alien limpet, tentatively identified as a
Lottia, has been compared. We have focused on
Lottia species of medium size with sculpture, if not
eroded, with major ribs that often are interspersed
with up to two minor ribs, apex subcentral, with
straight anterior slope, papillae extending distally
from mantle attachment to shell small, fine, short,
and well spaced compared to many other members
of the genus; colouration of shell with alternating
whitish and dark radial stripes. The only European
species which shows only slight resemblance
to the Mediterranean invader Lottia sp. is L. tes-
tudinalis, a cold-water circumboreal species, dis-
tributed between the northern part of the United
Kingdom, the northwestern Atlantic as far south as
about Cape Cod, and also known from subtidal
depths off the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, in the
northern Pacific Ocean (Lindberg, 1979). But the
apex of L. testudinalis is more central, and the
species found on Sicilian shores lacks its numerous
finely beaded riblets. The living animal of L. tes-
tudinalis , which is known only from the cooler
waters of higher latitudes, also seems more deep
yellow in colour, and the radular teeth are differ-
ently arranged. Plus, its habitat is different; it does
not occur in the subtidal and has not been observed
on seaweeds, unlike L. testudinalis.

Among the many northeastern Pacific Lottiidae
species, the only one with similar features including
ribs is L. pelta (Rathke, 1 833), and the “brown” and
“coralline” forms are in particular somewhat similar
(Lindberg, 1981). But compared to the Mediter-
ranean invader, L. pelta has broader and knobbier

A new alien limpet for the Mediterranean: Lottia sp. (Patellogastropoda Lottiidae)

291

Figs. 1-15. Lottia sp., Catania, Sicily. Fig. 1: dorsal view of the shell (length 18.2 mm), harbour of Catania. Figs. 2-4: San
Giovanni Li Cuti, Catania; dorsal view of the shell, length 15.1 and 13.2 mm Figs. 2, 3); internal side of the shell (Fig. 4).
Fig. 5: entirely blackish specimen (length 15.0 mm), San Giovanni Li Cuti, Catania. Fig. 6: paler specimen with mottled
dark drawings (length 12.8 mm), harbour of Catania. Fig. 7: internal side of a specimen with whitish central area (length
16.8 mm), harbour of Catania. Figs. 8-14: San Giovanni Li Cuti, Catania; lateral view of the shell (Fig. 8); detail of the
shell sculpture, length 16.8 mm (Fig. 9); ventral view of a living specimen, length 15.0 mm (Fig. 10); lateral view of a
living specimen (Fig. 11); detail of the ctenidium (red arrow) (Fig. 12); detail of the edge of mantle, with mantle tentacles
(Fig. 13); radular teeth in dorsal view (right) and in slightly tilted view (left) to show uncini (u) (Fig. 14); Fig. 15: drawing
of radular teeth (fit: first lateral tooth; sit: second lateral tooth; tit: third lateral tooth; u: uncini).

292

Danilo Scuderi & Douglas J. Eernisse

ribs, which deform the shell margin with weak scal-
loping. True ribs are also present in Lottia gigantea
(Sowerby, 1834), but this species is completely
different, for example with an anterior apex and
completely different colouring of the living animal,
with black head, tentacles and margin of foot. Many
of the other members of Lottia differ in having fine
riblets (not ribs) and different radula arrangement.
One of us (DJE) is familiar with most of the East
and North Pacific species and none of the species
there seems to match it well.

Western Atlantic species share with the Medi-
terranean alien species more similar characters in
dimensions, shell, external soft parts and radular
morphology. Compared to the Mediterranean Lottia
spp., L. subrugosa (d'Orbigny, 1846) is the most
similar among Western Atlantic species, common
along the Brazilian coasts, south to Uruguay. The
size, colour and apex position of the shell seem to
be similar to the Mediterranean alien species. But,
judging from the original description of the species
the shell sculpture seems somewhat different,
characterized by large flattened axial ridges, which
give the margin of the shell a winding outline.
Compared to the description and pictures by Righi
(1966), the radular teeth seem arranged in the same
way. Two other species that are similar to L. sub-
rugosa, L. noronhensis (E.A. Smith, 1890) and L.
marcusi (Righi, 1966), also seem unlikely because
of their extremely restricted geographical distribu-
tion, i.e. the Island of Fernando de Norona Brasil,
and that of Trinidad, respectively. Other similar
Western Atlantic species are L. jamaicensis (Gmelin,
1791) and L. leucopleura (Gmelin, 1791), which
however are characterized by more robust and
prominent ribs. Another undetermined Atlantic
species, called Lottia morph B, is reported from
Nevis, Leeward Islands (Caribbean) (Hewitt, 2008),
and resembles the Mediterranean invader in general
shape, but is characterized by numerous and almost
equally thin riblets on the shell.

Species of the western Pacific regions, including
Australia, New Zealand, and southeastern Asia,
were compared with available literature, but no
close matches were found to the alien Mediter-
ranean species. For example, Notoacmea corro-
denda (May, 1920) is perhaps the most similar of
these in shell morphology, but differs in its more
flattened shell, smaller size, coarser sculpture, and
different radular tooth arrangement.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Roland Houart (Belgium) is thanked for the
bibliographic help and Henk K. Mienis of Tel Aviv
University (Israel) for sending biological material
and useful comments on Eastern Mediterranean
molluscan invaders. We are grateful to David
R. Lindberg (Professor Emeritus, University of
California) for his input on the systematic place-
ment of the new invader species. This contribution
was made with the support of the Department of
Biological Science at California State University
Fullerton and funding from the National Science
Foundation (DEB- 1355230 to D.J. Eemisse).

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