JOURNAL OF TAXONOMY AND BIOSISTEMATICS
Year:2017 | Volume:9 | Issue:31 |Papers Count:6

The study is concerned with the floristic investigation of Sarband prohibited area (Dibaj). The region with an area of approximately 4000 hectares is located in 12 km northeast of Dibaj (52 km north of Damghan, Semnan Province) ranging from 2000-3650 m. Sarband area with an average annual precipitation of 137.5 mm a dry climate based on Domarten’s climate classification. A total of 285 species belonging to 178 genera and 45 families were identified. The richest families species were Asteraceae (22 genara, 40 species), Brassicaceae (25 genera, 32 species) and Poaceae (16 genera, 26 species), respectively. Also, the genus Astragalus with 12 species, Allium with 7 species, Cousinia and Alyssum each with 6 species and Gagea with 5 species, are the largest genera in the region. Phytogeographical distribution of plant species showed that 60.52% of species belong to the Irano-Turanian region, followed by Irano-Turanian/Europe-Siberia: 20.67% and etc. Hemicryptophytes (54.76% of all species) were the most common life form in the region.36 Iranian endemic species and 44 medicinal plant species were recognized in the region. Moreover, 33 plant species were listed as threatened species, of which, four species including Cousinia rahbdodes, Astragalus catacamptus, A. megalocystis and A. perdurans were categorized as vulnerable species based on the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The pollen grains of 32 populations from 13 genera belonging to the tribe Anthemideae - Asteraceae (one to three populations of each species) from Iran were studied by light and scanning electron microscopes. Pollen grains of all the studied samples were tricolporate. Based on pollen shape, 55, 22, 15 and 8 % were oblate- sp heroidal, suboblate, spheroidal and prolate - spheroidal, respectively. The pollen grains with oblate- spheroidal and spheroidal shapes were common among the genera studied.The pollen grains of all taxa were operculate and tricolporate. The pollen ornamentat ions were echinate perforate except Artemisia that was spinulose non- perforate in SEM.The dendrogram obtained from UPGMA method based on four quantitative and qualitative characters was classified into two main clusters. The first cluster (A) includes pop ulations of Artemisia which show "Artemisia - type" pollen, while the second cluster (B) comprises of the rest of the taxa which have pollen grains of "Anthemis - type". The subcluster B-1 possesses samples with bigger (polar axis 28.64- 32.5 mm and equatorial axis 30.65- 33.2 mm ) pollen grains and subcluster B - 2 comprised of populations with smaller (polar axis 21.69 - 30.38 mm and equatorial axis 23.29-32.4 mm ) pollen grains. The results showed that pollen micromorphological characters could be utilized in inter pretation of intergeneric relationship of tribe Anthemideae. Moreover, pollen size and shape were determined as taxonomic diagnostic characteristics.

Pollen morphology of Rhamnus pallasii and Rhamnus cathartica from the family of Rhamnaceae in North of Iran was examined under LM and SEM. Polar axis (P). Equatorial axis (E) and P/E were measured under LM. Exile ornamentation and endocarps of seeds were observed by scanning electron microscope. Based on pollen data, Rh.pallasii the shape is spheroidal and subtriangular in polar view; moreover, subprolate and tricolprate shapes were observed in equatorial view. Ornamentation of exine was obscure or indistinctly reticulate in Rh. pallasii subsp. iranica and Rh. X spathulifolia. Fruit of examined species was dropped with 2-3 seeds. All seeds were presented in ovate shape with lightbrown color. Ornamentation of endocarp was foveolate and promaninted spotty. The biggest seed was presented in Rh. Pallasii and the smallest was observed in Rh. Pallasii subsp.Pallasii. The results of current research showed that ornamentation of exine is a valuable taxonomic character in the examined species; in addition, endocarp of seeds was to a great extent similar.

The aim of this research was to study the genetic structure of the Afghan Pika’s (Ochotona rufescens) populations in Northern Khorasan province in order to determine their isolation rate. A total of 122 samples from four sample groups (Ghorkhod, Golol-Sarani, Salouk and Sarigol) were selected and the genotypic features were detected using 7 microsatellite loci. The results showed that all of the loci were subject to polymorphism and the allele ranged from 2- 7. Significant Fst and Rst values were found among the populations based on the AMOVA test. Based on the Assignment Test, more than 90 percent of the individuals of the populations belonged to their original population (only 10 percent of the individuals belonged to other populations). A Paired comparison of genetic differentiation between the populations revealed significant deferences among them. The results of the Prichard model grouping showed that the samples collected in this study were approximately 7 groups. The results of AMOVA analysis revealed a significant genetic structure among different populations. Also, the majority of the variance is related to the variance within the population. There seems to be a different but small genetic structure among the studied populations.

The taxonomy and nomenclature of the genus Silene species encounter numerous problems in Iran. In this study, based on the extensive examination of herbarium materials as well as new collections from natural habitats in different areas of Iran, the scientific names of Silene marschallii and S. tenella (sect.Lasiostemones) specimens were revised. According to the results of this research, S. lineata and S. subtenella, which had been reported as endemic species of geographical boundaries of Iran, are considered as synonym of S. tenella. On the other hand, S. marschallii is an distinct species, but S.sahendica that had been considered as S. marschallii subsp. sahendica combination in Flora Iranica, as a results of the present study, is the synonym of S. lasiantha. This species that based on available information, distributes in Turkey, Iran and Armenia is distinct taxon from S. marschallii. The taxonomical description, photographs, geographical distribution and habitat remarks of S. lasiantha are presented.

Although arachnology has a long-standing history but the main progress in spiders taxonomy is related to the Golden Age of Araneology. Indeed, from this period onward the copulatory organs (primary and secondary structures) found their true positions in new species description and delimitation. But it is surprising that only a few arachnologists have taken a clear stand about species, considering the inordinate number of concepts. According to the importance of species in taxonomy, the aim of this paper is to present an acceptable definition of the species concept and to investigate the role of copulatory structures in species identification. Studies have shown that species are reproductive communities that are genetically isolated from such other communities. Proceeding relatively independently evolution in different species implies that the species concept is not a universal and comprehensive concept for all the species. On the other hand, as the genital traits often evolve faster than other morphological characters, the role of genital traits is undeniable in distinguishing closely related species and species delimitation. Anyway, there is no certainty about the species-specificity of the copulatory structures. As a final result, it should be noted that variation studies and morphological - molecular congruence analyses will probably advance our knowledge to understand the significance of copulatory structures in the systematics of different spider species.