Spermophilus torosensis Özkurt, Sözen, Yiğit, Kandemir, Çolak, Gharkheloo & Çolak, 2007, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Özkurt, Şakir Önder
name: Sözen, Mustafa
name: Yiğit, Nuri
name: Kandemir, Irfan
name: Çolak, Reyhan
name: Gharkheloo, Mohammed Moradi
name: Çolak, Ercüment
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Sciuridae
Spermophilus
Spermophilus torosensis

description: Spermophilus torosensis sp. nov.
Holotype. Adult female; skull and skin; Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ankara University in Ankara 3877; collected 23 September 2000 by Şakir Özkurt and Mustafa Sözen.
Type locality. Turkey, Antalya, Akseki, Çalt₁l₁çukur village, Eşekçukuru area of Salamut Plateau on the Taurus Mts, (36.90823E, 31.96114N, 1879 m) (Figure 5).
Paratypes. Seven females and three males collected from the type locality in July 1996 by Mustafa Sözen and in August 2000 by Şakir Özkurt and Mustafa Sözen. Voucher specimens (skulls and skins) are deposited in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ankara University (1829, 1835, 1839, 1943) and the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ankara University (3395, 3427, 3485, 3559, 3874, 3883).
Diagnosis. The dorsal fur is light reddish brown; speckling is absent. The tail is thick and brush-like, and covered with long hairs that form a tuft at the tip. Measurements for tail length, braincase length, hind foot length, mastoid width, and interorbital constriction are greater than those for S. citellus and S. xanthoprymnus. Posterior palatal processes generally spine-like rather than triangular. Supraorbital ridges not converging posteriorly; lambdoidal and sagittal crests and ridges absent or obsolete. The karyotype is 2n= 40, NF-=75-76, and NFa= 72.
Measurements of holotype. External, cranial, and dental measurements (in mm; except weight, in g) are: total length, 256; tail length, 62; hind foot length, 39; ear length, 7; weight, 260; zygomatic width, 28.5; interorbital constriction, 9.8; condylobasal length, 41.5; occipitonasal length, 43.7; basal length, 36.4; nasal length, 14.8; nasal width, 6.7; facial length of skull, 25.1; braincase length, 18.9; mastoid width, 15.8; width of braincase with bullae, 15.8; occipital width, 20.9; diastema length, 11; palatal length, 23.2; incisive foramen length, 2.7; tympanic bulla length, 9.4; mandible length, 27.4; upper molar alveolar length, 9.94; lower molar alveolar length, 9.46.
Description. The fur on the dorsal surface of the body is reddish in coloration (Figure 2), but several specimens from Akseki (n= 3) are grey with reddish tone. The dorsal color becomes lighter on the flanks. There is no demarcation line between the flanks and the venter. The color of the venter varies from light yellow to whitish. The tail is reddish with dark hairs on the dorsal surface and whitish hairs on the ventral surface. The forefoot is covered with tiny whitish hairs on the dorsal surface, and the soles are naked. The hind foot is similar in color to the dorsal body coloration; the soles of the feet are naked. The dental formula is the same as in S. citellus. Pm1 has 1 root. Pm2, M1, M2, and M3 have 3 roots. Pm1 has 2 roots (one specimen has 3 roots), M1, M2, and M3 have 4 roots. The cranial characters of S. torosensis are similar to those of S. citellus and S. xanthoprymnus (Figures 3, 4). The color of the anterior surface of the incisors varies from white to yellow. The posterior palatal foramina are generally (74%) located anterior to a line passing between M2 and M3. There is a spine-like (63% of animals) or triangular (37% of animals) process in the medial posterior margin of the palate. Morphometric analysis separates 3 similar species of Spermophilus— S. citellus, S. xanthoprymnus, and S. torosensis sp. nov. (Figure 7).
Habitat. Spermophilus torosensis is found in open areas above 1500 m in the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia from Akseki to Mut (Figure 1). This species inhabits rocky areas with sparse vegetation, but does not live in areas with deep soil. In some cases, individuals were observed living in stone walls built by villagers of Çukurköy in town of Akseki on the Morca Plateau in Antalya province (Figure 6).
Co-specific rodent species. Dryomys laniger (Gliridae), Nannospalax nehringi (Spalacidae), Apodemus mystacinus (Muridae), Chionomys nivalis (Cricetidae).
Distribution. This new species is found above 1500 m in the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolia from Akseki (Antalya) to Mut (Mersin) (Figure 1).
Dominant plant species present in and around type locality. Lamiaceae: Marrubium globosum, Phlomis armeniaca, Fabaceae: Astragalus creticus, Euporbiaceae: Euphorbia kotschyana, Thymelaeaceae: Daphne oleoides, Poaceae: Bromus tomentollus, Festuca valesiaca.
Other plant species in and around type locality. Liliaceae: Allium scoroprasum, Ornithogahum orthophyllum, Lamiaceae: Scutellaria orientalis, Nepeta isaurica, Stachys lavandulifolia, Teucrium chamaedrys, Ziziphora clinopodioides, Ajuga chamaepitys, Acinos rotundifolius, Scrophulariaceae: Veronica cuneifolia, Verbascum glomerulosum, Poaceae: Poa bulbosa, Dactylis glomerata, Hordeum bulbosum, Bromus japonicus, Elymus tauri, Brassicaceae: Alyssum minus, Erysimum sintenisianum, Alyssum condensatum, Barbarea minor, Asteraceae: Crepis sancta, Onopordum acanthium, Circium lappaceum, Caryophyllaceae: Minuartia globulosa, Minuartia leucocephala, Gypsophila curvifolia, Cerastium brachypetalum, Geraniaceae: Geranium tuberosum, Campanulaceae: Asyneuma virgatum, Rubiaceae: Cruciata taurica, Asperula setosa, Galium consanguineum, Boraginaceae: Onobrychis montana, Buglossoides arvensis, Ranunculaceae: Ranunculus damescenus, Rosaceae: Rosa pulverulenta, Berberidaceae: Berberis crataegina.
Derivatio nominis. The name derives from Toros, Turkish for the Taurus Mountains in which the new species is distributed.
Karyology. The karyotype is 2n= 40, NF-=75-76, and NFa= 72 for specimens from Akseki, Mut and Hadim in southern Anatolia (Özkurt et al. 2002).
Morphometric analysis. In general, specimens collected from four different geographical regions were clearly separated based on the morphological characters. The results of a univariate ANOVA of the 24 characters used for the discrimination resulted in statistically significant differences (P<0.001) among groups except for the tympanic bullae length (P>0.05).
In the multivariate analysis, the total morphological variation was explained by 3 axes with eigen values greater than 1. The first axis explained most of the variation (94.18%); the second and the third axes explained 3.51% and 2.31% of the variation, respectively.
The characters that contributed most to the discrimination in the first axis were braincase length, diastema length, tympanic bulla length, and the upper and lower molar alveoli lengths. For the second axis, the highest loadings were for the interorbital constriction, length of the palate, length of the incisive foramen, mandible length and upper molar alveoli length. For the third axis, interorbital constriction, braincase length, occipital width, length of palate and lower molar alveoli length have the highest loadings.
In the discriminate function analysis, 97% of the samples were correctly classified into their original groupings (Figure 7). Three species (S. citellus, S. fulvus, and S. xanthoprymnus) were 100% correctly placed in their proposed groups. Only 2 specimens from the S. torosensis sp. nov. exhibited a tendency to cluster with S. xanthoprymnus; however, their characteristics did not overlap with S. xanthoprymnus. This appears to be due to the high degree of morphological variation within S. torosensis sp. nov.
description: Published as part of Özkurt, Şakir Önder, Sözen, Mustafa, Yiğit, Nuri, Kandemir, Irfan, Çolak, Reyhan, Gharkheloo, Mohammed Moradi & Çolak, Ercüment, 2007, Taxonomic status of the genus Spermophilus (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Turkey and Iran with description of a new species, pp. 1-15 in Zootaxa 1529 on pages 8-10, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.177630