animal biosystematic
Fatemeh Fakharzadeh; Somayeh Horobi
Abstract
Two species, green toad (Bufotes viridis) from true toads (Bufonidae) family and Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) from true frogs (Ranidae) family have the most distribution in Khuzestan province. These species have many taxonomic problems and the chromosomal studies have been done in the country are ...
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Two species, green toad (Bufotes viridis) from true toads (Bufonidae) family and Marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) from true frogs (Ranidae) family have the most distribution in Khuzestan province. These species have many taxonomic problems and the chromosomal studies have been done in the country are few. In the field studies, 28 samples of anura including 17 green toads and11marsh frogs were collected from northwest and south of Khuzestan province (Shush, Khorramshahr and Hendijan). Sampling was done between the summer of 2018 and the summer of 2019. Chromosome studies showed all green toads have 22n=22 chromosomes that were classified into two groups. The first group included 6pairs of large chromosomes and the second group composed of 5pairs of small chromosomes. In the toads of all three studied regions, the fourth and seventh pairs of chromosomes were submetacentric and the rest chromosomes were metacentric. Results showed all collected marsh frogs have 2n=26 chromosomes, which were divided into two groups. The first group included 5pairs of large chromosomes and the second group had 8 pairs of small chromosomes. The karyotype formula of the frogs of the three sampling areas are not the same. The karyotype formula of Khorramshahr, Shush and Hendijan frogs are 8m+1sm+4st, 7m+3sm+3st and 6m+6sm+1st, respectively. Sex heteromorphic chromosomes were not observed in any of the collected samples. Current study on marsh frogs and its comparison with other investigations shows a significant diversity in terms of karyotype in the country, which strengthens the possibility of the existence of a species complex.
