Sharifi(2008)Deistribution and Status of N. Kaiseri

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ON DISTRIBUTION AND CONSERVATION STATUS OF Neurergus kaiseri

(CAUDATA: SALAMANDRIDAE)

Mozafar Sharifi,1* Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani,

1

Vahid Akmali,2 and Somayeh Assadian Narengi2

Submitted September 14, 2006.

Newts of the genus Neurergus in south-western Iran are amongst the least known amphibian taxa in the country.

Since 1975, few scientific record have reported for Neurergus kaiseri. Morphological characteristics and habitat

preferences of Neurergus kaiseri have been described from Taleh Zang stream in southern Zagros Mountains,

Iran, in an area not previously known as a habitat for this newt. In the stream, where the newt was found channel

substrate, channel width, adjacent riparian plant community type, and land use practice were determined. Visual

estimates were made of percent channel substrate composition showed that this newt more often (45%) occupies

aquatic microenvironments with substrate of pebbles and fine texture. Various factors threatening this species in-

cluding lack of suitable highland streams, presence of a cyprinid fish (Barbus sp.) which is known to prey upon

eggs and larvae of the amphibians and also illegal collecting and trade are discussed.

Keywords: Salamandridae, Neurergus kaiseri, Zagros Mountains, Lorestan Province, morphology, ecology.

INTRODUCTION

Due to scarcity of inland freshwater, relatively few

species of Caudata occur in Iran. These include seven

species of the genera Triturus, Batrachuperus, Neurer-

gus, and Salamandera (Baloutch and Kami, 1995).

Newts of the genus Neurergus have been reported to

have a relatively wide distribution, ranging from west-

ern Iran (Zagros Mountains) and extending into Iraq and

southern Turkey (Baloutch and Kami, 1995). In Iran this

genus encompasses three allopatric species including

N. kaiseri in southern Zagros (Schmidt, 1952), N. micro-

spilotus in several highland streams in western Zagros

(Schmidt, 1952; Sharifi and Assadian, 2004), and

N. crocatus in northern Zagros (Cope, 1889; Nesterov,

1916; Schmidt, 1952). Available information on conser-

vation biology of the Iranian salamanders is scarce. In-

vestigations made in 1970s (Schmidtler and Schmidtler,

1975) have indicated that three of four species of sala-

manders belonging to the genus Neurergus (N. crocatus,

N. microspilotus, and N. kaiseri) occur in Iran. There is

no recent information on distribution and abundance of

N. kaiseri available on the basis of which possible as-

sessment of conservation status would be possible.

Neurergus kaiseri was first described as a subspe-

cies of Neurergus crocatus (Schmidt, 1952). In 1975,

Schmidtler and Schmidtler described Neurergus kaiseri

as one of the three allopatric species of Neurergus oc-

curring in Iran. Description made by Schmidtler and

Schmidtler was based on specimens collected from Etwa

(11 km north of Shahbazan, Lorestan Province, Iran).

Apparently, the distribution range of this newt includesShahbazan region in Lorestan Province about 70 km

northwest of Dizfull (Fig. 2). The aims of the present

study are to provide information to indicate geographic

distribution and conservation biology of Neurergus

kaiseri.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Streams, ponds and springs were searched for adult

and larvae of Neurergus kaiseri in south-Zagros range,

Lorestan Province, southwestern Iran. In streams where

the newt was found, channel substrates, channel width,

adjacent riparian plant community type and land use

practice were determined. Where possible, relative

abundance ofNeurergus kaiseri was determined and ex-

pressed as individuals per every ten meters Visual esti-

mates were made of percent channel substrate composi-

tion (Wilkins and Peterson, 2000) by bedrock, boulder

(>256 mm diameter), cobble (64 256 mm diameter),

1026-2296/2008/1503-0169 2008 Folium Publishing Company

Russian Journal of Herpetology Vol. 15, No. 3, 2008, pp. 169 172

1Razi University Center for Environmental studies, Faculty of Sci-

ence, Razi University, Kermanshah 67149, Iran.2

Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran.

* E-mail: [email protected]


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gravel (16 64 mm diameter), pebble (2 16 mm diam-

eter), fine sediment and coarse woody debris.

Thirteen adult male specimens ofNeurergus kaiseri

were collected from Taleh Zang stream in Lorestan

province, southwestern Iran. The newts brought to labo-

ratory alive and were carefully examined. Twenty six

metric characters of all the specimens were studied

(Table 1). These characters were measured by Caliper.

Using descriptive statistics, the mean, maximum, mini-

mum, and standard deviation of all the characters were

calculated (Table 2).

STUDY AREAS

The Iranian basin is a large triangular depression

flanked by Elburz Mountains in the north and Zagros

Mountains in the west. The Zagros Mountains extend di-

agonally from eastern Turkey to the north of the Persian

Gulf and Pakistan border. The Zagros Mountains act as

barriers to the incoming air parcels from the west and re-

ceive precipitation according to their height and longi-

tude. The weather condition in the southern edge of the

Iranian plateau in southern-Zagros Range is character-

ized by a prolonged hot summer with little or no freezing

period in winter. Although average annual precipitation

in this area is around 500 mm, most of this comes as rain

in January and February. Since Zagros range in southern

edge of the Iranian plateau has higher elevations com-

pared with western Zagros, streams originated from this

part of the range have relatively higher discharge rate.

These relatively bigger streams are located in a catch-

ment area with less vegetation cover. As a result, the

streams in southern Zagros where the Neurergus kaiseri

is found are less shaded with vegetation.

170 Mozafar Sharifi et al.

0

15

30

45

Bedrock Boulder Cobble Gravel Pebble Sand

%

Occurence

Fig. 1. Percent occurrence of N. kaiseri in various substrate size

groups in Taleh Zang stream (n = 72).

TABLE 1. Definitions of the Morphological Characters Used in This

Study

Char-

acterDefinition

SVL Standard length, from tipof snout to posteriormargin of cloacallips.

TL Tail length, posterior margin of cloacal lips to tip of tail.

TOL Total length, from tip of snout to tip of tail.

CL Cloacal length from anterior margin to posterior margin ofcloacal lips.

GCL Groin/cloacal length, from anterior margin of hind leg (axilla)to posterior margin of cloacal lips.

DEX Distance of extremities, posterior margin of front leg (axilla) toanterior margin of hind leg (groin).

FLL Front leg length-posterior margin of front leg (axilla) to tip ofthe length finger.

UAL Upper arm length posterior margin of front leg (axilla) to angleof elbow.

LAL Lowerarm/hand length, angleof elbow totip of thelongesttoe.

HLL Hindleg length-anterior margin ofhindleg (groin) totip of lon-gest toe.

THL Thigh length, anterior margin of hind leg to angle of knee.

LLL Lower leg/foot length, angle of knee to tip of longest toe.

ELL Eye/front leglength, anterior marginof eye to posterior marginof front leg (axilla).

HH Height ofhead, marginof lower jaw toroofof skull (in linewiththe eyes).

BBH Breast/back height, breast bone (in line with the anterior marginof front legs) to dorsal surface.

CBH Cloacae/back height, Anterior margin of cloacal lips to dorsalsurface.

TBBH Tail base/back height, base of tail (behind the posterior marginof cloacal (lips) to dorsal surface.

HL Head length, tip of snout to posterior region of neck.

SEL Snout/eye length, tip of snout to anterior margin of eye.

DN Distance of nostrils, from one nostril to the other.

NELI Nostril/eye length I, nostril to anterior margin of eye.

NELII Nostril/eye length II, nostril to posterior margin of eye.

ED Eye diameter, anterior to posterior margin of eye.

IOD Inter orbital distance, shortest distance between eyes (from adorsal view).

HW Head width, largest width (approximately at the corner of themouth).

ML Mouth length, tip of snout to the corner of the mouth.

5 E

3240

3250

33 N

Tehran

N. kaiseri

sighted in 1975

N. kaiseri

sighted in 2005

Rivers

Streams

Railroad

Dez Lake

DezLake

Fig. 2. Distribution map of Neurergus kaiseri in southern Zagros

Range in Lorestan Province.


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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

On the basis of specimens collected in this study,

Neurergus kaiseri when matures ranges between

109 131 mm (Table 2). This species is characteristi-

cally different from the other two newts of the genus

Neurergus, occurring in Iran, by a long and narrow band

of yellow color with several round bleach of white color.

This gives a wavy appearance to N. kaiseri. Dorsal and

lateral side of the animal is black but the underneath is

whitish. Between the eyes at the top of head there is a

white patch which gets thinner as closes to the snout. On

the back of each eye there is one yellow patch which ex-

tends towards the jaw. Present study on morphology of

newts collected from Taleh Zang stream confirms

Schmidt (1952) description of similar species from

Shahbazan. He also distinguished his specimens by the

confluence of the dorsal light spots into an irregular yel-

low mid dorsal band, bordered on each side by a contin-uous broader black band.

This study conducted during 26 29 March 2003.

Since only few female specimens were found it would

be safe to suggest that the movement of N. kaiseri from

their winter ground to the aquatic habitat was not com-

pleted until the end of March. No night-time observation

made during this time, therefore, it is not known whether

this newt performs a nightly mass migration to its

aquatic ground. Females were recognized from males

upon their swollen bodies, indicating presence of en-

larged ovarian follicles, and/or the flat shape of the cloa-

cae. Eggs are laid singly or in small clumps on aquaticvegetation or on rocks. Although no information is

available regarding wintering activity of N. kaiseri, the

appearance of the animals in early spring and their dis-

appearance in summer suggests that this newt requires

both terrestrial and aquatic habitats.

The presence ofN. kaiseri in Taleh Zang stream has

not been known previously. This newt has only been re-

ported from Shahbazan in north east of Dizful (Schmidt,

1952; Schmidtler and Schmidtler, 1975; Baloutch and

Kami, 1995). Although Taleh Zang stream is a first order

stream but considerable amount of water is added to the

stream at the Taleh Zang fall causing a small first orderstream to develop into a medium-sized river in a short

distance. The Taleh Zang stream which is situated above

the Tale Zang Fall, is a small stream at 1500 2000 m

above sea level joining to the main rivers in the lowland

catchments of the Dez-Karkheh at Iran-Iraq border. The

streams vary considerably in length, depth as well as in

the vegetation of the surrounding. Most of the N. kaiseri

specimens observed in this study were found in the up-

per reaches of the stream above the Tale Zang Fall

(Fig. 3). Since high water discharges at lower reaches of

Taleh Zang stream makes the situation for N. kaiseri

seemingly intolerable, it is plausible to suggest that

some of relatively few N. kaiseri specimens seen at

lower reach of the stream have been drifted by spring

flushes (Fig. 4).

Terrestrial habitats occupied by N. kaiseri includediverse community types encompassing oak-pistachio

open woodlands dominated by Quercus brantti and Pis-

tachio spp. This open woodland grows on various soil

types including deep sandy loam soils at the bottom of

valleys or gravelly soils at the slopes of steep valleys.

The above stream vegetation cover in the Taleh Zang re-

gion is characteristically less than streams in western

Zagros where N. microspilotus is found (Sharifi and As-

sadian, 2004). Unlike N. microspilotus in western Zag-

ros which is threatened due to habitat loss through diver-

gence of streams for irrigation of cultivated lands and

water pollution (Sharifi and Assadian, 2004), habitatloss does not appear to be a major problem forN. kaiseri

in southern Zagros presumably because of the lack of

land in the very harsh mountainous terrain. Only in low-

lands far below the habitat of N. kaiseri attempts have

On Distribution and Conservation Status ofNeurergus kaiseri(Caudata: Salamandridae) 171

TABLE 2. Descriptive Statistics of 26 Metric Characters for 13

Specimens ofNeurergus kaiseri Used in This Study

Character Mean S.E. Min. Max.

SVL 60.37 1.19 52.86 67.42

TOL 121.56 8.66 109.48 130.74

TL 63.95 0.82 59.22 69.14GCL 11.59 0.26 10.14 12.68

DEX 26.22 0.52 22.54 28.44

UAL 6.70 0.17 5.62 8.22

LAL 13.11 0.28 11.08 14.66

THL 5.86 0.19 4.52 7.08

LLL 12.65 0.35 10.72 15.42

CL 7.57 0.26 5.82 9.22

HH 4.98 0.17 3.93 5.84

HL 14.53 0.29 12.68 16.48

SEL 8.49 0.15 7.64 9.54

DN 2.93 0.09 2.46 3.58

NELI 4.20 0.11 3.46 4.48

NELII 7.29 0.11 6.74 8.08

ED 3.79 0.10 3.24 4.22

IOD 4.25 0.12 3.58 4.68

HW 10.26 0.10 9.74 10.78

ML 9.53 0.20 8.44 10.68

FLL 17.34 0.41 15.38 19.94

HLL 17.63 0.37 15.24 19.62

EFLL 16.11 0.29 14.38 17.7

BBH 6.34 0.19 5.36 7.42

TBBH 4.29 0.11 3.66 4.96

CBH 7.13 0.14 6.42 8.38


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been made as to construct a complex of reinforced ter-

races of land, which is cultivated by various crops. How-

ever, one important factor that may have a significant ef-

fect on conservation biology ofN. kaiseri is the presence

of at least one species of cyprinid fish which is known to

prey upon eggs and larvae of the newt. This fish are

present up to the Taleh Zang fall where some N. kaiseri

have been observed. There are at least one European

company advertising to trade N. kaiseri and also reports

of more Iranian pet shops which sale the animal.

Aquatic habitats used by N. kaiseri varied consider-

ably. In lower reach of the stream below Taleh Zang fall

(Figs. 3 and 4) the newt can only be seen in water fringes

well away from strong water currents. These areas are

normally covered by clay or sand. At upper reaches of

the stream above the Taleh Zang fall, the animal has a

wider range of habitat preference. Frequency distribu-

tion of various aquatic microhabitats used by N. kaiseri

is shown in Fig. 1. These microhabitats are distin-

guished on the basis of channel substrate composition.

The pattern of habitat selection in N. kaiseri is character-

ized by high occurrence in sandy substrates. This is pre-

sumably due to high velocity of water at the inner parts

of the stream channel. Similar observations made onhabitat selection in N. microspilotus showed that this

newt tends to choose pebble substrate (Sharifi and

Assadian, 2004).

Neurergus kaiseri has been evaluated as an endan-

gered [EN B1 ab(iii) + 2ab(iii)] species by IUNC on the

basis of severely fragmented habitats in less than five

locations and also continuing decline in the extent of

occurrence. Although this study reports a new habitat

for the species but the status of the species should re-

main the same because there are only two known areas

of occupancy for this species with deteriorating habitats

due to the presence of predatory fish and illegal collect-

ing.

REFERENCES

Assadian S. and Sharifi M. (2003), Reproductive biology of

the yellow spotted newt Neurergus microspilotus in west-

ern Iran, in: Proc. of the 1st

Iranian Conf. on Animal Sci.and Biodiv., Kerman University, Kerman.

Baloutch M. and Kami H. (1995), Amphibians of Iran, Teh-

ran Univ. Press [in Farsi].

Cope E. D. (1889), The Batrachia of North America, Bull.

U.S. Natl. Mus., 34, 1 525.

Nesterov P. V. (1916), Trois formes nouvelles dAmphibiens

(Urodela) du Kurdistan, Annu. Mus. Zool. Acad. Sci. Imp.

St. Petersbourg, 21, 1 30 [in Russian].

Schmidt K. P. (1952), Diagnoses of new amphibians and

reptiles from Iran, Nat. Hist. Misc., 93, 1 2.

Schmidtler J. J. and Schmidtler J. F. (1975), Untersu-

chujngen an westpersischen Bergbachmolchen der Gattung

Neurergus (Caudata, Salamandridae), Salamandra, 11,84 98.

Sharifi M. and Assadian S. (2004), Distribution and conser-

vation status of Neurergus microspilotus (Caudata: Sala-

mandridae) in western Iran, Asiatic Herpetol. Res., 10,

224 229.

Wilkings R. N. and Peterson N. P. (2000), Factors related to

amphibian occurance and abundance in headwater streams

draining second-growth Douglas-Fir forests in southwest-

ern Washington, Forest Ecol. Manag., 139, 79 91.

172 Mozafar Sharifi et al.

Fig. 3. Neurergus kaiseri in Taleh Zang stream in southern Zagros

Mountains, Lorestan Province, Iran.

Fig. 4. Taleh Zang fall in southern Zagros Range divides Neurergus

kaiseri habitat. Newts bellow this fall are few and have presumably

been drifted by spring flushes.

Sharifi(2008)Deistribution and Status of N. Kaiseri

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