Mehmet Öz

Cracking the nut: geographical adjacency of sister taxa supports vicariance in a polytomic salamander clade in the absence of node support.

The urodelan genus Lyciasalamandra, which inhabits a relatively small area along the southern Turkish coast and some Aegean islands, provides an outstanding example of a diverse but phylogenetically unresolved taxon. Molecular trees contain a single basal polytomy that could be either soft or hard. We here use the information of nuclear (allozymes) and mitochondrial (fractions of the 16S rRNA and ATPase genes) datasets in combination with area relationships of lineages to resolve the phylogenetic relationships among Lyciasalamandra species in the absence of sufficient node support. We can show that neither random processes nor introgressive hybridization can be invoked to explain that the majority of pairs of sister taxa form geographically adjacent units and interpret that this pattern has been shaped by vicariant events. Topology discordance between mitochondrial and nuclear trees mainly refers to an affiliation of L. helverseni, a taxon restricted to the Karpathos archipelago, to the western-most and geographically proximate mainland taxon in the nuclear tree, while in the organelle tree it turns out to be the sister lineage to the geographically most distant eastern clade. As this discordance cannot be explained by long-branch attraction in either dataset we suppose that oversea dispersal may have accounted for a second colonization of the Karpathos archipelago. It may have initiated introgression and selection driven manifestation of alien eastern mitochondrial genomes on a western nuclear background. Our approach of testing for area relationships of sister taxa against the null hypothesis of random distribution of these taxa seems to be especially helpful in phylogenetic studies where traditional measures of phylogenetic branch support fail to reject the null hypothesis of a hard polytomy.

Helminth Parasites of the Tree Frog, Hyla arborea (Anura: Hylidae) from Southwest Turkey

Abstract The helminth fauna of 73 tree frogs, Hyla arborea, in the Antalya province of southwestern Turkey comprised 6 species: Polystoma skrjabini Buchvarov, 1984, Pleurogenoides medians (Olsson, 1876), Encyclometra colubrimurorum (Rudolphi, 1819) Dollfuss 1929 (metacercariae), Proteocephalus sp. Weinland, 1858 (Pleurocercoid stage), Cosmocerca commutata (Diesing, 1861), and Acanthocephalus ranae (Schrank, 1788). All parasites collected represent new host records for H. arborea in Turkey. This is the first report of the monogenetic trematode P. skrjabini from Turkey.

Helminths of the Marsh Frog, Rana ridibunda Pallas, 1771 (Anura: Ranidae), from Antalya Province, Southwestern Turkey

Abstract Marsh frogs (Rana ridibunda) were collected in Antalya province, southwestern Turkey, during 2001 and 2002 and examined for helminths. Of 258 frogs, 235 (91.1%) were infected with 1 or more helminths. The helminth fauna of R. ridibunda comprised 16 species: 10 species of trematodes (Codonocephalus urnigerus [metacercariae], Diplodiscus subclavatus, Gorgodera cygnoides, Gorgoderina vitelliloba, Pleurogenoides medians, Prosotocus confusus, Brachycoelium salamandrae, Haematoloechus breviansa, Encyclometra colubrimurorum [metacercariae], and Opisthioglyphe ranae), 5 species of nematodes (Rhabdias bufonis, Cosmocerca commutata, Neoxysomatium sp., Eustrongylides sp., and Abbreviata sp. [larvae]), and the acanthocephalan Acanthocephalus ranae. Encyclometra colubrimurorum (metacercariae), B. salamandrae, Neoxysomatium sp, Eustrongylides sp., and larval Abbreviata sp. represent new host records for R. ridibunda in Turkey.

A revision of population designation and geographic distribution of the Lycian Salamander Mertensiella luschani (Steindachner, 1891)

Abstract Nine subspecies of the viviparous Lycian Salamander Mertensiella luschani live along the coast of southwestern and southern Turkey and on some islands (e.g. Kastellorizon, Meis, Kekova, and Carpathos). The species is locally very common. We describe seven new localities and add precise co-ordinates for most known populations. Existing confusion in the literature regarding locality names is discussed. Two type localities are re-defined. The actual and potential distribution of the species is analysed from ecological data. The range of M. luschani is restricted to karstic limestone with precipitation exceeding 800 mm annual rainfall. Most localities are below 500 m a.s.l., with a maximum of up to 1340 m a.s.l. The typical habitat of the species is pine forest on northerly exposed slopes.

Marine turtle nesting at Patara, Turkey, in 2000

Abstract The reproduction of the sea turtle population at Patara in southern Turkey was investigated in 2000. Two Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests were identified, which is the first record for the area, and the westernmost nesting site in the Mediterranean. 85 Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) nests were found, but hatchlings emerged from only 19 of them. Beach erosion and the covering of nests by shifting sand dunes was responsible for the loss of 54% of all nests. Although 72% of all emergences occurred on the eastern half of the beach and 74% of all clutches were laid there, there was no significant difference found in nesting success between both beach sections, which differ markedly in structure and human impact.

On the distribution of four species of agama (Agamidae) in Turkey

Abstract The distribution of the Hardun, Agama stellio, the Caucasian Agama, Agama caucasia, the Syrian Agama, Agama ruderata, and Phrynocephalus helioscopus, in Turkey is presented with dot maps A. stellio and A. caucasia are sharply separated both horizontally and vertically. The area of A. stellio is defined by the March isotherm of 8°C and the July and August isotherms of 24°C. A. ruderata occurs in the large steppe areas of Inner and South-east Anatolia, but not in those of Eastern Anatolia.

Forest pest control by common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus L.) near Antalya, Turkey

This research was conducted in two Mediterranean forest study plots (Bük-Lütfi Büyükyıldırım BL and Elmalı Cedarforest EZ) near Antalya, Turkey, between 2000 and 2002. Adult redstarts fed their nestlings exclusively with insects (79.5%). Three hundred and thirty seven prey items were identified of which 34.4% were Coleoptera, 17.2% Lepidoptera, 11.6% Diplopoda, 9.8% Diptera, 8.0 % Hymenoptera, 5% Heteroptera, 4.7% Arachnida, 2.7% Orthoptera, 1.8% Myriapoda, 1.2% zu Sedantaria, 0.6% each scorpions, Homoptera, and Dermaptera, and 0.3% each Chilopoda, Neuroptera, and earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris). Fourteen different forest pest species were identified of which seven species were Lepidoptera, four Coleoptera, two Hymenoptera and one Orthoptera.