ORIGINAL ARTICLE Taxonomic survey of water frog populations of Pelophylax bedriagae (Anura: Ranidae) in western Iran: a morphometric and bioacoustic approach Alireza Pesarakloo 1 & Masoumeh Najibzadeh 2 & Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani 2 & Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani 3 Received: 11 September 2017 /Accepted: 16 May 2018 # Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2018 Abstract We explored the population systems of Pelophylax bedriagae (Camerano, 1882) in northwestern, western and south- western Iran. Statistical significance for a hypothesis of sexual dimorphism of the frogs was tested using t-test and multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA). Due to lack of sexual differences between the male and female frogs, the data of both sexes were pooled for further analysis. Taxonomic relationships among local populations were investigated using discriminate analysis (by stepwise method) with iterative sample assignment. The multivariate morphometric analyses revealed that the range of P. bedriagae extends to western Iran. The next step was to analyze the advertisement call (five standard parameters: call duration, number of pulse groups per call, duration of pulse groups, interval between pulse groups, and intercall interval) of the water frogs inhabiting three sites in western Iran. Rigorous application of the bioacoustic method removes all doubt that these three sites are inhabited by the same species, which on the basis of priority of nomenclature should be called P. bedriagae. Keywords Water frog . Levant frog . Morphometric and bioacoustic analysis . Distribution range Introduction The Eurasian water frog species (genus: Pelophylax Fitzinger, 1843) and their geographic ranges have undergone considerable changes in the last four decades (Pesarakloo et al. 2016). Though the reassessment of water frog taxonomy was initiated by Berger (1966), but Sinsch and Schneider (1999) roles are outstanding in our understanding. Much have been done on taxonomic relation- ships of water frogs ( Pelophylax) in Europe, Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Bülbül et al. 2011; Domeneghetti et al. 2013; Plötner et al. 2010, 2012, 2015), but until recently all the Iranian populations of water frogs, despite their vast distribution range, have been attributed to a single species: Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771). In order to understand the phylogenet- ic relationships and taxonomic status of water frogs of Iran, Pesarakloo et al. (2016) based on molecular data proposed that, haplotypes that are found in northwestern, western and south- western populations form a monophyletic group with P. bedriagae from Turkey (same populations as those reported on in this paper). Sinsch and Schneider (1999) based on morphometric analyses reported, all populations in Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel ( P. esculenta var. bedriagae (Camerano, 1882) and P. levantina (Schneider and Sinsch, 1992)) represent the same species, P. bedriagae, but Jdeidi et al. (2001) and Bülbül and Kutrup (2011) insisted that P. caralitana is specifically distinct from P. bedriagae. Morphological studies are always accompanied by corresponding differentiation of other character complexes such as advertisement calls (e.g Schneider et al. 1993 who studied P. kurtmuelleri (Gayda, 1940) and P. bedriagae). In the present study, numerous water frog specimens collected from 12 locali- ties in western, northwestern and southwestern Iran were exam- ined with regard to their morphometric characteristics and bio- acoustic analyses, with the aim to clarify the taxonomic position of the water frogs occurring in western Iran. * Alireza Pesarakloo A.pesarakloo@gmail.com 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Arak University, Arak 3815688349, Iran 2 Iranian Plateau Herpetology Research Group (IPHRG), Razi University, Kermanshah 6714967346, Iran 3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran Biologia https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-018-0077-7