Alpine–Himalayan orogeny drove correlated morphological, molecular, and ecological diversification in the Persian dwarf snake (Squamata: Serpentes: Eirenis persicus) MAHDI RAJABIZADEH 1 *, ZOLTÁN T. NAGY 2 , DOMINIQUE ADRIAENS 3 , AZIZ AVCI 4 , RAFAQAT MASROOR 5 , JOSEF SCHMIDTLER 6 , ROMAN NAZAROV 7 , HAMID REZA ESMAEILI 8 and JOACHIM CHRISTIAENS 3 1 Department of Biodiversity, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman 7631133131, Iran 2 Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Taxonomy and Phylogeny Rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium 3 Ghent University, Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000, Gent, Belgium 4 Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of Biology, Aydın 09010, Turkey 5 Department of Zoology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan 6 Oberföhringer Straße 35, 81925 München, Germany 7 Zoological Museum, Moscow State University, B. Nikitskaya ul. 6, Moscow, 125009, Russia 8 Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71454, Iran Received 5 February 2015; revised 16 August 2015; accepted for publication 19 August 2015 The Persian dwarf snake Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) persicus (Anderson, 1872) has a wide distribution range in south-western Asia. This species group was comprehensively studied here using traditional biometry, geometric morphometrics, ecological niche modelling, and genetics. Our analyses revealed that E. persicus is split into two clades. A western clade, bearing at least two different species: E. persicus, distributed in south-western Iran, and an undescribed species from south-eastern Turkey and western Iran. The eastern clade consists of at least three species: Eirenis nigrofasciatus, distributed across north-eastern Iraq, and western and southern Iran; Eirenis walteri, distributed across eastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, and western and southern Pakistan, and Eirenis angusticeps, distributed in north-eastern Pakistan. Ecological niche modelling revealed that the distribution of the species in the western clade are mainly affected by winter precipitation, and those in the eastern clade are mainly affected by the minimum temperature of the coldest month. A molecular clock analysis revealed that the divergence and diversification of the E. persicus species group mainly correspond to Eocene to Pliocene orogeny events subse- quent to the Arabia–Eurasia collision. This study confirms that specimens with the unique morphology of having 13 dorsal scale rows on the anterior dorsum, occurring in the Suleiman Mountains in central Pakistan, can be referred to Eirenis mcmahoni (Wall, 1911). However, at this moment we have insufficient data to evaluate the taxonomy of this species. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 201 doi: 10.1111/zoj.12342 ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: cytochrome b – niche modelling – geometric morphometrics – nigrofasciatus – phylogeny – Pseudocyclophis – taxonomy – walteri. *Corresponding author. E-mail: khosro.rajabizadeh@gmail.com [Version of Record, published online 20 November 2015] [http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:591555C6-EF37-495B-A1AD-0C25BDDF15A7] 878 © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2016, 176, 878–913 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2016, 176, 878–913. With 14 figures 6 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/176/4/878/2449882 by guest on 20 June 2020