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An annotated check-list of the Odonata of Iran

2002; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09397140.2002.10637929

2326-2680

Hossein Heidari, Henri J. Dumont,

Species Distribution and Climate Change

Abstract A perusal of the literature and study of some additional collections leads to a list of 95 species and subspecies of dragonflies for Iran. We claim that at least another 15 Eurosiberian and Oriental species await discovery. Eurosiberian species dominate in the north-west and along the Caspian coast; as one moves south in western Iran, Middle-East endemics become more prominent, and a limited admixture of Afrotropical species occurs. The central desert axis is a zoogeographical break, in which predominantly Irano-Turanian species are found. East of it, Irano-Turanians mix with Oriental elements. The Oriental element is particularly strong along the Makran coast, where, additionally, a short series of species occurs with a full Oriental-Afrotropical range. The Zagros mountains and their extensions in Sistan-Baluchistan facilitate dragonfly dispersal across an otherwise arid area, but have been insufficiently studied. The same is true of the Kopet Dag, which provides a wedge between the Asian deserts, and acts as a filter for Eurosiberian species to reach the high mountains of Afghanistan and, vice versa, allows Mesasiatic species to spread west. All these conclusions are at a qualitative level: large parts of Iran are still unstudied, and the mapping of the range of individual species remains to be done. Eastwest and north-south clines are common in Calopteryx splendens and other zygopterans, but remain to be worked out in detail.