We described the genetic variation of cytochrome b gene sequences of blind mole rats in Turkey. We examined 47 individuals belonging to nine cytotypes of three superspecies Nannospalax leucodon, N. xanthodon and N. ehrenbergi in the 402bp gene sequence of cytochrome b. Phylogenetic analyses showed that relationships between cytotypes were well supported, but deeper divergence between species showed insignificant relationships. Cytotypes of N. xanthodon with low diploid number of chromosomes from western Turkey formed a monophyletic group distinct from the populations with higher number of chromosomes (2n = 56-60). The monophyly of N. xanthodon was supported with respect to N. leucodon (2n = 56) in the Bayesian and maximum likelihood phylogenies. The divergence between two analyzed cytotypes of N. ehrenbergi (2n = 52, 2n = 56) was 9.4 %, and the Kilis cytotype (2n = 52) appeared as the basal branch of the whole analysed dataset. N. ehrenbergi cytotypes were paraphyletic and they formed unsupported relationships with previously described N. galili (2n = 52), N. golani (2n = 54), N. carmeli (2n = 58) and N. judaei (2n = 60) from Israel. The results of this study showed that the Nannospalax species complex most likely represents more species than currently recognized, especially in N. xanthodon. We suggest that cytotypes of N. xanthodon and N. ehrenbergi from Turkey should be investigated in detail as possible candidates for being separate species.
The karyotypes of 73 specimens of subterranean mole rats of the superspecies Spalax leucodon Nordmann, 1840 from 21 localities, and six specimens of the superspecies Spalax ehrenbergi Nehring, 1898 from three localities in Turkey were analysed. S. leucodon has 2n = 56, NF = 78 in the populations from Thrace; and 2n = 48, NF = 71; 2n = 50, NF = 70; 2n = 50, NF = 72; 2n = 54, NF = 75; 2n = 56, NF = 72; 2n = 58, NF = 72; 2n = 60, NF = 74; 2n = 60, NF = 76; 2n =60, NF = 77 in the populations from Anatolia. S. ehrenbergi has 2n = 56, NF = 72 in the Adana population, and 2n =52, NF = 74 in the Elbeyli population. According to these karyological findings based on chromosome morphology, the diploid chromosome number of 2n = 48, NF = 71 reported here is new for Spalax leucodon in Turkey. The karyological peculiarities and distributional area of mole rats in the European part of Turkey have been determined in detail, and shown that only the 2n = 56 form is distributed in Thrace.
Blind mole rats are model organisms for studies of chromosomal evolution, and have a variety of chromosomal forms in Turkey. This study was performed on subterranean mole rats of Nannospalax xanthodon (Satunin, 1898) and N. ehrenbergi (Nehring, 1898) in Turkey. Karyotypes of 63 specimens originating from 30 localities were analysed. Two new cytotypes with 2n = 54 from Adana and 2n = 56 from Karaman, two different populations of the cytotypes 2n = 54C and 2n = 58S, and four different chromosomal arm numbers of the 2n = 60 cytotype (NF = 74, 76, 78 and 80) were determined in N. xanthodon. The cytotypes characterized by 2n = 54,
NF = 74 from Tufanbeyli and Saimbeyli in the Adana province (54S), and by 2n = 56, NF = 70 from Karaman (56K) are new for N. xanthodon in Turkey. A population of N. ehrenbergi from the Osmaniye province in southern Anatolia had a complement with 2n = 56, NF = 70. Additional karyological records for other cytotypes have extended their known distribution areas, and filled most karyological gaps in Turkey.