White-toothed shrews of the genus Crocidura represent the most speciose genus of mammals. Within this genus, Crocidura leucodon comprises four mitochondrial lineages, with the Iranian lineage being the most divergent. In this study, we report the diploid number (2N = 32) and the fundamental numbers of chromosomal arms (FN = 42, FNa = 38) for the Iranian lineage, which is different from those reported for western regions (2N = 28, FN = 56, FNa = 52). The phylogenetic analyses performed on mitochondrial cytochrome b (978 bp) of bicolored shrews confirm the previous studies showing the divergence of the Iranian samples. The Kimura’s two-parameter (K2P) genetic distances between the Iranian clade and the three lineages of western regions, based on the cytb marker, range from 5.8 % to 7.1 %, confirming that the former lineage can be considered as a separate species. The preliminary phylogenetic analysis based on three nuclear markers (ApoB, BRCA1, and vWF) does not contradict the divergence of the Iranian specimens compared to those of western regions. More specimens are needed however for a robust conclusion. Our findings verify the results of the previous studies indicating that the Iranian lineage, previously considered as subspecies C. leucodon persica, should be promoted to the species level.

Keywords