The Iranian edible dormouse or Iranian fat dormouse (''Glis persicus'') is a species of

dormouse A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibe ...

native to

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. It is one of only two species in the genus ''

Glis Glis was an electronic music project founded in 2001 by Shaun Frandsen of Seattle, WA. The band experienced several lineup changes and guest appearances, with frontman Shaun Frandsen acting as primary producer, vocalist, songwriter, and instrume ...

''.

Taxonomy

It was long considered conspecific with the

European edible dormouse The European edible dormouse or European fat dormouse (''Glis glis'') is a large dormouse and one of only two living species in the genus ''Glis'', found in most of Europe and parts of western Asia. Its name comes from the Romans, who ate them as ...

(''G. glis'') until a 2021 phylogenetic study supported it being a distinct species. The

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

has accepted these results. It is thought to have diverged from ''G. glis'' during a fragmentation of the ancestral ''Glis'' population (likely triggered by the

Messinian salinity crisis The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC), also referred to as the Messinian event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event, was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation (dr ...

) during the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

, about 5.74 million years ago. Despite being restricted to a relatively small refugium on the southern coast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

, it managed to persist in this refugium for millions of years, throughout all of the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

. Significant genetic divergence also occurs within this species; populations from eastern Iran and western Iran display a deep divergence of about 1.19 million years ago. This indicates that further splitting is likely within ''G. persicus''.

Distribution

It is restricted to the

Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests The Hyrcanian forests ( fa, جنگل های هیرکانی) are a zone of lush lowland and montane forests covering about adjoining the shores of the Caspian Sea of Iran and part of that of Azerbaijan. The forest is named after the ancient reg ...

ecoregion, which served as a likely refugium for it during the original range fragmentation of ''Glis''. It ranges from southernmost

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

to throughout most of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

coast, and into

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

Description

Most members of this species have a largely black tail, in contrast to the greyish tails of most of ''G. glis'' (aside from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

populations, which also have blackish tails).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108503982 Glis Mammals of Azerbaijan Fauna of Iran Fauna of Turkmenistan Mammals described in 1777 Taxa named by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben