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{
    "pk": 50695,
    "title": "Genetic confirmation of the <em>Indotyphlops braminus</em> complex (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) in Afghanistan, with a global “out-of-India” perspective on its introductions",
    "subtitle": null,
    "abstract": "<p>The Brahminy blindsnake, <em>Indotyphlops braminus</em> (Daudin, 1803) complex, is a small, parthenogenetic typhlopid widely distributed across tropical and subtropical Asia and represented by numerous introduced populations worldwide. Although reported from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, its occurrence in Afghanistan has remained unverified. During field surveys in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, we collected a specimen morphologically consistent with <em>I. braminus</em> complex and generated mitochondrial DNA sequences (16S, COI, cytochrome b). Phylogenetic analyses, incorporating newly sequenced material from Pakistan, revealed that the Afghan and Pakistani samples form a distinct, well-supported clade within the <em>I. braminus</em> complex that is also known from southern India (<em>I. </em>cf.<em> braminus</em> II), and is genetically distinct from both I. braminus sensu stricto and the globally widespread introduced clade <em>I. </em>cf.<em> braminus</em> I. This constitutes the first genetically and morphologically confirmed record of <em>Indotyphlops</em> Hedges et al., 2014 from Afghanistan and the first published genetic data for the genus from Pakistan. Our findings extend the documented northwestern range limit of the <em>I. braminus</em> complex on the Indian subcontinent, with its occurrence in Afghanistan apparently associated with low-elevation subtropical river corridors and limited northwards by the high-elevation and arid landscapes of the Hindu Kush region. In addition, our global synthesis of genotyped records provides an “out-of-India” perspective on the worldwide introductions within the complex.</p>",
    "language": "eng",
    "license": {
        "name": "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0",
        "short_name": "CC BY 4.0",
        "text": "Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\n\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.",
        "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"
    },
    "keywords": [
        {
            "word": "fossorial reptiles"
        },
        {
            "word": "introductions"
        },
        {
            "word": "phylogeography"
        },
        {
            "word": "south Asia"
        },
        {
            "word": "taxonomy."
        },
        {
            "word": "taxonomy"
        }
    ],
    "section": "Articles",
    "is_remote": true,
    "remote_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/88j0q9m6",
    "frozenauthors": [
        {
            "first_name": "Daniel",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Jablonski",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Department of Zoology, Comenius University in Bratislava",
            "department": ""
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Arifulah",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Zia",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Nangarhar University",
            "department": "Department of Biology"
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Mohammad",
            "middle_name": "Arif",
            "last_name": "Irfan",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Kabul University",
            "department": "Department of Zoology"
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Abdul",
            "middle_name": "Rahman",
            "last_name": "Osmani",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Kabul University",
            "department": "Department of Zoology"
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Sahil",
            "middle_name": "Naveed",
            "last_name": "Stanikzai",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Kabul University",
            "department": "Department of Zoology"
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Abdul",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Basit",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "",
            "department": ""
        },
        {
            "first_name": "Rafaqat",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Masroor",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "Pakistan museum of Natural History",
            "department": "Department of Zoology"
        }
    ],
    "date_submitted": "2025-08-18T20:08:31.177000Z",
    "date_accepted": "2026-01-14T08:54:45.184000Z",
    "date_published": "2026-01-27T13:00:00Z",
    "render_galley": null,
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            "type": "pdf",
            "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/biogeographia/article/50695/galley/48057/download/"
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    ]
}