Annotated checklist and distribution of the lizards of Iran

Abstract

We present a comprehensive summary of the distribution of the lizards of Iran accompanied by an annotated checklist. The updated maps of distribution of all 146 species of 41 genera of 11 families are based on all available bibliographic records, catalogues of museum collections and our own field observations. The final dataset used for the distribution maps contains 8525 georeferenced records and cover 41% of the country when plotted on a grid of 0.25° × 0.25° resolution. The dataset is publicly accessible through GBIF portal (http://www.gbif.org/dataset/7db4f705-61ae-4c6e-9de2-06674e7d46b2). Following the latest biogeographic division of the country, ~53% of the species (76 species) inhabit the Iranian Province, ~41% (60 species) the Western Asian mountain transition zone, ~9% (13 species) the Turanian Province, and ~18% (27 species) the Arabian Province. In addition, ~2% (3 species) reach Iran from the Indo-Malay biogeographic region and ~2% (3 species) are believed to have been introduced to Iran by humans. Endemic species (46) represent ~32% of the known species diversity. The most species-rich family of lizards in Iran is Lacertidae with 47 species, followed by Gekkonidae (41), Agamidae (18), Scincidae (15), Phyllodactylidae (10), Sphaerodactylidae (4), Eublepharidae and Uromastycidae (3), Anguidae and Varanidae (2), and Trogonophidae with one representative.

A new species of the genus Eremias Fitzinger, 1834 (Squamata: Lacertidae) from Central Iran, supported by mtDNA sequences and morphology

“…Eremias isfahanica sp. nov. has a limited distribution range similar to other species from the E. montana complex (Smid et al, 2014). To date, it is known only from the type locality.…”

“…Eremias velox and E. persica have a wide range distribution on the Iranian Plateau, whereas other species such as E. lalezharica, E. montana, E. papenfussi, E. suphani, E. strauchi and E. kopetdaghica have limited ranges (especially the recently described species E. papenfussi and E. montana;Rastegar-Pouyani et al, 2010;Mozaffari et al, 2011;Rastegar-Pouyani et al, 2012;Smid et al, 2014). Eremias isfahanica sp.…”

“…The Iranian Plateau is a region composed of a high number of endemic taxa (Smid et al, 2014) Environmental changes in this region, such as the climate oscillations during the Miocene to Pleistocene, the tectonic collusion between the Eurasian-Arabian plates and uplift of mountain ridges, as well as a series of local faults, have had a key role in the habitat fragmentation of several taxa in the region (e. g., Macey et al, 1998g., Macey et al, , 2000Veith et al, 2003;Ahmadzadeh et al, 2013). It may be hypothesized that these environmental events have promoted vicariance and may have facilitated speciation within the genus Eremias on the Iranian Plateau, as was suggested for other species within the genus in central and eastern Asia (Gue et al, 2011).…”

Systematics of the Saharo‐Arabian clade of the Palearctic naked‐toed geckos with the description of a new species ofTropiocolotesendemic to Oman

“…These mainly nocturnal geckos are characterized by their shared lack of adhesive subdigital pads and distributed from Mauritania across North Africa, Arabia, southwestern and central Asia to northern India, western China, and southern Mongolia (see Bauer et al., and references therein). The group includes a radiation of about 90 arid‐adapted species that have been able to colonize and thrive in some of the most inhospitable arid environments of the planet, which contrasts with their fragile appearance (Anderson, ; Baha El Din, ; Gardner, ; Metallinou, Vasconcelos, Šmíd, Sindaco, & Carranza, ; Metallinou et al., ; Schleich, Kastle, & Kabisch, ; Sindaco & Jeremčenko, ; Šmíd et al., ). Their diversity in arid regions has probably been facilitated by their nocturnal behavior (Gamble et al., ; Vidan et al., ).…”

Verification of the Minor Snake-eyed Skink,Ablepharus grayanus(Stoliczka, 1872) (Sauria: Scincidae), from Iran

“…The genus Ablepharus Fitzinger, 1823 encompasses 10 valid species, which are distributed in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe (Fühn, 1969b;Šmíd et al, 2014). Ablepharus grayanus was first described as Blepharosteres grayanus from Waggur District, northeast Kutch, India (Stoliczka, 1872).…”