OCCASIONAL PAPERS

OF THE

California Academy of Sciences

No. 53, 5 pages, 2 figures. January 20, 1966

A NEW SPECIES OF EUBLEPHARIS

FROM SOUTHWESTERN IRAN

(REPTILIA: GEKKONIDAE)

By

Steven C. Anderson
and
Alan E. Leviton

California Academy of Sciences

NSarine Biological Laboratory

LIBRARY

\ May 9 1956

WOODS HOLE, MASS.

SAN FRANCISCO

PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY
1966

OCCASIONAL PAPERS

OF THE

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

No. 53, 5 pages, 2 figures. January 20, 1966

A NEW SPECIES OF EUBLEPHARIS

FROM SOUTHWESTERN IRAN

(REPTILIA: GEKKONIDAE)

By

Steven C. Anderson
and
Alan E. Leviton

California Academy of Sciences

In a paper now in preparation the authors will present a detailed evalu-
ation of the populations of the gekkonid genus Eublepharis. Suffice to say at
this time, the sample of animals obtained by the senior author in Iran several
years ago evidently belongs to a species quite distinct from those previously
recognized and known to inhabit Pakistan and Afghanistan. We believe it ap-
propriate to refer this recently discovered southwestern Iranian population of
Eublepharis to a new taxon, Eublepharis angramainyu Anderson and Leviton,
new species. ^

Eublepharis macularius (nee Blyth, 1854), BOULENGER, 1895, Cat. Liz. British Mus.,
vol. 1, p. 97 (part). WERNER, 1917, Verb. k. k. Zool.-Bot. Gesell. Wien, p. 197;
1936, Festschrift Strand, vol. 2, p. 200. ANDERSON, 1963, Proc. Calif. Acad.
Sci., ser. 4, vol. 31, pp. 435-437, 474, fig. 8.

HOLOTYPE. CAS 86384, adult male, collected along the old road between
Masjid-i-Suleiman and Batwand, Khuzistan Province, Iran, by Steven C. An-
derson on May 20, 1958.

1 The trivial name is derived from "Angra Mainyu," the Zoroastrian "Spirit of Dark-
ness," in reference to the nocturnal habits of these animals.

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

(Occ. Papers

Paratypes (13). (All from Khuzistan Province, Iran) CAS 86337, male:
same data as holotype. Males: CAS 86333 [April 15, 1958] , 86362 [April 19,
1958], 86381 [April 28, 1958], 86396 [May 22, 1958], 86398 lay 22, 1958], and
86416 [May 26, 1958] taken between Masjid-i-Suleiman and Naftak. Females:
CAS 86382 [May 13, 1958] collected along the road between Masjid-i-Sueliman
and Sar-i-Gach; CAS 86361 [April 19, 1958], 86366 [April 19, 195^], 86385 lay
21, 1958], and 86397 [May 22, 1958] taken between Masjid-i-Suleiman and Naf-
tak. Juvenile: CAS 86383 [May 13, 1958] collected between Masjid-i-Suleiman
and Naftak.

Diagnosis. Mid-dorsal tubercles not as large as intertubercular spaces;
subdigital lamellae smooth, without tubercles; some elements of dark color
pattern of head and body linearly arranged; females with discernable preanal
pores.

Description of holotype. Head depressed, massive in postorbital re-
gion owing to powerful jaw musculature, nearly cordiform; body and tail some-
what depressed. Rostral hexagonal, VA times broader than high, a median
cleft in the upper 1/3; nostral pierced entirely within a diagonally elongate
nasal shield; supernasals separated by a single, subpentagonal internasal
which is nearly twice as broad as long; nasal bordered by the rostral, supra-
nasal, first supralabial, and 5-7 slightly enlarged scales; scales of snout en-
larged, convex, some of them subconical; head covered above by unequal,
small convex, polygonal, juxtaposed scales, and numerous enlarged subconi-
cal tubercles, becoming larger on posterior region of head; ten supralabials,
the first highest, tenth smallest; ear opening large, 2^2 times higher than long,
as large as eye opening; eyelids well developed, margins of lids with a row
of enlarged tubercular scales; mental pentagonal, followed by four rows of ir-

<f^^fi

■/

Figure 1. Dorsal view of holotype (CAS 86384) of Eublepharis angamainyu.

No. 53) ANDERSON & LEVITON: NEW SPECIES OF EUBLEPHARIS 3

regularly enlarged scales; ten infralabials; gularsoval to subcircular, convex,
much larger than dorsal head scales.

Body covered above by small, juxtaposed, subequal, polygonal, flat
scales and large subconical tubercles, arranged in irregular longitudinal and
diagonal rows; the apex of the tubercles on the anterior portion of the body is
centrally positioned, but it is positioned closer to the posterior margins of
those tubercles on the posterior portion of the body; along the midline of the
back the tubercles are generally smaller than the interspaces, but become lar-
ger, more rounded, and more closely spaced on the flanks; ventral scales smooth,
slightly swollen, juxtaposed, hexagonal and about V/j times broader than long
medially, in 24 longitudinal rows across the middle of the belly.

There are thirteen preanal pores, each pore positioned on the posterior
third of the elongate, hexagonal scale bearing it. A deep axillary pit, about V2
the diameter of the eye is present.

0^

,ii«l^

J^^- ^''"^

-^^m

Figure 2- (Left) Ventral view of toes of Eublepharis angamainyu shovtin^ smooth
subdigital lamellae; and (right) E- macularius with tuberculate lamellae.

Dorsal surfaces of limbs with enlarged, subconical tubercles. Subdigi-
tal lamellae and scales of palmar and plantar surfaces without tubercles. Twen-
ty-four smooth lamellae under fourth toe. Claw between an enlarged dorsal
and two enlarged lateral scales and the apical lamella.

Tail thick, somewhat constricted at the base, tapering, covered above
by. transverse rows of small subquadrangular, juxtaposed scales, and trans-
versely arranged, flattened, weakly keeled tubercles, ten in each transverse
row across the thickest portion; below with irregular, unequal quadrangular
and hexagonal smooth scales, broader than long, three transverse rows to each
segment. Two postanal sacs at the base of the tail.

4 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (Occ. Papers

Color (preservation in alcohol after initial fixation in formalin): above
a continuous light vertebral stripe, bordered on each side by a broken black
stripe from occiput to base of tail; dark markings not confined primarily to tu-
bercles and immediately surrounding scales but confluent, linearly arranged
either side of vertebral stripe; dorsolateral dark markings also linearly ar-
ranged, confluent with transverse markings; head with a pattern of dark and
light reticulations; no horseshoe-shaped mark, dark or light, on nape; limbs
with numerous dark blotches; tail with numerous irregular dark transverse
markings, wider than the light interspaces; venter light tan.

Measurements (in mm.):

Snout- vent 147 Head length 39

Tail 100 Head width 32

(distal 12 mm. regenerated) Depth of head 21

N'ARIATION. The paratypes agree with the holotype in the characters dis-
cussed above. The females have aJ^aintly discernable series of eleven to
thirteen preanal pores though CAS 86333 has an additional row of four pores
immediately posterior to the row of thirteen.

In the juvenile specimen there are three dark transverse dorsal bars,
the first across the posterior part of the neck and shoulders, the second at
mid-body, the third anterior to the sacral region; the middle bar is the largest,
approximately equal to the lighter interspaces; the lighter interspaces are in-
terspersed with dark tubercles; and the margins of the dark bars are darker
than their central portions.

Summary of measurements of paratypes (in mm.) are as follows:

Males 142-154 mm. Snout-vent 97-100 mm. tail

Females 126-137 mm. Snout-vent 86-90 mm. tail

Juvenile 90 m.m. Snout-vent (regenerated)

Distribution. The new species is known from the western foothills of
the Zagros mountains and the upper reaches of the Mesopotamian Plain in Iran
and Iraq. While Smith (1935), Nikolsky (1915) and others have included Iran
in the range of Kuhlepharis macularius, the only Iranian locality cited in the
literature previous to the collection of the present series of specimens is Kaz-
run, also in the western Zagros foothills at between 2000 and 3000 feet eleva-
tion (Werner, 1917). Boulenger (1885) recorded a specimen from the ruins of
Nineveh, in the upper Mesopotamian Plain (about 1000 feet elevation) in Iraq,
which we assign to E. angramainyu on the basis of its probable similarity to
another Iraqi specimen in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zool-
ogy, Harvard University, which we have seen.

No. 53) ANDERSON & LEVITON: NEW SPECIES OF EUBLEPHARIS 5

Remarks. The natural history of this species and the conditions under
which the available series from Iran was collected has been discussed prev-
iously (Anderson, 1963, pp. 435, 437, fig. 8).

Eublepharis angramainyu is clearly allied to E. macularius agreeing
generally with published descriptions of that species and those of E. fascio-
latus (referred by Smith, 1935, to the synonymy of E. macularius) except for
color pattern. However, £. angramainyu diiiers from specimens of E. macular-
ius (sensu lato, Smith, 1935) we have seen from Afghanistan and Sind in the
non-tuberculate nature of the subdigital lamellae and scales of the palmar and
plantar surfaces, the abdominal scales which are hexagonal and the mental
which is twice as broad as long.

With respect to the status of E. fasciolatus, the type locality of which
is Hyderabad, Sind, West Pakistan, we are not entirely convinced that it is
properly regarded as a synonym of E. macularius. whose type locality is the
Salt Range, Punjab, northwestern India, as proposed by Boulenger (1890) and
Smith (1935). The only immediately apparent difference between the two nom-
inal species is in color pattern, not in scale or digital characteristics; how-
ever, the matter requires further study.

Lastly, in 1890, Boulenger recorded a specimen of E. macularius from
Transcaspia, in the region of the Kopet Dagh. Nikolsky (1915) cited this rec-
ord, which we do not doubt. However, in the light of our findings, reidentifi-
cation of the specimen seems desirable.

LITERATURE CITED

Anderson, Steven C.

1963. Amphibians and reptiles from Iran. Proceedings of the California Acad-
emy of Sciences, ser. 4, vol. 31, PP- 417-498, 15 figs.

BOULENGER, GEORGE A.

1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol-
ume 1. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Aga-
midae. London JTaylor & Francisj, xii + 436 pp., 32 pis.
1890. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and
Batrachia. London ^aylor &, Francis], xviii + 541 pp., 142 text-figs.
Nikolsky, Alexander M.

1915. Faune de la Russie et des pays limitrophes fondee principalement sur
les collections du Musee Zoologique de I'Academie Imperiale des
Sciences de Petrograd. Vol. 1. Chelonia et Sauria. Petrograd, vi +
iii + 532 pp., 69 text-figs., 9 pis. Jn RussianT]
Smith, Malcolm a.

1935- The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and
Amphibia. Vol. II. Sauria. London Jaylor &, Francis], xiii + 440 pp.,
94 text-figs., 2 maps, 1 pi.

Werner, Franz

1917. Reptilien aus Persien (Provinz Fars). Verhandlungen Zoologisch-Bo-
tanische Gesellschaft Wien, vol. 67, pp. 191-200.

MBI. WHOl I.IBKARY

H ITFV J