COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION George E. Lindsay, Chairman Edward L. Kessel, Editor OCCASIONAL PAPERS OF THE California Academy of Sciences No. 96, 7 paqes^ 4 figures. DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF TROPIOCOLOTES (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) WITH A REVISED KEY TO THE GENUS By Alan E. Leviton and Steven C. Anderson SAN FRANC I PUBLISHED BY THE ACADEMY July 27, 1972 OCCASIONAL PAPERS OF THE California Academy of Sciences No. 96, 7 pages, 4 figures. DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF TROPIOCOLOTES (Rcptilia: Gekkonidae) WITH A REVISED KEY TO THE GENUS By Alan E. Leviton California Academy of Sciences San Francisco, California 94118 and Steven C. Anderson Callison College Stockton, California 95204 Through the kindness of Dr. Mahmoud Latifi of the Razi Institute, Tehran, we received recently a collection of Iranian lizards among which was a single specimen from Kirraan referable to the genus Tropiocolotes . Unlike most members of that genus, which was reviewed in 1970 by Minton, Anderson, and Anderson, this specimen lacks en- larged postmental shields, thus being most similar to Tropiocolotes depressus from Pakistan. The Iranian speci- men differs from T_. depressus, however, in having enlarged internasal shields and thus approaches T_. helenae, which has enlarged internasals too. The latter also has large postmentals, as do all other members of the genus, which differ in so many other characters as well that none may considered closely related to the specimen at hand. We are, therefore, led to the obvious conclusion that our specimen was drawn from a hitherto unrecognized population of Tropiocolotes that occurs in central Iran. And, al- though we have only one specimen, we believe it to be too distinct to be an aberrant individual of an already known species. Therefore, we take pleasure in naming our new find after Dr. Latifi who so kindly sent us his material for study. CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Occ. Papers t « 1 FIGURE 1. Tropiocolotes latif i Leviton and Anderson Dorsal view of holotype. PR ■:''p;>»*'v '*'■**' ■ -w *" ttJUl ■*»«>« FIGURE 2. Tropiocolotes latifi Leviton and Anderson Ventral view of holotype. No. 96] LEVITON AND ANDERSON: NEW TRQPIOCQLQTES Tropiocolotes latif i Leviton and Anderson, new species. (Figures 1-4. ) HOLOTYPE. CAS 134365, juvenile (? female), from Kirman, Kirman Province, Iran, collected in 1965. DIAGNOSIS. Body scales smooth, swollen, subimbricate ; internasals enlarged, in contact, followed by an additional pair of enlarged shields that are twice as large as suc- ceeding scales; no postmentals, mental rounded behind and bordered by eight granules; six supralabials ; five infra- labials; subdigital lamellae smooth, 14 under fourth toe; about 75 dorsal scales counted from axilla to groin; nos- tril surrounded by four scales (rostral, first upper la- bial, internasal, and a smaller nasal; an additional nasal is just excluded from the border). COLOR PATTERN. Dorsum sandy [in preservative, 75% ethanol], each dorsal scale with a fine reticulum of black when viewed through a microscope; a middorsal dark spot between forelimbs, two laterodorsal spots just anterior to hindlimbs, and a dark crossbar above and between hindlimbs also present; eight dark crossbars on tail, narrovjer than interspaces, not extending across underside; granules en- circling eye dark; a dark line extends from posterior mar- gin of eye, across temporal region and above axilla, to a short distance onto side of body; no dark line on snout, which is slightly darker than upper surface of head; ven- ter cream, the scales lacking all indications of dark pig- mentation. MEASUREMENTS. Snout-vent, 17 mm., tail, 16 mm. DISTRIBUTION. Known only from the type locality in the southern Zagros mountains bordering the great interior desert basin. Kirman lies at 1710 meters elevation. REMARKS . Beyond the obvious fact that Tropiocolotes latif i shares the greatest number of similarities with T_. helenae and belongs to the "helenae" species complex, which includes _T. depressus , T_. helenae, and _T. persicus , we can contribute nothing new at this time to an understanding of relationships within the genus to extend those specula- tions advanced by Minton, Anderson, and Anderson (1970). The four species assigned to this species group occur in southwestern Asia, ranging from the western Zagros moun- tains to Baluchistan and as far east as Nabisar, in the Thar Desert of Pakistan. REVISED KEY TO THE SPECIES OF TROPIOCOLOTES (Modified from Minton, Anderson, and Anderson, 1970) la. Dorsal scales smooth or faintly keeled, ventral scales smooth 2 lb. Dorsal and ventral scales strongly keeled 9 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Occ. Papers FIGURE 3. Tropiocolotes latifi Leviton and Anderson, Dorsal view of scales of snout of holotype. Vertical line represents 1 mm. T FIGURE 4. Tropiocolotes latifi Leviton and Anderson. Vertical line Ventral view of scales of chin of holotype represents 1 mm. No. 96] LEVITON AND ANDERSON: NEW TROPIOCOLQTES 2a. Scales along dorsal midline from axilla to groin 50 or less; four scales border nostril; sub- digital lamellae distinctly tricarinate 3 2b. Scales along dorsal midline from axilla to groin 60 or more; four or five scales border nostril; subdigital lamellae smooth or very indistinctly tricarinate 4 3a. Adpressed hindlimb reaches elbow or nearly to ax- illa. Range: Israel west through Egypt and Sudan to Algerian Sahara T_. steudneri Peters 3b. Adpressed hindlimb reaches beyond shoulder. Range: eastern Sinai Peninsula, possibly west into Libya T_. nattereri Steindachner 4a. Internasals not differentiated from adjacent scales; four scales border nostril; postmental shields absent, or one small pair not in contact with one another; males with two preanal pores. Range: Pakistan [Baluchistan mountains near Quetta] T_. depressus Minton and Anderson 4b. Internasals large, followed by a second pair of en- larged shields; four or five scales border nos- tril; postmental shields present or absent 5 5a. Postmental shields absent; four scales border nos- tril. Range: known only from the type locality, Kirman, in the southern Zagros mountains of Iran T_. latif i Leviton and Anderson 5b. Postmental shields present; five scales border nostril; males lack preanal pores 6 6a. A single pair of postmentals, not in contact with one another; dark crossbars of body indistinct or absent, sometimes two dorsolateral series of white spots present. Range: Iran [western foot- hills of Zagros mountains]... T_. helenae (Nikolsky) 6b. Two pairs of postmental shields; dark crossbars on tail distinct 7 7a. Dark dorsal crossbars on body and tail broader than interspaces. Range: Iran [western foot hills of Zagros mountains] T_. persicus bakhtiari Minton, Anderson, and Anderson 7b. Dark dorsal crossbars of body and tail narrower than interspaces 8 8a. Dark crossbars less than half the width of inter- spaces; 82 scales along dorsal midline from ax- illa to groin. Range: Iranian-Pakistan border T_. persicus persicus (Nikolsky) CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Occ. Papers 8b. Dark crossbars as wide as or slightly narrower than interspaces; 52-76 scales along dorsal midline from axilla to groin. Range: Paki- stan [coastal plain from Bela to Haleji near Tatta, upper Hab River Valley, and Nabisar in the Thar Desert east of the Indus] _T. persicus euphorbiacola Minton, Anderson, Anderson 9a. Dorsal scales strongly heterogeneous. Range: Iraq [known only from the type locality at Saladehin] , .... _T. heteropholis Minton, Anderson, and Anderson 9b. Dorsal scales homogeneous 10 10a. Postmental shields not in contact with one an- other; 50-52 midbody scale rows. Range: Arabia [Hadramaut ] . . T_. scortecci Cherchi and Spano lOb. Postmental shields in contact with one another.... 11 11a. Less than 50 midbody scale rows 12 lib. Midbody scale rows 46-54 (mean = 52). Range: Mali T_. tripolitanus apoklomax Papenfuss 12a. A pair of very large postmental shields in con- tact with one another, followed by smaller pair.. 13 12b. A pair of large postmental shields in contact with one another, but no distinguishable second pair 14 13a. Anterior postmental shields extending backward to form a long suture with lower labial thus excluding posterior postmentals from contact with first lower labial; midbody scale rows 42-48. Range: Egypt west through Libya and Tunisia T_. tripolitanus tripolitanus Peters 13b. Anterior postmental shields usually not extend- ing backward as far as second lower labial so that posterior postmental shields are in con- tact with first lower labial; midbody scale rows 35-41. Range: Somalia c T_. tripolitanus somalicus Parker 14a. Postmental shields extending backward to form a short suture with second lower labial; supra- orbital scales imbricate, smaller than inter- orbitals; midbody scale rows 44-46. Range: Algerian Sahara. T_. tripolitanus alqericus Loveridge 14b. Postmental shields failing to reach second labial; supraorbital scales imbricate, larger than interorbitals ; midbody scale rows 40-41. Range: Spanish Sahara T_. tripolitanus occidentalis Parker No. 96] LEVITON AND ANDERSON: NEW TROPIOCOLOTES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In addition to Dr. Mahmoud Latifi, to whom the authors are first and foremost indebted, they also wish t express their appreciation to Miss Linette Sabre who ex- ecuted the excellent line drawings of the snout and chin of the holotype of Tropiocolotes latifi . o LITERATURE CITED MINTON, SHERMAN A., STEVEN C. ANDERSON, and JEROMIE A. ANDERSON 1970. Remarks on some geckos from Southwest Asia, with descriptions of three new forms and a key to the genus Tropiocolotes . Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, ser. 4, vol. 37, pp. 333—352. COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION George E. Lindsay, Chairman Edward L. Kessel, Editor