Hemidactylus species

Gholamifard, Ali & Rastegar-Pouyani, Nasrullah, 2011, Distribution of Hemidactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) in Fars Province, Southern Iran, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 5 (1), pp. 1-6 : 4-5

Presumable routes of distribution of Hemidactylus species in Fars Province

Based on the available evidence, H. flaviviridis has been reported only from the northwestern regions of Fars Province ( Gholamifard et al. 2010). In this survey, as mentioned above, it was recorded from a new locality in the southwestern Fars Province. Since these localities are near the borders with Bushehr Province, and as one of the previously recorded localities of this species, probably southern and western parts of Fars Province are within the natural distributional range of this lizard. As another possible mechanism of distribution, H. flaviviridis could have been distributed to Fars Province incidentally via human agency or by destruction and reduction of geographical barriers. The possible mechanisms of distribution, mentioned above, may also be considered for H. tursicus . Probably this species colonized Fars Province or expanded its distributional range from the southern provinces (Bushehr and Hormozgan Provinces). Among the three studied taxa here, H. persicus has the widest range in Fars Province. The type locality of this species is Iran, but no exact locality was given. Terra typica probably is near Bushehr, Bushehr Province ( Leviton et al. 1992; Anderson 1999), and restricted to Shiraz, Fars Province by Smith (1935). With regard to these ambiguities, as one of the possible mechanisms of distribution, H. persicus could have expanded its range into Fars Province from Bushehr Province (southwest) or, alternatively, it originated in Fars Province and expanded its range into neighboring provinces in different directions.

Acknowledgments. ˗˗˗We thank H. R. Esmaeili and E. Faraj Zadeh for their valuable help during field work. We also thank the authorities of Shiraz University for finan- cial support.