Darevskia josefschmidtleri, Arribas & Candan & Kornilios & Ayaz & Kumlutaş & Gül & Yilmaz & Caynak & Ilgaz, 2022

Arribas, Oscar, Candan, Kamil, Kornilios, Panagiotis, Ayaz, Dinçer, Kumlutaş, Yusuf, Gül, Serkan, Yilmaz, Can, Caynak, Elif Yildirim & Ilgaz, Çetin, 2022, Revising the taxonomy of Darevskia valentini (Boettger, 1892) and Darevskia rudis (Bedriaga, 1886) (Squamata, Lacertidae): a Morpho-Phylogenetic integrated study in a complex Anatolian scenario, Zootaxa 5224 (1), pp. 1-68 : 19-23

Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov.

(Appendix 5; Fig. 12e ).

Synonymy/Chresonymy:

Lacerta valentini “Zwischenpopulation ”(intermediate population); Eiselt, Darevsky & Schmidtler, 1992. (from “Çaldıran”- sic.!-)

Darevskia valentini “Clade B”; Candan et al. (2021) (same locality as this study)

ZooBank registration (http://zoobank.org): urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:56CFE08E-164E-485B-8F4C-94EA76293128 .

Holotype: ZDEU220 /2016 (n.2). ♁, Başeğmez Village , Çaldıran, Van, Turkey. leg. Kamil Candan, Nurettin Beşer and Mehmet Kürşat Şahin, 24.06.2016. Conserved in ZDEU collection.

Paratypes: 8 ♁♁, 8 ♀♀, 2 subadult ♀♀. Same locality, date and collectors as holotype. ZDEU221 /2016, 6 ♁♁, 12 ♀♀, 1 juvenile, Çirişli Village , Çat, Erzurum, Turkey. leg. Kamil Candan, Nurettin Beşer, Mehmet Kürşat Şahin, 22.06.2016. ZDEU222 /2016, 5 ♁♁, 8 ♀♀, 1 juvenile, Palandöken Mountain , Erzurum, Turkey. leg. Kamil Candan, Nurettin Beşer, Mehmet Kürşat Şahin, 01.07.2016. ZDEU119 /2015, 1 ♁♁, 3 ♀♀, 2 ♀♀ subadults, Balık Lake , Taşlıçay, Ağrı, Turkey. leg. Kamil Candan, Elif Yıldırım Caynak, 26.07.2015. ZDEU121 /2015, 2 ♁♁, 4 ♀♀, Güzeldere Village , Hınıs, Erzurum, Turkey, leg. Kamil Candan, Elif Yıldırım Caynak, 25.07.2015 .

Derivatio nominis: The specific epithet refers to Josef Friederich Schmidtler (born 1942), for his remarkable work on the knowledge of Turkish herpetofauna and its rich diversity.

Comparative diagnosis (Morphology): Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. is a medium sized species (adults SVL: 53.25–67.95 mm). It is characterized by medium or small-sized scales with feeble keeling (even barely visible). Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. differs from D. valentini in that there is a higher number of lamellae (46–59 vs. 42–53) and dorsals (47–58 vs. 41–52); Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. males have a higher number of preanal than D. valentini (1–3 vs. 1) while females have different collar scores (8–12 vs. 7–10) and gulars (23–31 vs. 21–29). It also differs from D. valentini in having a greater head relative length (0.18–0.23 vs. 0.16.–0.21) for males. Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. differs from D. spitzenbergerae spitzenbergerae s tat. et comb. nov. (see below) in that there is higher number of tibials (16–24 vs. 15–19) and dorsals (48–58 vs. 44–53) for males. Also, it differs from D. spitzenbergerae spitzenbergerae in having a shorter head relative length (0.18–0.23 vs 0.19–0.24). Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. differs from “Clade A” from Candan et al. (2021) (described below as D. spitzenbergerae wernermayeri ssp. nov.) in that there is a lower number of ventrals (26–29 vs. 26–31), temp 2 (2–6 vs. 4–6) in males and preanals (1–3 vs. 2–3) in females. Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. differs from D. valentini in that there is a lower number of maxillary (15–18 vs. 16–20) and dentary teeth (20–22 vs. 18–25). Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. differs from Clade A ( D. spitzenbergerae wernermayeri ssp. nov. see below) in that there is a lower number of maxillary (15–18 vs. 19–21) and dentary teeth (20–22 vs. 23–24).

Diagnosis (Molecular): It can be distinguished from other former D. valentini populations by unique nucleotide combination located on the mitochondrial gene Cyt-b and nuclear loci MC1R. The consensus sequence (Cyt-b) for Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. is found in Appendix 6, together with the respective sequence for the D. valentini s. str. In this Table, the thirty simple nucleotide diagnostic characters between the consensus sequences are highlighted. Similarly, the molecular diagnostic characters for Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. regarding the nuclear loci are shown in Appendix 6.

Description of holotype: An adult male. Tail in regeneration process. Fixed with ethanol and conserved in 96% ethanol.

Scalation: Rostral not in contact with the nostril. Single postnasal on each side. Width of frontonasal (internasal) plate subequal to length, not contact with rostral. Sutures between prefrontal plates and frontal plate straight. Parietal plates in contact with postorbital plates on each side. Supraciliar granules 9 on each side, interrupted series on right, not on left side. Supraciliar plates 6 on each side. Supralabial and sublabial plates 4 and 6 on each side, respectively. Plates in supratemporal region 3 on left, 4 on right. The first supratemporal plate large, narrow towards the back, ends bluntly. Masseteric large, in one piece on each side, separated from the first supratemporal plate by a row of small scales. Tympanic obvious, in two pieces on the left and one piece on right, separated from masseteric by three and two rows of small scales on the left and right, respectively. Eight flat and smooth collaria. Gularia 27. Ventralia contains 6 longitudinal and 28 transverse rows of plates. Preanal scale in two pieces, surrounded by 6 rows of plates. Femoral pores 21 on left, 20 on right side. Subdigital lamellae 27 on left, 26 on right. Tibial scale 19. Dorsalia 53.

Biometry: SVL 64.68 mm., pileus width 6.79 mm, pileus length 13.27 mm, head width 8.13 mm, head length 13.14 mm. Length of forelimb 18.39 mm, length of hindlimb 27.90 mm. Anal plate width 4.69 mm, length 1.71 mm.

Coloration and pattern (in alcohol): The ground color of the dorsum is greenish brown. Dorsal tract with a wide vertebral band composed of fairly irregular transverse spots nost covering almost its complete width. Similar dark spotting is present on each side of the body (temporal or lateral band) that appears reticulated. Between these two dark spots, located both in the middle of the dorsum and flanks, a paler double line extends from the nape to the base of the tail (Appendix 5). There are few pale spots inside the reticulate on dark bands on flanks, with more in the forelimb. A few light bluish spots near the forelimb basis. Belly, along with head and neck, whitish (see photos in Appendix 5), with dark and blue spots in the outermost rows of ventrals. Background color of head plates brownish, with few scattered and small black spots on it.

Variations of paratypes: Descriptive statistics and variation range of the morphometric and scalation characters are given in Table 7. Frontonasal (internasal) rarely is in contact with rostral. Sutures between the prefrontal and frontal are usually slanted. Parietal is rarely in contact with postorbital. Masseteric is sometimes divided into two pieces. Tight scales are feeble-keeled, smaller than dorsal ones. In one specimen, transverse dark spots on ground color combined with spots on each side, do not form two separate rows. In addition, transverse dark spots, longitudinally above ground color, are faint in ten specimens. In four samples, pale spots on the forelimb base were not blue (white). Belly, along with head and neck, yellowish in nine specimens. In fourteen samples, no spotting on head plates.

Distribution: Confirmed localities draw an area around Çaldıran (Van) located in the east of Van Lake, around Balık Lake (Ağrı), Palandöken Mountain and around Çat and Hınıs (Erzurum) which is in the south of this massif, all in Turkey. Probably also in intermediate areas among these localities.

Habitat: Subalpine-like vegetation from Irano-Turanian Region, in rocky and stony areas near 2000 m or higher: 2095 m. (Çaldıran), 2270 m. (Balık Lake), 2429 m. (Palandöken), 1946 m. (Çat), 2643 m. (Hınıs). Darevskia unisexualis was found sympatric in the Palandöken Mountain, while no other reptile species were detected in the same and other localities of the area.

Comments: This new taxon seems to be the parental species that gave origin by hybridization to the parthenogenetic D. unisexualis , D. sapphirina and D. bendimahiensis according to Z-chromosome inheritance ( Yanchukov et al. 2022).

Figures

FIGURE 12. a) Darevskia spitzenbergerae wernermayeri ssp. nov. (Paratype; nº 12, Male; Başeğmez Village, Çaldıran, Turkey); b) Darevskia mirabilis stat. nov. (Paratype; nº 5, Female; Ovit Pass, Kaçkar Mountains, Rize, Turkey); c) Darevskia rudis bolkardaghica (Paratype; nº 1, Male; Karagöl, Ulukışla, Niğde, Central Anatolia, Turkey); d) Darevskia rudis lantzicyreni comb. nov. (nº 23, male; Kümbet Village, Zara, Turkey); e) Darevskia josefschmidtleri sp. nov. (Paratype; nº 20, Male; Yukarınarlıca Village, Çatak, Van, Turkey); f) Darevskia valentini (nº 9, Male; Tepeler Village, Ardahan, Turkey) and temporal area of an Armenian specimen (Karvansaray, Martuni District, Armenia); g) Darevskia spitzenbergerae spitzenbergerae stat. et comb. nov. (nº 1, Male; Cilo Sat Mountains, Hakkari, Turkey)- Also, temporal area of other specimen from the same locality. The new nomenclature proposed in the text is used.