Pseudocyclophis persicus

Rajabizadeh, Mahdi, Nagy, Zoltán T., Adriaens, Dominique, Avci, Aziz, Masroor, Rafaqat, Schmidtler, Josef, Nazarov, Roman, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza & Christiaens, Joachim, 2016, Alpine-Himalayan orogeny drove correlated morphological, molecular, and ecological diversification in the Persian dwarf snake (Squamata: Serpentes: Eirenis persicus), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 176, pp. 878-913 : 902-903

PSEUDOCYCLOPHIS PERSICUS DOTSENKO, 1986A, B

Holotype

The holotype deposited originally in the ‘Caucasian Museum Tiblissi’ in Georgia ( Mahlow et al., 2013).

Terra typica

‘ Neu-Serachs an der Nordostspitze Persiens stück’ [Sarakhs city (36°32′15″N, 61°10′26″E), north-eastern Iran (locality indicated by squire 2 in Fig. 2 )] .

Description

N = 7; 3♂, 4♀. 214–224 (x = 217.6) ventrals in ♂ and 223–233 (x = 226.2) in ♀; 90–104 (x = 95.6) subcaudals in ♂ and 80–83 (x = 812) in ♀; ratio of tail length over total length 25.00–28.18 (x = 26.16) in ♂ and 18.72– 22.81 (x = 20.73) in ♀; 15/15/15 (only in ICSTZM7 H1135, 15/15/13) dorsal scale rows on the anterior, mid, and posterior dorsal body; seven supralabials and eight infralabials on both sides of the head (only in ICSTZM7 H1084, seven/eight infralabials); posteri- or chin shields attached or separated by a single scale; mostly (71%) without loreal scale; ten to 11 scales between the last infralabials (only in ZMMUR-4034, 12 scales), 11–12 scales behind the parietals .

Dorsal background colour light brown, pale olive, buff, brownish, or light brownish grey; in some specimens body without dorsal pattern but the bases of the anterior dorsal scales are darker than the rest of scales; in the others there are a few dark spots on the anterior dorsum or the dorsal pattern includes dark dorsal crossbars, interrupted on the dorsal midline but becoming wider and tending to fade out toward the posterior dorsal body ( Fig. 1B ). In Turkmenistan, specimens with a dorsal pattern are usually female and patternless specimens are usuallly male (Dotsenko, 1986a, b in Szczerbak, 2003). Dorsal and lateral head and nape uniformly blackish, greyish, or slightly darker than body; blackish or dark blotches on the infralabials anterior to the eye; the rest of the infralabials, the lower margin of supralabials, and the ventral surface of the head and the body are uniformly cream.

Distribution

The species is distributed not continuously but across two ranges. One of these ranges covers southern Turkmenistan, north-eastern Iran, and supposedly western Afghanistan. The other range encompasses southeastern Iran, and southern and western Pakistan (localities indicated by squires 1 to 17 in Fig. 2 ).

Figures

Figure 1. Different morphs of the Eirenis persicus species group: A, persicus morph from Dasht-e Arjan, Fars province, south-western Iran (photo by F. Hidary); B, walteri morph from Dehbakri, Kerman province, south-eastern Iran (photo by R. Nazarov); C, new morph from Sisakht, Yasuj province, central Zagros mountains, Iran (photo by H. Esmaeili); D, persicus morph from Kafir Kot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan (photo by R. Masroor); E, nigrofasciatus morph from Dezful, Khuzestan province, south-western Iran (photo by F. Hidary).

Figure 2. All available distribution records of the Eirenis persicus species group. Circles indicate the E. persicus specimens, with the persicus morph bearing unicoloured dorsal scales; squires indicate specimens from eastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, and southern and western Pakistan, having both persicus morph that base of their anterior dorsal scales are darker, and walteri morph; stars indicate specimens referred to Eirenis mcmahoni (Wall, 1911); plus symbols indicate specimens in north-eastern Pakistan, having both persicus morphs that base of their anterior dorsal scales are darker, and with walteri morph; asterisks indicate specimens with the novum pattern; triangles indicate specimens of the nigrofasciatus morph. Circle 29 indicates the type locality of Cyclophis persicus Anderson, 1872; squire 2 indicates the type locality of Pseudocyclophis walteri Boettger, 1888; squire 7 indicates the type locality of Contia zebrina Wall, 1923; triangle 6 indicates the type locality of Contia persica var. nigrofasciata Nikolsky, 1907; star 3 indicates the type locality of Contia angusticeps Boulenger, 1894; plus symbols 2–5 indicate the type series localities of Contia mcmahoni Wall, 1911. For more details, see Appendix 1.