Hemidactylus persicus, Anderson, 1872

Carranza, Salvador & Arnold, Edwin Nicholas, 2012, 3378, Zootaxa 3378, pp. 1-95 : 24

Hemidactylus persicus and similar species

The type locality of Hemidactylus persicus was restricted to Shiraz, Persia (= Iran) by Smith (1935). Morphologically typical animals occur in Northeast Saudi Arabia (as far South as AI-Hufof and perhaps ar- Riyadh), in Bahrain, Kuwait, and lowland Iraq, Southern Iran, Pakistan and Gujarat ( India) ( Anderson 1999; Leviton et al. 1992; Minton 1966; Sindaco & Jeremcenko 2008; Smith 1935; Vyas et al. 2006). They are characterized by relatively small size (up to 67 mm SVL), a low number of lamellae under the 1 st toe of pes (mean 8.8, 8–9) and relatively numerous preanal pores in males (mean 9.2, 8–11) arranged in a V-shaped line in front of the vent (Appendix I). Other animals that have been assigned to H. persicus occur in isolation in the Jebel Akhdar region of North Oman (Arnold 1977, 1986; Arnold & Gallagher 1977; see Figs. 1 and 2) and have recently been found in the adjoining mountains of the Eastern Hajars as far South as Jebel Qahwan. Morphology (Appendix I; Figs. 9–10, and 12), phylogenetic analysis of Dataset 1 ( Fig. 5) and Dataset 3 (12S only; Appendix III) nuclear networks of three independent loci (c-mos, mc1r and rag2) ( Fig. 6) indicate that there are two new species endemic to the Hajar Mountains in North Oman. These two new species are distinct both from each other and from typical H. persicus , and occur within 10–15 km of each other on the Jebel Akhdar. One is especially large and confined to the Jebel Akhdar area, while the other occurs here and in the Eastern Hajars, populations in the two areas of its distribution exhibiting marked genetic divergence ( Fig. 5B 1 and B 2; Appendix IIIB1 and B2). These species are described below.