Tenuidactylus caspius (Eichwald, 1831)

Jablonski, Daniel, Khalili, Faizurrahman & Masroor, Rafaqat, 2023, The herpetofaunal diversity of Takhar Province, Afghanistan, Herpetozoa 36, pp. 73-90 : 73

Tenuidactylus caspius (Eichwald, 1831)

Figs 6 , 7E

Takhar record.

Bay Yawa, 37.4272°N, 69.7109°E, 725 m a.s.l., 31 January 2021, semi-desert habitat with bushes and burrows, hiding under stone, one subadult individual (CUHC-PA 192).

Distribution in Afghanistan.

It is known from the Provinces of Badakhshan, Badghis, Baghlan, Balkh, Daykundi, Herat, Jowzjan, Kabul, Kunduz ( Wagner et al. 2016; Jablonski et al. 2019) and Takhar, representing 26% of all provinces.

Chorotype.

Turanian.

Remarks.

We report this species for the first time from Takhar Province. The species is distributed mostly in northern provinces. Records from Badakhshan (CAS 115945, FMNH 161130), Daykundi (MZLU L957/3792) and Kabul (FMNH 161063) need further clarification as they represent highly elevated or records out of the main distribution range of the species. On the other hand, we identified that the specimen ZFMK 94240 represents T. caspius that was not mentioned in Wagner et al. (2016). This specimen represents the first record for Kunduz Province (36.6735°N, 68.9034°E, Kunduz army camp; cf. Jablonski et al. (2021e)) and a connection point to record from Takhar Province and possibly to record from Zebak (2653 m a.s.l.), Badakhshan (FMNH 161130, CAS 115945; Anderson and Leviton (1969)).

Figures

Figure 6. Herpetofaunistic records of Anguidae, Gekkonidae, Lacertidae, Scincidae and Varanidae from Takhar Province in the context of updated records from Afghanistan (white dots: published data; red dots: new data).

Figure 7. A. Adult individual of the Trapelus agilis complex from Bay Yawa (Tally Dere) (CUHC-PA 191); B. Adult individual of the T. agilis complex Khilyazi payan (CUHC-PA 210); C. Juvenile individual of Pseudopus apodus from Bay Yawa (CUHC-PA 160); D. Adult male of P. apodus from Bay Yawa (Shamal Dere) (CUHC-PA 161); E. Subadult individual of Tenuidactylus caspius from Bay Yawa (CUHC-PA 192); F. Adult individual of Tenuidactylus turcmenicus from Taleqan (Gulayi Bagh) (CUHC-PA 183); G. Adult individual of T. turcmenicus from Bay Yawa (Qizilqiya) (CUHC-PA 200); H. Adult individual of T. turcmenicus from Khilyazi payan (CUHC-PA 211).