Varanus griseus (Daudin, 1803) ssp. caspius (Eichwald, 1831)

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

Varanus griseus (Daudin, 1803) ssp. caspius (Eichwald, 1831)

Fig. 6

Takhar records.

Bay Yawa (khujabilandi), 37.4203°N, 69.6961°E, 954 m a.s.l., 13 June 2014, grassy, semi-desert habitat, one adult individual of unknown sex.

Distribution in Afghanistan.

The species has been recorded in Badghis, Balkh, Farah, Helmand, Herat, Kandahar, Kunduz (Eiselt and Adametz 1977, NMW; Wagner et al. 2016; Jablonski et al. 2021e) and Takhar Provinces. This represents 21% of all provinces in Afghanistan.

Chorotype.

Saharan + Arabian + Iranian + Turanian + Indian.

Remarks.

It is the first record of this species from Takhar Province. Although we only have a single documentation of this species, local people report V. griseus as common and it is regularly observed in the Bay Yawa area. The first record from the Kandahar Province is represented by the museum specimen NMW 34781/1, which is not mentioned in Wagner et al. (2016).

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).