Hemidactylus Inhabitants

Torki, Farhang, 2019, Three new species of Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Iran, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 209) 13 (2), pp. 239-258 : 254-255

Note on Hemidactylus Inhabitants from Iran

Hemidactylus inhabitants of the Iranian plateau have a complicated history. Anderson (1999) reported three Hemidactylus ( H. flaviviridis , H. persicus , and H. turcicus ) from Iran. Anderson (1974) had recorded H. garnotii in the fauna of Iran, but in 1999 he excluded it from Iran due to incomplete data from I. Darevsky; and he then diagnosed this species as H. flaviviridis ( Anderson 1999) .Anderson collected some Hemidactylus sp. specimens from southwest Iran that do not to match H. flaviviridis , H. persicus , or H. turcicus ( Anderson 1999) . Anderson was concerned that H. brookii might be distributed in southern Iran, but this species has not been collected inside Iran. Therefore, based on Anderson’s studies (1999), four species occur in Iran: H. flaviviridis , H. persicus , H. turcicus , and Hemidactylus sp. A molecular study (Bauer et al. 2006a) confirmed the distribution of H. robustus in southwestern Iran; and, little difference exists between H. robustus from Iran on the one hand and from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on the other. Firouz (2000) has cited H. flaviviridis , H. persicus , and H. turcicus for the fauna of Iran. Torki et al. (2011) showed five Hemidactylus species to occur in Iran, viz: H. flaviviridis , H. persicus , H. turcicus , H. robustus , and H. romeshkanicus . Due to this author’s revision of the gecko fauna of Iran (2016–2020 FTE program), one previous occurrence of Hemidactylus was identified as H. turcicus (FTHM005100– 5110 in Torki et al. 2011); however, new morphological evidence shows that it is completely different from H. turcicus as well as from H. robustus . As described here, this population ( H. achaemenidicus sp.n.) shows differences in important taxonomic characters from other Hemidactylus species both inside and outside of Iran (as well as the arid clade). Hosseinzadeh et al. (2014) worked on the morphology of Hemidactylus species of Iran, and their work showed four Hemidactylus species from Iran: H. flaviviridis , H. persicus , H. robustus , and H. romeshkanicus , as they rejected H. turcicus from the Iranian gecko fauna. Based on recent phylogenetic studies on Hemidactylus , particularly H. turcicus and H. robustus ( Carranza and Arnold 2012; Šmíd et al. 2013b, 2015), I suggest that the H. robustus specimens which were examined by Hosseinzadeh et al. (2014) do match with both H. turcicus and H. robustus . They do not show the important taxonomical characters that are important for diagnosis of H. turcicus and H. robustus from several of those populations.

Based on recent molecular studies ( Carranza and Arnold 2012; Šmíd et al. 2013b, 2015), H. persicus from Iran shows characteristics of being a separate clade from Arabian Hemidactylus . This clade shows three distinguishable species, and one of them (FTHM005110) is the new Hemidactylus achaemenidicus sp.n. described here. The locality of FTHM005110 cited in that phylogenetic study is incorrect and must be changed to the type locality of H. achaemenidicus sp.n. given here. On the other hand, three specimens of H. persicus (JS103– 5) among the Iranian persicus clade (Šmíd et al. 2013) showed more differences from other H. persicus , but the localities of these specimens were not cited in that paper, and are nearest to the type locality of H. sassanidianus sp.n. (see Fig. 4 in Šmíd et al. 2013). On the other hand, H. robustus from the coastal Persian Gulf (Bandar-e- Lenge) is a match with the Arabian H. robustus clade ( Šmíd et al. 2013b, 2015). The oldest reported dispersal from Arabia occurred 13.1 Ma, when the ancestor of H. persicus colonized Iran ( Šmíd et al. 2013b). This time-frame (13.1 Ma) is perfect for speciation among the Hemidactylus inhabiting the Iranian plateau as well as the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt. A few collections from the southern part of Iran (mostly coastal Persian Gulf) show three clades in the phylogenetic tree of Šmíd et al. (2013b). Based on the distribution of Hemidactylus inside the Iranian plateau, here I suggest that Hemidactylus has several monophyletic clades as well as more species which remain unknown.

Although some works exclude H. turcicus (e.g., Hosseinzadeh et al. 2014, Šmíd et al. 2014) from the fauna of Iran, Šmíd et al. (2014) did not explicitly reject H. turcicus from Iran (see Map 46), and Šmíd et al. concluded that H. turcicus is not distributed in Iran. I disagree with those assessments, and do not exclude this widespread species from the fauna of Iran until more comprehensive data about the Hemidactylus inhabiting Iran (especially from phylogenetic studies) are available. One important reason supporting the acceptability of H. turcicus for the fauna of the Iranian Plateau is its wide distribution in adjacent areas to the west (e.g., Turkey) and east (e.g., Pakistan) of Iran (e.g., Turgay and Atat 1994; Khan 2006).

Bauer et al. (2006a) identified all populations of small Hemidactylus as a H. robustus . Some authors (e.g., Gholamifard and Rastegar-Pouyani 2011; Hosseinzadeh et al. 2014) followed that assessment. Based on phylogenetic analysis, H. achaemenidicus sp.n. is completely distinguishable from H. robustus (e.g., Šmíd et al. 2013, 2015). Therefore, there are at least three distinct species of small Hemidactylus in Iran including: H. robustus , H. turcicus , and H. achaemenidicus sp.n.

Based on all the studies cited above, all Hemidactylus species of Iran (except H. flaviviridis ) show much complexity and I classify them here in three groups as follows: H. persicus -complex (including H. persicus , H. sassanidianus sp.n., and H. achaemenidicus sp.n.); H. robustus -complex; and H. romeshkanicus -complex ( H. romeshkanicus and H. pseudoromeshkanicus sp.n.).

In summary, at least eight species of Hemidactylus are distributed on the Iranian Plateau: H. flaviviridis , H. persicus , H. robustus , H. turcicus , H. romeshkanicus , H. sassanidianus sp.n., H. achaemenidicus sp.n., and H. pseudoromeshkanicus sp.n.

Figures

Fig. 4. Subcaudal of tail of (a) ZFMK97753 and (b) ZFMK 98567 of Hemidactylus achaemenidicus sp.n. Comparison of dorsal body between (c) holotype of H. achaemenidicus sp.n. and (d) lectotype of H. robustus. Photo from Šmíd et al. 2015.