Eremias persica Blanford, 1875

Jablonski, Daniel, Regan, John M., Holzheuser, Chace, Farooqi, Javeed, Basit, Abdul & Masroor, Rafaqat, 2019, Additional data to the herpetofauna of Afghanistan, Herpetozoa 32, pp. 177-193 : 177

Eremias persica Blanford, 1875

Distribution in Afghanistan.

This species is known from north-eastern, southern and western Afghanistan (provinces Badakhshan, Badghis, Farah, Ghazni, Helmand, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Nangarhar, Parwan, Wardak, Zabul; Wagner et al. 2016).

Our records

( Fig. 5 ). 1 - Gardez Base, Gardez, Paktia (2 May 2008), several adult individuals observed in semi-desert habitat; 2 - Waza Kwah, Paktika (6 December 2008), one adult individual in the arid habitat; 3 - Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar (24 July 2009), adult, subadult and juvenile individuals ( Fig. 7 B–D ) in the semi-desert habitat with bushes and burrows ( Fig. 10F ) near the runway; 4 - Lashkargāh, Helmand (3 September 2009), common species represented by adult and juvenile individuals in the semi-desert habitat.

Remarks.

All our records represent new distribution data for the species in Afghanistan. Localities 1 and 2 are new provincial records. Observations from Kandahar are incorrectly described in Regan (2017; see pp. 32, 33) as E. fasciata (juvenile presented here in Fig. 7C ) and Acathodactylus micropholis (adults and juvenile in Fig. 7B, D ).

Figures

Figure 5. Updated herpetofaunistic records from Afghanistan (white dots: Wagner et al. 2016 and Jablonski et al. 2019; red dots: data of this study). Cyrtopodion agamuroides complex: Camp Leatherneck, Washir, Helmand (first country record; cf. Smid et al. 2014). Cyrtopodion scabrum: 1 - Darul Aman - Kabul, Kabul; 2 - Camp Leatherneck, Washir, Helmand; 3 - Lashkargah, Helmand; 4 - Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar. Cyrtopodion watsoni: Camp Dubs - Kabul, Kabul. Eremias nigrocellata: Kaldar, Balkh. Eremias persica: 1 - Gardez Base, Gardez, Paktia; 2 - Waza Kwah, Paktika; 3 - Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar; 4 - Lashkargah, Helmand. Mesalina watsonana: 1 - Lashkargah, Helmand; 2 - Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar.

Figure 7. Observed species of the Lacertidae family from Afghanistan: A - adult individual of Eremias aff. nigrocellata from Kaldar, Balkh; B - adult male and female of E. persica displaying mating behaviour and juveniles (C, D) from Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar; E, F - adult male and female of Mesalina watsonana from Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar.

Figure 10. View on selected localities from Afghanistan that were visited: A - habitat of Bufotes viridis complex and Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis from Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar; B - stony, semi-desert habitat of Eremias aff. nigrocellata from Kaldar, Balkh; C - semi-desert habitat of Trapelus agilis from Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan; D - vicinity of small village Waza Kwah, Paktika as habitat of Testudo horsfieldii; E - desert habitat of Cyrtopodion agamuroides complex from Camp Leatherneck, Washir, Helmand; F - burrows in semi-desert habitat that were used by Eremias persica as a shelter, Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar.