Mesalina watsonana (Stoliczka, 1872)

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

Mesalina watsonana (Stoliczka, 1872)

Distribution in Afghanistan.

A common species with several records mainly from south of the Hindu Kush range. It is currently known from the following provinces: Badakhshan, Farah, Ghazni, Ghor, Helmand, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Logar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, Parwan, Uruzgan, Wardak and Zabul ( Wagner et al. 2016; Jablonski et al. 2019; Fig. 5 ). Two localities mentioned by Wagner et al. (2016): " 40 km NE of Kandhar, on Tarnak River (CAS 90757-60 " and " Mil-Karez, Pol-Mil (MZLU L958/3230) " (p. 498) are not presented with coordinates. Therefore, they are absent from the map.

Our records

( Fig. 5 ). 1 - Lashkargāh, Helmand (3 September 2009), dozens of adult individuals in the semi-desert habitat; 2 - Kandahar, Air Base, Kandahar (22 October 2010), dozens of adult individuals ( Fig. 7E, F ) in the semi-desert with bushes near the runway.

Remarks.

Both records presented here are new locality data with original coordinates. However, they clearly correspond with the known species range in Afghanistan. Regan (2017) listed this species as " Mesalina guttulata " (pp. 30-31). This name was superseded by M. watsonana after being upgraded to full species status from a subspecies of M. guttulata .

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.