Sphaerodactylidae

Aloufi, Abdulhadi, Zayer, Mohammed Al & Amr, Zuhair S., 2023, Reptiles and Amphibians along the Coastal Area of the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, Ecologica Montenegrina 68, pp. 66-87 : 72

Family Sphaerodactylidae

Pristurus rupestris Blanford, 1874 Fig. 4H

Material examined: observed and photographed by J. Babbington from South Dhahran, 14.11.2021.

Remarks: This enigmatic species was the subject of several studies in past few years. Badiane et al. (2014) concluded that two clades of the Arabian form of this species occur in Arabia, one eastern clade around the Hajar Mountains in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, referred to as Pristurus rupestris , and clade two, Pristurus sp. 1 , that describes populations of southwestern Oman, Yemen, the Red Sea mountains of Saudi Arabia, reaching as far as southern Jordan. Further molecular studies on this species along the Oman mountains revealed the presence of 14 candidate species within P. r. rupestris ( Garcia-Porta et al., 2017) .

We maintain the use of Pristurus rupestris for the eastern populations of the Blanford’s semaphore gecko in the study area. It was reported from rocky escarpments near Riyadh ( Tilbury, 1988). Both Martens (1996) and Al-Sadoon (2010) did not record this species from Al Jubail or Al Hassa. Ross (1990) gave an account on feeding, activity patterns, avoiding predators and tail signalling among individuals of this species in Taroot Island, eastern Saudi Arabia.

Figures

Figure 4. A. Bunopus tuberculatus. B. Hemidactylus flaviviridis. C. Hemidactylus persicus. D. Pseudoceramodactylus khobarensis. E. Trigonodactylus arabicus. F. Stenodactylus doriae. G. Stenodactylus slevini. H. Pristurus rupestris (Photo by J. Babbington). I. Ptyodactylus cf hasselquistii.