Acanthodactylus khamirensis, Heidari, Nastaran, Pouyani, Nasrullah Rastegar, Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar & Rajabizadeh, Mehdi, 2013

Heidari, Nastaran, Pouyani, Nasrullah Rastegar, Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar & Rajabizadeh, Mehdi, 2013, A new species of Acanthodactylus Fitzinger 1834 (Sauria: Lacertidae) from southern Iran, Zootaxa 3722 (3), pp. 333-346 : 335-339

Acanthodactylus khamirensis sp. nov.

( Figs. 2–4 )

Holotype. One male specimen (RUZM 146), collected from 7km east of Khamir port, during field work on 10 May 2010, from coastal line of the Persian Gulf, 1km to sea shore, at 26º 30′ 47″N, 055º 58′ 44.2″E and about 40m above sea level (asl), Hormozgan province, southern Iran.

Diagnosis. The new species differs from all other Acanthodactylus species in having a combination of the following characters: a relatively medium sized lacertid ( Fig. 2 ), with SVL: 48.43mm, TL: 91.89mm. Dorsal scales nearly smooth and imbricate; three supraoculars, the first one smaller than two entire middle ones (Fig. 3 A–B). Subocular bordering the mouth not separated from the lip border (Fig. 3–C). Dorsal scales the same size as laterals; ventral scales relatively imbricate, in 11 longitudinal rows and 34 ventral series in a longitudinal row along the belly between collar and preanal scale; dorsal scales 64 across middle of back; four supralabials anterior to subocular and three posterior to subocular; six infralabials; three series of scales around fingers, but two visible laterally; 22 rows of lamella under the 4th toe; 15 rows of lamella under the 4th finger; 24 femoral pores on each side, extended laterally to reach the knees; the two rows are separated by a space as large as diameter of each pore.

Description of Holotype. Upper head shields more or less convex (specifically frontonasal, prefrontals, frontal and frontoparietals); parietals and supraoculars relatively flat; prefrontals longer than broad with a common suture of about 0.75 of their length; frontals distinctly longer than their width; each frontoparietal in contact with frontal, parietal, and third supraocular; frontal is bordered by first, second and third supraocular laterally, anteriorly by frontonasals and posteriorly by interparietals; parietals nearly as wide as their length; interparietal small with a minute parietal foramen; no occipital; three large and intact supraoculars, first supraocular is minute, second and third ones broad and intact, the fourth one is broken up strongly into one large and four minute fragments; 6–7 supraciliaries on each side, first one is the largest, separated from supraoculars by a complete row of 10 granules; dorsal scales smooth and granular from nape to caudals, lateral scales the same size as dorsals, tend to being keeled; dorsal scales much smaller than upper caudals; ventral caudals smooth, wider than long; about 21 scales in the 5th whorl of tail behind vent; 17 large dorsal scales across dorsum between hindlimbs; one preocular and one loreal with half diameter than preocular; ear opening elliptical and vertical, its diameter two times as long as orbit; subocular with a sharp keel, bordering the lip and separating the 4th and 5th supralabials; the 4th supralabial twice as long as its width; the subocular twice as long as it’s width; 7 supralabials on each side, 4 of them anterior to center of eye, the 4th one is long; 6–6 infralabials. Head length 12.7mm, about 26% snout-vent length; head wide 8.6mm; rostral rather round, not pointed; snout not much pointed; nasal region sharply swollen; nostril bordered by a single and small postnasal, internasal and first supralabials, separated from rostral by a very narrow and short rim; tail length about 1.9 times snout-vent length and scales above and on sides of tail strongly keeled and mucronate; 75–7 feebly keeled, small temporal scales, large anteriorly, smooth posteriorly and inferiorly; three supratemporals, the anterior and posterior ones minute and flat, the middle one edged and keeled, three to four times length of the first and third ones; collar free, consisting of 10–11 plates with larger median scales and smaller marginal ones; 27 gular scales on median line in a straight line between the union of the submaxillaries and the central scale of the collar; five pairs of submaxillary shields, the first three pairs in contact; the last two pairs broadly separated; submaxillary shields bordered by 21 granules; toes with weak lateral fringes; preanal plates developed and wide with three strongly enlarged plates; limbs slender, forelimbs 20.1mm, 43% of snout-vent length; hindlimbs 38.6mm, about 1.7 times of forelimbs and 79% of snout-vent length; forelimbs with more large imbricate shields in upper surface and small granules bellow, conversely upper surface of hind limbs (on thigh and tibia) with small scales similar to dorsals and enlarged, smooth and imbricate shields in ventral surface of hind-limbs.

As in all other lacertid lizards, teeth are pleurodont, with seven premaxillary teeth similar in size with maxillary teeth and 23 cylindrical maxillary teeth in each side; teeth set in a continuous groove. Palatine and pterygoid teeth absent. Outer edge of premaxilla smoothly continuous with outer edge of maxilla where the maxilla and premaxilla meet each other, without narrowing laterally. This is congruent with A. boskianus and A. nilsoni and in opposite with A. schmidti and A. grandis in which, the shape of premaxillary region abruptly narrowed ( Fig. 4 A- B).

Color and pattern. Grey above in life. Six light longitudinal stripes in juveniles, four of them vanished in adults and just two longitudinal stripes maintained dorsally at middle of dorsum in adults. Small light and black ocelli in regular rows in dorsal surface making white straight lines; the interrupted lines similar to light ocelli laterally; light orange ocelli on the body when alive, turning to black after preserving in alcohol. All ventral surfaces whitish.

Paratypes. Eight specimens (RUZM 147–149 and 36–40) including six males [M] and two females [F]. RUZM 147 [M], SVL= 45.94mm; RUZM 148 [F], SVL= 48.10mm; RUZM 149 [F], SVL= 45.65mm; RUZM 36 [M], SVL= 46.28mm; RUZM 37 [M], SVL= 47.58mm; RUZM 38 [M], SVL= 47.39mm; RUZM 39 [M], SVL= 46.95mm; RUZM 40 [M], SVL= 47.32mm. All paratypes were collected at the same locality as the holotype in 25 March 2010 and 18 June 2011. There were trivial pholidotic and measurement differences between holotype and paratypes as follows (for complete measurement characters refer to Table 1).

Snout-vent length= 45.6–48.4mm; tail length= 77.3–107.2mm; 78–82 smooth temporal scales; ventral scales relatively imbricate, in 10–12 longitudinal rows and 32–39 ventral series (mean 35.7) in a longitudinal row along the belly between collar and preanal scale; 54–64 dorsal scales (mean 59.3) across middle of back; 16–18 large dorsal scales across dorsum between hindlimbs; 23–27 gular scales (mean 24.9); 19–22 rows of lamella under the 4th toe; 14–15 rows of lamella under the 4th finger; 22–26 femoral pores on each side, postmentals bordered by 18– 24 granules; head length 11.7–12.6mm, 1.4 times of head wide, about 26% snout-vent length; head width 7.7– 8.5mm; forelimbs 19.5–21.6mm, 43% of snout-vent length; hindlimbs 35.2–37.6mm, about 1.7 times of forelimbs and 79% of snout-vent length; 12–13 minute collar scales; preanal plates smaller than those of holotype.

Habitat. The Khamir port is among the driest areas in southern Iran, with relatively high humidity (75%) and annual rainfall averaging about 120 mm, air temperature varies from 1°C during winter to 50°C during summer. Acanthodactylus khamirensis sp. nov. is found on calcareous mountains at the foothills of mountains around deep valleys, which undergo strong erosion. The habitat is without any vegetation except isolated shrubs with fleshy and needle-like leaves belonging to the family Zygophyllaceae ( Peganum sp.) as the only vegetation cover in the area. The lizard can easily take refuge inside these dense bushes. Acanthodactylus khamirensis sp. nov. is approximately distributed in a mountainous habitat on bases with hardened substrate ( Fig. 5 ). The specimens of A. khamirensis were collected during daytime, while running on the ground in relatively cool and fresh air during early morning and late sunset. In spite of frequent visits to the area, no other reptile species was collected or observed as sympatric and/or syntopic with A. khamirensis .

Etymology. The species is named after the place and locality where the species has been collected (Khamir Port, Hormozgan Province, Southern Iran) and the Latin ‘-ensis,’ meaning ‘from’ or ‘belonging to’.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Premaxillary region of skull in A. khamirensis sp. nov., from beneath, outer edge of premaxilla and maxilla smoothly continuous and not narrowed abruptly (A); the same region in A. schmidti and A. grandis (B).

FIGURE 5. Habitat of A. khamirensis sp. nov., in limestone mountain foothills, 7 km east of Khamir Port, southern Iran.

FIGURE 2. A. khamirensis sp. nov., in its natural habitat, collected from Khamir port, southern Iran.