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of the real lizards, family Lacertidae
Darevskia raddei chaldoranensis RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al., 2011
Eiselt, J. & Schmidtler, J.F. & Darevsky, I.S. (1993) -
A new subspecies of Lacerta raddei BOETTGER, 1892 is described. Terra typica: castle mountain of Van City, eastern Turkey;. Distribution: easternmost Turkey. Intermediary populations towards L. raddei raddei in northwesternmost Iran are still to be defined.
Noori, S. & Hawlitschek, O. & Oldeland, J. & Rajaei, H. & Husemann, M. & Simoes, M. (2021) -
The global struggle to conserve as many species as possible with limited resources requires an improvement of our knowledge on the distribution of biodiversity. In Iran, the state of knowledge is poor for most groups of organisms, except few vertebrate groups and vascular plants. Reptiles are one of the best known, most diverse vertebrate groups in Iran, with a high rate of endemism (ca. 29%), but distribution patterns and related environmental drivers remain poorly understood. In the present study, based on a large publicly available dataset, we use general additive modelling (GAM) to identify explanatory variables for species richness of reptiles in Iran. Results indicate heterogeneity parameters (range +entropy) as the variables with the highest explanatory values. Based on the grid cells of the predicted environmental richness, using hotspot analysis, we suggest seven hotspots of reptile diversity (HRDs) across the country. Our results corroborate the previously recognized HRDs and detect three additional ones, located alongside the major mountain ranges around the central deserts plateau, particularly in the Zagros Mountains. Four of the largest HRDs (ca. 90%) situate within the Irano-Anatolian and Caucasus global biodiversity hotspot. In addition, our results reveal a large gap between identified HRDs and the current network of protected areas (PAs) in the country. While three of the detected HRDs in this study are partially touched (ca. 18%) by the PA network, overall, these areas are only covered by less than 10%. Therefore, the effectiveness of the current PAs for the protection of the reptile diversity of Iran is questionable.
Rastegar-Pouyani, N. & Karamiani, R. & Oraei, H. & Khosrawani, A. & Rastegar-Pouyani, E. (2011) -
Based on extensive field work in the northern Zagros Mountains, a new subspecies of Darevskia raddei (Boettger, 1892) from the west Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran is described. The new subspecies is distinguishable from all the other three subspecies of D. raddei based on the combination of several distinguishing characters, such as dorsal body with 50−55 oval to round, smooth, or very weakly keeled, scales, 25−31 scales across the gular region, 18−20 femoral pores on each side of body (reaching the knee), 29−31 tuberculate lamellae under the fourth toe, 11−12 supraciliaries, 9−11 collars and a specific color pattern. The new subspecies meets all the morphological characters described by Eiselt et al. (1993) for an undefined and intermediate form between D. raddei raddei in the east of and D. r. vanensis in the west of the distribution range of the species.
Safaei-Mahroo, B. & Ghaffari, H. & Fahimi, H. & Broomand, S. & Yazdanian, M. & Najafi Majd, E. & Hosseinian Yousefkhani, S.S. & Rezadeh, E. & Hosseinzadeh, M.S. & Nasrabadi, R. & Rajabizadeh, M. & Mas (2015) -
We present an annotated checklist for a total 241 reptiles and 22 amphibians including 5 frogs, 9 toads, 7 newts and salamanders, 1 crocodile, 1 worm lizard, 148 lizards, 79 snakes and 12 turtles and tortoises, includes the most scientific literature up to August 2014 and also based on several field surveys conducted in different Provinces of Iran from 2009 to 2014. We present an up-to-dated checklist of reptiles and amphibians in Iran. We provide a comprehensive listing of taxonomy, names, distribution and conservation status of all amphibians and reptiles of Iran. This checklist includes all recognized named taxa, English names for classes, orders, families, species, subspecies along with Persian names for species, including indication of native and introduced species. For the first time we report two non-native introduced reptiles from natural habitats of Iran. Of the total 22 species of amphibians in Iran, 6 (27.2%) are endemic and of the total 241 species of reptiles, 55 (22.8%) are endemic. Of the 22 amphibians species in Iran, 3 (13%) are Critically Endangered, 2 (9%) are Vulnerable and of the 241 reptile species 3 (1.2%) are Critically Endangered, 4 (1.6%) are Endangered and 10 (4.1%) are Vulnerable. Accordingly, this paper combines significant aspects of taxonomy, common names, conservation status and distribution of the Iranian herpetofauna.