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Issue: Vol. 4363 No. 3: 12 Dec. 2017
Type: Article
Published: 2017-12-12
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4363.3.4
Page range: 377–392
Abstract views: 139
PDF downloaded: 1

A new species of Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkota: Gekkonidae)  from Qara Dagh Mountains, Kurdistan Region, with a key to the genus in Iraq

Pars Herpetologists Institute, 1st Floor, No. 5, Corner of third Jahad alley, Arash St., Jalal-e Ale-Ahmad Boulevard, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.
Eye of the Nature, Ser Sheqam, Soleymany, Kurdistan, Iraq.
Chya, 1st Floor, No. 105, Rouge buildings, Moulavi Kurd St., Marivan, Iran.
Hemidactylus kurdicus sp. nov. morphology phylogeny taxonomy Geckoes habitat Zagros Mountains forest steppe Qara-Dagh Mountain Reptilia

Abstract

We describe a new species of gecko of the genus Hemidactylus from the oak woodlands of Zagros Forest Steppe of Qara Dagh Mountains, Sulaimani, northeastern Iraq, based on morphological and molecular characteristics. Hemidactylus kurdicus sp. nov. is distinguished from all other related Arid clade Hemidactylus species in the Middle East by having a single pair of postmental scales; it differs H. turcicus, H. robustus, H. ulii, H. sinaitus, H. shihraensis and H. yerburii based on the number of lamellae under the first and fourth toes of pes. Mitochondrial DNA including CytB and 12S identify a consistent divergence between H. kurdicus and H. persicus. An identification key to the genus Hemidactylus in Iraq is presented.

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