Microgecko helenae Nikolsky, 1907

Šmíd, Jiří, Moravec, Jiří, Kodym, Petr, Kratochvíl, Lukáš, Yousefkhani, Seyyed Saeed Hosseinian, Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar & Frynta, Daniel, 2014, Annotated checklist and distribution of the lizards of Iran, Zootaxa 3855 (1), pp. 1-97 : 23

Microgecko helenae Nikolsky, 1907

LECTOTYPE. ZIL 10242, designated by Szczerbak & Golubev (1986) ; Holotype ZSM 501 /68 (M. h. fasciatus) .

TYPE LOCALITY. Syntypes collected at Alchorschir [Alkhorshid], Aguljaschker [Ab-e Lashkar? (locality position based on map by Szczerbak & Golubev (1996), Fig. 52 )], Isfagan [Esfahan], and Bidezar [Bid Zard]; restricted to Bid Zard by Schmidtler & Schmidtler (1972) who, however, did not designate any lectotype, and again to Alkhorshid by Szczerbak & Golubev (1986) by lectotype designation. Therefore the restriction made by Szczerbak & Golubev is valid.

DISTRIBUTION. Endemic to Iran.

DISTRIBUTION IN IRAN. Fig. 56 . The Mesopotamian Plain and western foothills of the Zagros (Kermanshah, Ilam, Lorestan, Markazi, Khuzestan, Esfahan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad , and Fars Prov.). A single record ( SUHC collection) from Sistan and Baluchistan Prov. is dubious .

HABITAT. Collected in an area characterized by rolling hills with limestone and gypsum outcroppings, ground with flat stones and vegetation consisting of scattered grasses, mosses, thorny shrubs, euphorbs, and scattered oaks.

REMARKS. Microgecko h. fasciatus (Schmidtler & Schmidtler) (type locality Dize [Sorkheh Dizeh], Kermanshah Prov.) occurs in the NW portion of the species range. However , it overlaps with the nominotypical subspecies in Lorestan Prov. Two records from the CUP collection from the central and southern part of the distribution have a high number of dorsal scales (character of M. h. fasciatus), indicating that this trait characterizes more intraspecific individual variability and that the subspecies M. h. fasciatus may not be valid, as also stated by Szczerbak & Golubev (1996) .

REFERENCES. Tuck (1971b); Schmidtler & Schmidtler (1972); Szczerbak & Golubev (1986, 1996); Anderson (1999); Torki (2007b); Torki & Gharzi (2008); Karamiani & Rastegar-Pouyani (2012).

Figures

FIGURES 50–55. 50. Mediodactylus heteropholis. 51. Mediodactylus ilamensis. 52. Mediodactylus russowii. Blue square denotes the type locality for M. r. zarudnyi. 53. Mediodactylus sagittifer. 54. Mediodactylus spinicauda. 55. Mediodactylus stevenandersoni.

FIGURES 56–61. 56. Microgecko helenae. Blue square denotes the type locality for M. h. fasciatus. 57. Microgecko latifi. 58. Microgecko persicus. Blue square denotes the type locality for M. p. bakhtiari. 59. Pseudoceramodactylus khobarensis. 60. Rhinogekko femoralis. 61. Rhinogekko misonnei.