Spalerosophis diadema schirazianus (Jan in de Filippi, 1865:356)

Wagner, Philipp, Bauer, Aaron M., Leviton, Alan E., Wilms, Thomas M. & Böhme, Wolfgang, 2016, A Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Afghanistan *, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (13), pp. 457-565 : 512

Spalerosophis diadema schirazianus (Jan in de Filippi, 1865:356)

1865 P [eriops] parallellus Geoff. var schiraziana Jan, Prime line d’una fauna della Persia occidentale. Rettili. Pages 352–357 in De Filippi, F. Note di un Viaggio in Persia nel 1862. G. Daelli & C. Editori, Milan, Italy.

SYNTYPES.— Originally three specimens housed in MSNM based on Jan (1863) from “Schiraz, Persia” [Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran], now lost (fide Schätti et al. [2010]) .

LOCALITIES.— Anahoy Desert (USNM 194977); Jalalabad (MMB 28500); E Jalalabad (MMB 28499); Kabul 14457); (ZFMK Maimana (FMNH 161206); Nimla [Nangahar Prov., 1000 m] (ZFMK 8642); Pagham (FMNH 161057); Tirphul [= Tir Pul] ( Boulenger 1889) [see pl. 12, fig. 8 for distribution].

REMARKS.— Other spellings of the specific epithet, e.g., schirazana/-us, schirasiana/-us are incorrect subsequent spellings. Lantz (1918) additionally referred to a record from the “ Tajan River area ”, an imprecise locality not mapped here. Boulenger (1889:201; 1893:412) mentioned another specimen from “Nushki to Helmand ” in the BMNH collection that most probably refers to the “eastern diadema ” according to Schätti et al. (2010, see below). The taxonomic status of this taxon is under debate. Baig and Masroor (2008) placed it as a synonym of the nominate form, whereas Schätti et al. (2009) recognized it as subspecies. According to Schätti et al. (2010), the records from eastern Afghanistan (border area with Pakistan) do not represent the taxon Spalerosophis diadema schirazianus , but a form named by Schätti et al. (2010) “eastern diadema (modus operandi)”. This includes both specimens listed above from Jalalabad. The specimen mentioned by Günther (1864:253) and Boulenger (1893:413) from “ Afghanistan ” collected by “ Dr. Griffith ” was tentatively included in this form as well. This results in the following assemblage of taxa: (1) S. d. schirazianus Anahony Desert; Kabul , Maimana; Pagham; and Tirphul, and (2) “eastern diadema ” (fide Schätti et al. 2010), which is represented by the specimens from Jalalabad, Nimla, and Nushki to Helmand.