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Trigonodactylus arabicus HAAS, 1957

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Higher TaxaGekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Arabian Short-fingered Gecko, Arabian Sand Gecko 
SynonymTrigonodactylus arabicus HAAS 1957: 51
Stenodactylus arabicus — KLUGE 1967
Stenodactylus arabicus — KLUGE 1993
Stenodactylus arabicus — RÖSLER 2000: 115
Stenodactylus arabicus — FUJITA & PAPENFUSS 2011
Stenodactylus arabicus — GARDNER 2013
Trigonodactylus arabicus — NAZAROV et al. 2018
Stenodactylus arabicus — KAMALI 2020 
DistributionSaudia Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, S Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Jordan

Type locality: Trucial Coast, Saudi Arabia (24° 10’ N, 53° E).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: CAS 84321; paratypes: CAS, FMNH 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Ground-dwelling, psammophilous, small-sized geckos (SVL less than 40 mm versus SVL more than 40 mm in Stenodactylus and Pseudoceramodactylus). Habitus very slender. Head and body strongly flattened (as compared with massive head and round body in Stenodactylus and Pseudoceramodactylus). Head elongated and relatively narrow as opposed to large, well-defined head in Stenodactylus and Pseudoceramodactylus. Edges of fingers and toes with large elongated triangular scales that form a fringed edge. Claws thin and long, significantly compressed. Minute, imbricate, triangular scales cover undersides of fingers; only a few transversely widened scales at their tips (usually three). Upper surface of hands covered with keeled, imbricate, rather elongated scales. Toes elongated, slender, with strongly compressed long claws; margins of toes fringed; web between fingers present in some species. Dorsal scales flat, juxtaposed with each other, slightly keeled, elliptic. Ventral scales slightly keeled. Contracted pupil forms a vertical slit. No precloacal or femoral pores (present in some Stenodactylus). Moderate hemipenial swellings; two-three precloacal spurs on each side at basis of tail. Tail round in cross-section, tapering uniformly; length equal to that of body.
Prefrontal relatively small with rounded distal surface; no prefrontal projection; postorbitofrontal relatively small with rounded distal edge; nasal relatively small, of same size as premaxillary (versus relatively larger prefrontal often with apical growth, relatively larger posterior frontal with elongated distal edge, which are typical for representatives of Stenodactylus and Pseudoceramodactylus. Locomotion of this group of geckos is very distinctive. Trigonodactylus move pressing their body to the surface of the substrate, where Stenodactylus keep their body raised high above the surface (from Nazarov et al. 2018; original diagnosis in Haas 1957: 51). 
CommentSynonymy: WERMUTH 1965 gives “Stenodactylus arabicus” also as original name. Trigonocephalus HAAS 1957 was resurrected from synonymy of Stenodactylus by Nazarov et al. 2018 (note that Nazarov et al. mis-spelled Haas as “Hass” more often than it was spelled correctly as “Haas”).

Distribution: See map in SMID et al. 2014 for distribution in Iran. See map in Burriel-Carranza et al. 2019 for map in UAE.

Type species: Trigonodactylus arabicus HAAS 1957 is the type species of the genus Trigonodactylus HAAS 1957. 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality. 
References
  • Aloufi, A., Al Zayer, M., & Amr, Z. S. 2023. Reptiles and Amphibians along the Coastal Area of the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Ecologica Montenegrina, 68, 66-87 - get paper here
  • Aloufi, A., Amr, Z., & Baker, M. A. 2022. Reptiles from'Uruq Bani Ma'arid and Harat al Harrah protected areas in Saudi Arabia: Reptiles from two protected areas in Saudi Arabia. Herpetology Notes 15: 483-491
  • Arnold E N 1980. Reptiles of Saudi Arabia. A review of the lizard genus Stenodactylus (Reptilia: Gekkonidae). Fauna of Saudi Arabia 2: 368-404
  • Arnold, E. N. 1977. Little-known geckoes (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from Arabia with descriptions of two new species from the Sultanate of Oman. The Scientific Results of the Oman Flora and Fauna Survey, 1975. Journal of Oman Studies, Special Report, (1):81—110 [1975]
  • BAUER, AARON M.; RAFAQAT MASROOR, JAMES TITUS-MCQUILLAN, MATTHEW P. HEINICKE,, JUAN D. DAZA & TODD R. JACKMAN 2013. A preliminary phylogeny of the Palearctic naked-toed geckos (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) with taxonomic implications. Zootaxa 3599 (4): 301–324 - get paper here
  • BOURQUIN, O. 2011. The terrestrial reptiles of Sir Bani Yas Island, United Arab Emirates. African Herp News (53): 27-34 - get paper here
  • Burriel-Carranza B, Pedro Tarroso, Johannes Els, Andrew Gardner, Pritpal Soorae, Ahmed Ali Mohammed, Sai Ravi Krishna Tubati, Mohamed Mustafa Eltayeb, Junid Nazeer Shah, Héctor Tejero-Cicuéndez, Marc Simó-Riudalbas, Juan Manuel Pleguezuelos, Daniel F 2019. An integrative assessment of the diversity, phylogeny, distribution, and conservation of the terrestrial reptiles (Sauropsida, Squamata) of the United Arab Emirates. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0216273 - get paper here
  • Carranza S, Xipell M, Tarroso P, Gardner A, Arnold EN, Robinson MD, et al. 2018. Diversity, distribution and conservation of the terrestrial reptiles of Oman (Sauropsida, Squamata). PLoS One 13 (2): e0190389 - get paper here
  • Carranza, Salvador; Johannes Els; Bernat Burriel-Carranza 2021. A field guide to the reptiles of Oman. Madrid : Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 223 pp. [review in HR 53 (3): 531] - get paper here
  • Cogălniceanu, Dan; Aurora Castilla, Aitor Valdeon, Alberto Gosa, Noora Al Jaidah, Ali Alkuwary, Essam Saifelnasr, Paloma Mas, Renee Richer, Ahmad Amer Al Hemaidi 2014. A preliminary report on the distribution of lizards in Qatar. ZooKeys 373 (2014): 67-91<br />doi: 10.3897/zookeys.373.5994 - get paper here
  • Fathinia, Behzad, Ali Gholamifard and Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani. 2014. First record of Stenodactylus arabicus (Haas, 1957) from Iran. Herpetozoa 26 (3/4): 169-173 - get paper here
  • Fujita, Matthew K. and Theodore J. Papenfuss 2011. Molecular systematics of Stenodactylus (Gekkonidae), an Afro-Arabian gecko species complex. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58 (1): 71-75 - get paper here
  • Gardner, A.S. 2013. The amphibians and reptiles of Oman and the UAE. Edition Chimaira, 480 pp.
  • Gebhart, J. 2013. Oman, quer durch`s Weihrauchland - ein Reisetagebuch. L@CERTIDAE (Eidechsen Online) 2013 [8]: 142-159 - get paper here
  • Haas, Georg 1957. Some amphibians and reptiles from Arabia. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 29 (3): 47-86 - get paper here
  • Jongbloed, M. 2000. Field Guide to the reptiles and amphibians of the UAE - Wild about reptiles. Barkers Trident Communications, 116 pp.
  • Kamali, Kamran 2020. A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Iran. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (www.chimaira.de). 574 pp.
  • Leptien, R. 1992. Stenodactylus arabicus from the United Arab Emirates. Jour. Int. Gecko Soc. 1 (2): 18-21
  • Leviton,A.E.; Anderson,S.C.; Adler, K.; Minton,S.A. 1992. Handbook to Middle East Amphibians and Reptiles. SSAR, Oxford, Ohio (Contr. to Herpetol. No. 8), 1-252
  • METALLINOU, MARGARITA; SALVADOR CARRANZA 2013. New species of Stenodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from the Sharqiyah Sands in northeastern Oman. Zootaxa 3745 (4): 449–468 - get paper here
  • Nazarov, Roman A.; DANIEL A. MELNIKOV, MEHDI RADJABIZADEH & NIKOLAY A. POYARKOV 2018. A new species of short-fingered geckos Stenodactylus (Squamata, Geckonidae) from South Iran with taxonomic notes on validity of the genus Trigonodactylus Hass, 1957. Zootaxa 4457 (1): 093–113 - get paper here
  • Pola, L., Hejduk, V., Zíka, A., Winkelhöfer, T., Šmíd, J., Carranza, S., ... & Amr, Z. S. 2021. Small and overlooked: Phylogeny of the genus Trigonodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), with the first record of Trigonodactylus arabicus from Jordan. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
  • Rösler, H. 2000. Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha). Gekkota 2: 28-153
  • Sindaco, R. & Jeremcenko, V.K. 2008. The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 579 pp. - get paper here
  • ŠMÍD, JIŘÍ; JIŘÍ MORAVEC, PETR KODYM, LUKÁŠ KRATOCHVÍL, SEYYED SAEED HOSSEINIAN YOUSEFKHANI, ESKANDAR RASTEGAR-POUYANI & DANIEL FRYNTA 2014. Annotated checklist and distribution of the lizards of Iran. Zootaxa 3855 (1): 001–097 - get paper here
  • van der Kooij, Jeroen 2001. The herpetofauna of the Sultanate of Oman: Part 2: the geckoes. Podarcis 1 (4): 105-123 - get paper here
 
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