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Eirenis punctatolineatus (BOETTGER, 1892)

IUCN Red List - Eirenis punctatolineatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesEirenis punctatolineatus condoni (BOULENGER 1920)
Eirenis punctatolineatus punctatolineatus (BOETTGER 1892) 
Common NamesE: Dotted Dwarf Racer
G: Armenische Zwergnatter 
SynonymCyclophis modestus var. punctatolineata BOETTGER 1892: 147
Contia schelkovnikovi NIKOLSKY 1909: 301
Zamenis bornmüllerorum WERNER 1903: 343
Contia collaris var. bornmüllerorum — WERNER 1917
Eirenis punctatolineatus kumerloevei EISELT 1970
Eirenis punctatolineatus — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Eirenis iranica SCHMIDT 1939 (fide SCHMIDTLER & EISELT 1991)
Eirenis (Pediophis) punctatolineatus kumerloevei — NAGY et al. 2004
Eirenis (Pediophis) punctatolineatus — NAGY et al. 2004
Eirenis iranicus — RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al. 2008
Eirenis punctatolineatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 259
Eirenis punctatolineatus kumerlaevi — TUNIYEV et al. 2014

Eirenis punctatolineatus condoni (BOULENGER 1920)
Contia condoni BOULENGER 1920: 1024
Eirenis punctatolineatus condoni — RAJABIZADEH et al. 2012
Eirenis punctatolineatus condoni — KAZEMI et al. 2020 
DistributionSoviet Union (Caucasus), S Armenia, SE/SW Azerbaijan, CE Turkey, W Iran, NE Iraq

condoni: Iran (southern Zagros mountains and the adjacent area of the western Zagros foothills, in the south to low elevated mountain sides adjacent to Persian Gulf, and eastwards to around Kerman and Bam cities in Kerman province); Type locality: Around Shiraz, Fars province, Iran.

kumerloevei (now invalid): Akdamar Island in Lake Van.

punctatolineatus: Central-eastern Turkey, central and southern Armenia, southern Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan, and northern and western Iran in the northern Zagros and Azarbaijan mountains and through the Alborz Mountains up to northern Khorasan and adjacent mountains of central Iran; Type locality: Armenia  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: SMF 19288 according to Mertens (1967).
Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.5.41 [condoni]
Holotype: ZFMK 5990 [Eirenis punctatolineatus kumerloevei] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: The nominate subspecies is characterised by a combination of morphometric, meristic and color pattern characters, especially by the number of subcaudal scales, 63-77 (X = 72.09) in males and 61-68 (X = 64.67) in females and the ratio of tail length on total length, 21.86-26.40 (X = 24.66) in males and 20.77-23.17 (X = 21.79). Detailed morphological characteristics of Eirenis punctatolineatus punctatolineatus have been presented in tables 2, 6, and 7. The color pattern of the nominate subspecies consists of a light brown dorsal ground color with anterior dorsal dark crossbars, interrupted on dorsal midline, which reduce posteriorly to dark spots and then progressively change to longitudinal continuous or interrupted dorsal parallel lines at 1/2 to 2/3 of total length. This typical pattern changes a little in some specimens and the anterior dorsal crossbars are replaced by square-shaped dark spots. Some adults are completely patternless. Only in some adult specimens of Akdamar Island in Lake Van, the dorsal ground color has changed into dark gray or black (the former melanistic subspecies kumerloevei Eiselt, 1970); and these specimens don’t display any visible dorsal pattern.


Additional details (1199 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy partly after KHALIKOV & ANANJEVA (pers. comm.). FRANZEN & SIGG (1989) synonymized Eirenis punctatolineatus kumerloevei with Eirenis punctatolineatus. Zamenis bornmüllerorum Werner, 1903 was based on the examination of one specimen from “Elburs (= Al- borz) mountain” “am Keredscli (supposedly Karaj)-Ufer”, Iran, at the elevation of 2100 m. Nikolsky (1909) described Contia schelkovnikovi based on the examination of one specimen from a dry slope near Dzhi village of Lenkoran region (Azerbajdzhan Republic). Contia condoni Boulenger, 1920 was based on a couple of specimens collected from Shiraz (center of Fars province, Iran). Eirenis iranica Schmidt, 1939 was described based on a single adult male collected in 1934 from Tirak Mart mountain (now: Bibi Shahrbanu mountain) near Rayy (now: Rey), south of Tehran, Iran. Eirenis punctatolineatus kumerloevei Eiselt, 1970 was based on a single specimen from Akdamar Island in Van Lake, Turkey. It was distinguished from the nominal subspecies by a black dorsal coloration with scattered light spots. Franzen and Sigg (1989) erected questions about the validity of this subspecies, as only 11 of 22 specimens examined by them from Akdamar Island, showed the black dorsal color.

Distribution: not in Iraq fide Habeeb & Rastegar-Pouyani 2016. Map: see Rajabizadeh et al. 2012. For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. 
EtymologyNamed after the punctate pattern, ordered in a row or line (”linea”).
 
References
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