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Eremias velox (PALLAS, 1771)

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Higher TaxaLacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesEremias velox borkini EREMCHENKO & PANFILOV 1999
Eremias velox caucasia LANTZ 1928
Eremias velox velox (PALLAS 1771) 
Common NamesE: Rapid Racerunner, Rapid Fringe-Toed Lizard; Central Asian Racerunner
G: Schneller Wüstenrenner
Russian: Быстрая ящурка
Chinese: 快步麻蜥 
SynonymLacerta velox PALLAS 1771: 406, 457
Lacerta cruenta PALLAS 1771: 406
Ameiua velox — MEYER 1795: 28 (error typographicus)
Ameiua cruenta — MEYER 1795: 28
Podarcis velox — MÉNÉTRIES 1832: 62
Eremias velox — WIEGMANN 1834
Lacerta cruenta PALLAS 1771
Lacerta deserti GEORGI 1800
Scincus cruentatus DAUDIN 1802
Lacerta coccinea MERREM 1820
Lacerta tigrina KUHL 1820
Lacerta leucosticta LICHTENSTEIN 1823 (fide BAUER & GÜNTHER 1995)
Podarcis velox — WAGLER 1830
Lacerta gracilis EICHWALD 1831
Lacerta argulus EICHWALD 1831
Lacerta velox — EVERSMANN 1834: 355
Eremias coeruleo-ocellata DUMERIL & BIBRON 1839: 295
Aspidorhinus gracilis — EICHWALD 1841
Eremias gracilis — EICHWALD 1851
Eremias variabilis DE FILIPPI 1865
Eremias caeruleo-ocellata — ANDERSON 1872: 373
Podarces (Eremias) velox — BEDRIAGA 1879: 32
Eremias scripta ZARUDNY 1895
Eremias velox — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Eremias velox velox — ANDERSON 1999: 227
Eremias velox — BAIG & MASROOR 2006
Eremias (Aspidorhinus) velox — BARABANOV 2009
Eremias (Aspidorhinus velox — MASROOR et al. 2020

Eremias velox borkini EREMCHENKO & PANFILOV 1999
Eremias velox borkini — ANANJEVA et al. 2006
Eremias velox borkini — LIU et al. 2014
Eremias velox borkini — DAVLETBAKOV et al. 2016

Eremias velox caucasia LANTZ 1928
Lacerta vittata EVERSMANN 1834: 358 (see comment)
Eremias velox caucasica — ROITBERG et al. 2000
Eremias velox caucasica — BISCHOFF 2003
Eremias velox caucasia — LIU et al. 2014 
DistributionKazakhstan, Turkmenistan, W Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
N Iran, N Afghanistan, Pakistan ?
China (Xinjiang, Gansu, Nei Mongol = Inner Mongolia)
Russia (lower Volga region, Kalmyk Steppe, Daghestan),
Azerbaijan, E Republic of Georgia

borkini: Kyrgyzstan (Tien Shan mountains, Issyk Kul area)

caucasia: Azerbaijan, E Republic of Georgia, S Russia (Caucasus, Dagestan)

velox: Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia (Lower Wolga area, Kalmyken steppes, EN Caucasia), N Afghanistan, NW China; Type locality: Inder Mountains, Lower Ural River, NW Kazakhstan; “Inderskiensem lacum” fide ANDERSON 1999 [see Zhao and Adler, 1993:204 for note on type locality]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesNeotype: ZISP (ZIL) 16233 (designated by Szczerbak 1974: 84)
Holotype: IBKB (= Zoological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan) R 002662, Kyrgyzstan, Tien Shan, southern shore of Issyk-Kul lake, area between the Ak-Terek and Ak-Sai, 6.06.1986, Coll. V.K. Eremchenko, paratypes: as holotype: ZISP [borkini]
Syntypes: FMNH, personal collection of Cyrén (but see comment) [caucasia] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Lower nasal resting on 2 or 3 supralabials; subocular bordering mouth; lateral scales of fourth toe not fonning distinct fringe; fourth toe with single row of subdigital scales, complete row of somewhat smaller ventrolateral scales, and a few scattered, much smaller dorsolateral scales not forming complete row (total of three scales counted around penultimate phalanx of fourth toe); usually several collar scales distinctly larger than adjacent gulars; 23-25 gulars; 46-56 dorsal scales; series of femoral pores separated by space not greater than one-fourth length of each (Anderson 1999: 227, Fig. 110).


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CommentLiu et al. 2014 postulated several additional species without formally describing them.

Synonymy mainly after KHALIKOV & ANANJEVA (pers. comm.). Eremias velox roborowskii BEDRIAGA 1906 has been elevated to full species status by Liu et al. 2018.

Types: Lantz (1928) cites 44 specimens of Eremias velox caucasia in the examined material which could all be taken for syntypes. In fact he discreetly indicates "(types)" only for six copies of "Bibi-Eybat" near Baku collected in 1910 and numbered 2600 to 2605 in the personal collection of Cyrén. Therefore only these specimens should be considered as syntypes. Marx (1976) reports the presence of two "cotypes" of the USSR in the collections of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (USA). The typical locality was restricted by Mertens & Wermuth (1960) to Elisabethpol [now Ganja], in the center of the country in Azerbaijan, while, oddly enough, the type-series comes from Bibi-Eybat (now Bibi-Heybat) located at east of the country, in Baku Bay, a site very visited by tourists for its magnificent mosque. Bischoff & Schmidtler (2014) note that Lacerta vittata Eversmann, 1834 takes precedence over E. velox caucasia but advocates keeping the latter in accordance with the principle of stability. Typical locality: Bibi-Eybat near Baku, restricted by Mertens & Wermuth (1960). The situation of this taxon is not yet clarified in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature - a lectotype or a neotype should be designated (Ineich et al., 2017, I. Doronin, pers. comm. Nov 2018).

Distribution: Not in Pakistan fide KHAN 2002 (pers. comm.). For maps of subspecies see Liu et al. 2014. See map in SMID et al. 2014 for distribution in Iran. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “velox, velocis” = fast or swift. 
References
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