Cyrtopodion minimum NAZAROV, NABIZADEH, RAJABIZADEH, MOADDAB, NIKOLAEV, SOLOVYEVA, MELNIKOV, ANANJEVA, POYARKOV & RATSEGAR-POUYANI, 2026
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Cyrtopodion minimum
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Cyrtopodion minimum NAZAROV, NABIZADEH, RAJABIZADEH, MOADDAB, NIKOLAEV, SOLOVYEVA, MELNIKOV, ANANJEVA, POYARKOV & RATSEGAR-POUYANI 2026: 116 |
| Distribution | Iran (Sistan-Baluchestan) Type locality: Iran, Sistan-Baluchestan Prov., Chobahar-Iranshakhr road, near Kaslouch Vill. (25.766668° N 61.416669° E; elevation 41 m a.s.l.), |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. ZMMU R-15962 (RAN 3479). Adult male was found on April 28, 2018, by Roman Nazarov, Mahdi Radjabizadeh, Daniel Melnikov, and Hossain Nabizadeh. Paratypes. Eight specimens: two adult males ZMMU R-15963 (RAN 3946), ZMMU R-18264 (RAN 3991) and adult female ZMMU R-18265 (RAN 3478), adult female ZISP 30417 (RAN 3480), and one adult male MMTT.Z.REP.RAN 3945, subadult male MMTT.Z.REP.RAN 3947, and two undetermined sexes subadult MMTT.Z.REP.RAN 3948 and MMTT.Z.REP. RAN 3949. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Smallest representative of the agamuroides-gastropholis complex SVLmax known for adult male than 32.8 mm, tail about 1.3 time longer than SVL; snout rounded with relatively short rostrum (HeadLGSnEye 2.96); eye extremely large (HeadLGOrbD 2.8); small, round, smooth dorsal tubercles in 6 – 8 rows across middorsum, 23 – 25 tubercles in paravertebral row (between occipital region and middle of sacrum); tail segments weakly distinct, subcaudals in single median row of transversely enlarged shields; 21 – 23 abdominal scales across middle of belly, 90 – 102 midventral scales along body. Male has 4 precloacal pores. No enlarged femoral scales or femoral pores; 10 infralabial scales, 11 supralabials; large triangular mental plate, three pairs of postmentals, first pair in broad contact to each other. Limbs and tail are extremely thin and elongate. Dorsal patterns weakly distinct and consisting of small dark dots or narrow transverse dashes, or almost absent, 7 – 8 dark transverse bands on the tail base, one-third to half of the tail whiteish and patternless. (Nazarov et al. 2026) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about less than half a page) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | Status: this species should be considered as preliminary, given that the authors only used a COI fragment for sequencing and did not compare it to all Iranian species (which are also not all shown on the map). |
| Etymology | Named after Latin minimus (“least,” or “smallest”), and is given in reference to the miniature size of the new species, the smallest among the geckos of this group. |
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