Eirenis persicus (ANDERSON, 1872)
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Eirenis persicus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Dark-headed Dwarf Racer G: Persische Zwergnatter |
| Synonym | Cyclophis persicus ANDERSON 1872: 392 Pseudocyclophis walteri BOETTGER 1888: 261 (fide SMITH 1943) Pseudocyclophis persicus — BOETTGER 1888 Pseudocyclophis walteri — BOULENGER 1890 Contia persica — BOULENGER 1893 Contia angusticeps BOULENGER 1894: 262 (fide SMITH 1943) Contia persica — WALL 1908: 801 Contia angusticeps — WALL 1908 Contia walteri — WALL 1911 Contia mcmahoni WALL 1911: 1037 Contia zebrina WALL 1923 Contia mcmahoni — SMITH 1943: 189 Contia persica — SMITH 1943: 188 Eirenis persicus — FORCART 1950 Eirenis persica — KHALAF 1959 Contia persica walteri — TERENT ÉV & CHERNOV 1965 Eirenis persicus walteri — MERTENS 1969: 61 Eirenis persicus — BARAN 1978: 264 Eirenis persica — ANANJEVA et al. 1988: 9699 Eirenis mcmahoni — DAS 1996: 56 Pseudocyclophis persicus — FRYNTA et al. 1997 Pseudocyclophiops [sic] persicus — DAS & CHATURVEDI 1998 (in error) Pseudocyclophis persicus — KHAN 2004 Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) persicus — NAGY et al. 2004 Eirenis persicus — VENCHI & SINDACO 2006 Pseudocyclophis persicus — GRUBER 2009: 127 Eirenis persicus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 259 Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) walteri — RAJABIZADEH et al. 2015 Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) angusticeps — RAJABIZADEH et al. 2015 Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) mcmahoni — RAJABIZADEH et al. 2015 Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) walteri — AKBARPOUR et al. 2020 Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) angusticeps — AKBARPOUR et al. 2020 Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) mcmahoni — AKBARPOUR et al. 2020 Eirenis walteri — KAMALI 2020 |
| Distribution | S Turkmenistan, Iran, E Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, S Armenia Type locality: Bushire, Iran, (28°55′13′′N, 50°50′09′′E) angusticeps: NE Pakistan (lower ranges of Hindukush, Himalayan range); possibly E Afghanistan; Type locality: Cherat, Baluchistan (33°49′15′′N, 71°52′54′′E), North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. mcmahoni: Pakistan; Type locality: “Quetta, Lorlai, Mach, Spintangi” [Baluchistan, Pakistan] persicus: walteri: disjunct in S Turkmenistan, NE Iran, supposedly W Afghanistan; SE Iran, S/W Pakistan; Type locality: “Neu-Serachs an der Nordostspitze Persiens stück” [= Sarakhs city (36°32′15′′N, 61°10′26′′E), north-eastern Iran. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZSI 4828, ZSI 16624 (RAJABIZADEH et al. 2015) Holotype: Caucasian Museum Tiblissi [walteri] Holotype: ZISP 10323 [nigrofasciatus] Holotype: BNHM 768 [zebrina] Holotype: ZSI (Zoological Survey of India), Calcutta, India; lost fide Smith (1943) [angusticeps] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (subgenus Pseudocyclophis): Nagy et al. 2003: 160 |
| Comment | Subspecies: Eirenis persicus nigrofasciatus (NIKOLSKY 1907) has been considered as a valid species by recent authors. Distribution: Does probably not occur in India (I. DAS, pers. comm.). Records for “persicus” from Northwest India mentioned by some authors (e.g. SMith 1943, chernov 1948) and recently uncritically adopted (e.g. Leviton et al. 1992; Sindaco et al. 2000) refer almost certainly to localities in former ‘British India’ and therefore to what is today Pakistan. E. mcmahoni is not in Pakistan fide KHAN 2002 (pers. comm.) or not recognized as species by KHAN. Not in Turkey fide A. Avci, pers. comm. 21 May 2020. For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. Synonymy: E. mcmahoni has been considered as a synonym of Cyclophis persicus ANDERSON 1872 (= Pseudocyclophis persicus = Eirenis persica), e.g. by MINTON 1966 and others since then. RAJABIZADEH et al. 2015 revalidated Eirenis (Pseudocyclophis) walteri, angusticeps, nigrofasciatus, and mcmahoni in addition to describing a new species, E. occidentalis. However, their analysis appears to be a bit preliminary. From their phylogenetic analysis it is not clear which sequence data they analyzed (”ten novel sequences” without explanation), and it is unclear why they mention 8,9, and 7 speciments analyzed for angusticeps, nigrofasciatus, and walteri, of which only 2 nigrofasciatus are shown in their phylogenetic trees (Figs. 8,9). Only some of their revalidated species have diagnoses (provided here), others don’t (including persicus). Finally, their analysis (and peer review) seemed to have suffered from lack of care (e.g. the word “square” was misspelled 8 times in the text). Hence, we do not adopt their taxonomic conclusions at this point. Type species: Pseudocyclophis walteri Boettger, 1888 is the type species of the subgenus Pseudocyclophis Boettger, 1888. |
| Etymology | Named after its distribution in Persia (now: Iran). E. mcmahoni has been named after Sir Henry McMahon, the president of the Quetta Natural History Society, who sent the specimens to Wall. |
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