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Mesalina watsonana (STOLICZKA, 1872)

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Higher TaxaLacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Persian Long-Tailed Desert Lizard 
SynonymEremias (Mesalina) watsonana STOLICZKA 1872: 86
Mesalina watsonana — MURRAY 1884: 349
Mesalina pardalis BLANFORD 1876: 26 (not LICHTENSTEIN; fide SMITH 1935)
Mesalina pardaloides BLANFORD 1874: 32 (fide SMITH 1935)
Eremias guttulata watsonana — SMITH 1935: 389
Eremias guttulata watsonana — LEVITON 1959: 452
Eremias guttulata watsonana — ANDERSON & LEVITON 1969
Mesalina guttulata watsonana — NILSON & ANDREN 1981: 138
Mesalina guttulata watsonana — SZCZERBAK 1989
Mesalina watsonana — BISCHOFF 1995
Eremias guttulata watsonana — DAS 1996: 49
Mesalina watsonana — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008
Mesalina watsonana — NASRABADI et al. 2017 
DistributionIran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, NW India

Type locality: between Karachi and Sukkur, Sind.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 74.4.29.1436/1946.8.7.75, ZSI 4929, 5050, 5223-5225, NMW, ZSI 5224–25, 4929, 5050, 5223 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Three nasals, lower in contact with rostral
and first supralabial; ventral plates in 10 (rarely 8) straight longitudinal series; small occipital present; larger transparent scales of lower eyelid edged with black. Collar complete or nearly so, its scales distinctly enlarged (Smith, 1935). Hemipenis relatively long, the basal parts of the lobes not folded, although the apical sections are; armature very elongate and cleft for most of its length with narrow clavulae; lips of sulcus strongly developed (Arnold, 1986). Grayish or olivaceous above; dorsum with longitudinal series of small white spots edged with black on flanks; often light dorsolateral stripe running to eye; limbs marbled with black and white; black streak on posterior aspect of thigh; venter whitish, some indi- viduals from some localities having pale yellow throat and chest (Stoliczka, 1872, Yousefkhani et al. 2015).
 
CommentDistribution: See map in SMID et al. 2014 for distribution in Iran.

Phylogenetics: Baroumand et al. 2024 found seven clades within this species, corresponding to distinct geographic regions. These authors suggest to elevate all clades to the species level without naming or diagnosing them though. 
References
  • Ahmadzadeh, Faraham ; Petros Lymberakis; Reyhaneh Saberi Pirouz, Paschalia Kapli 2017. The evolutionary history of two lizards (Squamata: Lacertidae) is linked to the geological development of Iran. Zoologischer Anzeiger 270: 49–56 - get paper here
  • Anderson, Steven C 1999. The lizards of Iran. Contributions to Herpetology Volume 15, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Saint Louis, Missouri: i-vii, 1-442 [review in Copeia 2000 (4): 1144] - get paper here
  • Baig, KJ, Masroor, R., and Arshad, M. 2008. Biodiversity and ecology of the herpetofauna of Cholistan Desert, Pakistan. Russ. J. Herpetol. 15 (3): 193-205 - get paper here
  • Blanford, W.T. 1874. Descriptions of new Reptilia and Amphibia from Persia and Baluchistan. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (4) 14: 31-35 - get paper here
  • Blanford, W.T. 1876. On some lizards from Sind, with descriptions of new species of Ptyodactylus, Stenodactylus, and Trapelus. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 45: 232-233 [1875] - get paper here
  • Boroumand, H., Saberi‐Pirooz, R., Bafti, S. S., Böhme, W., & Ahmadzadeh, F. 2024. Speciation in the Iranian plateau: Molecular phylogeny and evolutionary history of the Persian long‐tailed desert lizard. Zoologica Scripta - get paper here
  • Clark, R. J., Clark, E. D. and Anderson, S. C. 1966. Report on two small collections of reptiles from Iran. Occ. Pap. Cal. Acad. Sci. (55): 1-9 - get paper here
  • Clark, R. J., Clark, E. D., Anderson, S. C. and Leviton, A. E. 1969. Report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from Afghanistan. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (ser. 4) 36: 279-316. - get paper here
  • Damadi, Ehsan; Rasoul Karamiani; Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani; Ali Gholamifard 2017. A checklist of lizards from southeastern part of the Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics, DOI: 10.22067/ijab.v13i1.50398 - get paper here
  • Ebrahimipour, Farnaz; Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani, Batoul Ghorbani 2016. A Preliminary Study of the Reptile’s Fauna in Northwestern Yazd Province, Iran. Russ. J. Herpetol. 23 (4): 243-248 - get paper here
  • Forcart, Lothar 1950. Amphibien und Reptilien von Iran. Verh. naturf. Ges. Basel 61: 141-156
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248
  • Heidari, N.; H.G. Kami 2009. Lizards of the Gando Protected area in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 5 (2): 57-64 - get paper here
  • Hosseinian Yousefkhani, S. S., E. Rastegar-Pouyani & N. Rastegar-Pouyani 2013. Geographic variation in Mesalina watsonana (Sauria: Lacertidae) along a latitudinal cline on the Iranian Plateau. Salamandra 49 (3): 171-176 - get paper here
  • Hosseinian Yousefkhani, S.S. & Rastegar-Pouyani, E. & Rastegar-Pouyani, N. 2013. Most records of Mesalina watsonana (STOLICZKA, 1872) are situated in average elevation on the Iranian Plateau. L@CERTIDAE (Eidechsen Online) 2013 [1]: 1-6 - get paper here
  • Hosseinian Yousefkhani, Seyyed Saeed,Nasrullah RASTEGAR-POUYANI, Eskandar RASTEGAR-POUYANI 2013. Morphological variation among populations of Mesalina watsonana (Stoliczka, 1872) (Sauria: Lacertidae) in Iran. Turk J Zool 37: 676-684 - get paper here
  • Hosseinian-Yousefkhani, Seyyed Saeed, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Rafaqat Masroor, and Jiří Šmíd 2013. Modelling the potential distribution of Mesalina watsonana (Stoliczka, 1872) (Reptilia: Lacertidae) on the Iranian Plateau. Zoology in the Middle East 59 (3): - get paper here
  • Hosseinian-Yousefkhani, Seyyed Saeed; Gabriel M.D. Marmol Marin, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani 2015. A Bibliographic Recompilation of the Genus Mesalina Gray, 1838 (Sauria: Lacertidae) with a Key to the Species. Russ. J. Herpetol. 22 (1): 23-34 - get paper here
  • Jablonski D, Regan JM, Holzheuser C, Farooqi J, Basit A, Masroor R 2019. Additional data to the herpetofauna of Afghanistan. Herpetozoa 32: 177-193 - get paper here
  • Jablonski D, Urošević A, Andjelković M, Džukić G 2019. An unknown collection of lizards from Afghanistan. ZooKeys 843: 129-147 - get paper here
  • Kamali, Kamran 2020. A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Iran. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (www.chimaira.de). 574 pp.
  • Kapli, P., Lymberakis, P., Crochet, P.-A., Geniez, P., Brito, J. C., Almutairi, M., Ahmadzadeh, F., Schmitz, A., Wilms, T., Pouyani, N. R., Poulakakis, N. 2014. Historical biogeography of the lacertid lizard Mesalina in North Africa and the Middle East. Journal of Biogeography, doi: 10.1111/jbi.12420 - get paper here
  • Khan, M.S. 2003. CHECKLIST AND KEY TO THE LIZARDS OF PAKISTAN. Pakistan J. Zool. Suppl. Ser. (1): 1-25 - get paper here
  • Leviton, A. E. and Anderson S. C. 1963. Third contribution to the herpetology of Afghanistan. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 31: 329-339. - get paper here
  • Leviton, A.E. 1959. Systematics and Zoogeography of Philippine Snakes. Unpublished PhD Thesis.
  • Leviton, A.E.; Anderson, S.C. 1961. Further Remarks on the Amphibians and Reptiles of Afghanistan. Wasmann Journal of Biology 19 (2): 269-276 - get paper here
  • Leviton, Alan E. 1959. Report on a collection of reptiles from Afghanistan. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 29 (12): 445-463 - get paper here
  • Manzoor, U.; M. Z. Khan and M. Asif Iqbal 2019. DISTRIBUTION, STATUS AND CONSERVATION OF REPTILIAN FAUNA IN THE COASTAL AREAS OF KARACHI WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MARINE TURTLES. The J. Anim. Plant Sci. 29(6): - get paper here
  • Murray, J.A. 1884. The Vertebrate Zoology of Sind. London (Richardso) & Bombay, 424 pp.
  • NASRABADI, REZA; NASRULLAH RASTEGAR-POUYANI, ESKANDAR RASTEGAR-POUYANI, AHMAD GHARZI 2017. A revised key to the lizards of Iran (Reptilia: Squamata: Lacertilia). Zootaxa 4227 (3): 431–443 - get paper here
  • Nilson,G. & Andren,C. 1981. Die Herpetofauna des Kavir-Schutzgebietes, Kavir-Wüste, Iran. Salamandra 17 (3-4): 130-146 - get paper here
  • Rahimi, E., Rastegar Pouyani, N., & Karamiani, R. 2020. The Lizard Fauna of Arsanjan County, Northeast Fars Province. Journal of Animal Research (Iranian Journal of Biology) - get paper here
  • RASTEGAR-POUYANI, NASRULLAH; HAJI GHOLI KAMI, MEHDI RAJABZADEH, SOHEILA SHAFIEI AND STEVEN CLEMENT ANDERSON 2008. Annotated Checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Iran. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 4 (1): 7-30
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  • Sindaco, R. & Jeremcenko, V.K. 2008. The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 579 pp. - get paper here
  • Smid, Jiri; Daniel Frynta 2012. Genetic variability of Mesalina watsonana (Reptilia: Lacertidae) on the Iranian plateau and its phylogenetic and biogeographic affinities as inferred from mtDNA sequences. Acta Herpetologica 7 (1): 139-153 - 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
  • Smith, M.A. 1935. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.
  • Stoliczka, F. 1872. Notes on reptiles collected by surgeon F. Day in Sind. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 1872: 85-92 - get paper here
  • Szczerbak, Nikolai N. 1989. Catalogue of the African Sand lizards (Reptilia: Sauria: Eremiainae: Lampreremias, Pseuderemias, Taenieremias, Mesalina, Meroles). Herpetozoa 1 (3/4): 119-132. - get paper here
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  • Zadhoush, B., Mousavi, S., Mousavi, S. J., & Rajabizadeh, M. 2022. A preliminary study of the lizard fauna (Reptilia: Squamata: Lacertilia) and their habitats in Bafq Protected Area and Darreh-Anjir Wildlife Refuge, Yazd Province, Central Iran. Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity, 6(X) - get paper here
 
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