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Phrynocephalus arabicus ANDERSON, 1894

IUCN Red List - Phrynocephalus arabicus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAgamidae (Agaminae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Arabian Toadhead Agama 
SynonymPhrynocephalus arabicus ANDERSON 1894: 377
Phrynocephalus arabicus — HAAS 1957: 67
Phrynocephalus nejdensis HAAS 1957: 68
Phrynocephalus nejdensis macropeltis HAAS 1957: 69
Phrynocephalus arabicus — WERMUTH 1967: 76
Phrynocephalus arabicus — BISCHOFF & SCHMIDTLER 1981
Phrynocephalus arabicus — BARTS & WILMS 2003
Phrynocephalus (Phrynocephalus) arabicus — BARABAOV & ANANJEVA 2007
Phrynocephalus arabicus — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008
Phrynocephalus ahvazicus MELNIKOV, MELNIKOVA, NAZAROV, RAJABIZADEH, AL-JOHANY, AMR & ANANJEVA 2014
Phrynocephalus nejdensis — MELNIKOV et al. 2014
Phrynocephalus arabicus — MELNIKOV et al. 2014
Phrynocephalus macropeltis — MELNIKOV et al. 2014
Phrynocephalus ahvazicus — KAMALI 2020
Phrynocephalus nejdensis — ALOUFI et al. 2021
Phrynocephalus ahvazicus — SOLOVYEVA et al. 2023
Phrynocephalus nejdensis — SOLOVYEVA et al. 2023
Phrynocephalus arabicus — SOLOVYEVA et al. 2023 
DistributionSE Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iran, S Iraq ?, Jordan

Type locality: Plateau of Hadramut, SE Arabia.

ahvazicus: Iran (Khuzestan); Type locality: Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, Iran.

nejdensis: Type locality: "Nafud, near Qana, North Nejd, WNW of Hail, Saudi Arabia".

macropeltis: CE Saudi Arabia; Type locality: "Dhahran [Az Zahrãn], Saudi Arabia" [approximately 26º17' N, 50º12' E].  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 1946.8.28.33 (formerly BMNH 97.3.11.51) and BMNH 1946.8.28.34 (formerly BMNH 97.3.11.52).
Holotype: ZISP 27131 (formerly R-12713G2), adult male (Fig. 7). Paratypes. ZISP 25019 – 25023, ZISP 27088, ICSTZM6H 1291, 1292 (formerly ZISP 26645, 26646) and ZMMU R-12713G1, R-12713G3 – 12713G6 with the same data as Holotype [ahvazicus]
Holotype: CAS 84619 [macropeltis]
Holotype: HUJ 2711 [nejdensis] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (6376 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: partly after LEVITON & ANDERSON 1967. Note that Melnikov et al. 2014 split P. arabicus into 4 species: arabicus, nejdensis, macropeltis, and ahvazicus. The description of Melnivkov is rather confusing, so their conclusions are sometimes murky. For instance, Figs 4a,b and Fig 5a say “Phrynocephalus sp. nov.” but it doesn’t say which species. Also, the map says “tissue samples” but doesn’t say of what. Ebrahimipour et al. 2021 found that P. ahvazicus is closely related to P. arabicus, hence they consider both as synonyms.

Distribution: See map in SMID et al. 2014 for distribution in Iran and map in Burriel-Carranza et al. 2019 for map in UAE. For localities see also map in Melnikov et al. 2014: Fig. 1 (although that shows only numbers, so it’s a pain to figure out what each number is, but 3 and 11 are macropeltis).

NCBI taxonID: 1788406 [ahvazicus] 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality. 
References
  • Al-Quran, S. 2009. The Herpetofauna of the Southern Jordan. American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci., 6 (4): 385-391 [this journal has a dubious record, see http://goo.gl/81SBPv]
  • Al-Shammari, Ahmed M. 2012. Additional Records of Lizards in Ha'il Province, Saudi Arabia. Russ. J. Herpetol. 19 (4): 287-291 - get paper here
  • Aloufi, A., Al Zayer, M., & Amr, Z. S. 2023. Reptiles and Amphibians along the Coastal Area of the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Ecologica Montenegrina, 68, 66-87 - get paper here
  • Aloufi, A., Amr, Z., & Baker, M. A. 2022. Reptiles from'Uruq Bani Ma'arid and Harat al Harrah protected areas in Saudi Arabia: Reptiles from two protected areas in Saudi Arabia. Herpetology Notes 15: 483-491
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  • Anderson, J. 1894. On two new species of agamoid lizards from the Hardramut, South-Eastern Arabia. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 14: 377 - 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
  • BARABANOV, A.V. & N.B. ANANJEVA 2007. Catalogue of the available scientific species-group names for lizards of the genus Phrynocephalus Kaup, 1825 (Reptilia, Sauria, Agamidae). Zootaxa 1399: 1-56 - get paper here
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  • Disi, A.M.; Modry, D.; Nečas, P. & Rifai, L. 2001. Amphibians and reptiles of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 408 pp.
  • Ebrahimipour, F., Rastegar-Pouyani, N., Rastegar-Pouyani, E., Hosseinian Yousefkhani, S. S., & Kamali, K. 2021. Molecular phylogenetic relationships within the Phrynocephalus maculatus-arabicus species complex (Sauria: Agamidae) in Iran. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 59, 1583–1588
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  • Leviton,A.E.; Anderson,S.C.; Adler, K.; Minton,S.A. 1992. Handbook to Middle East Amphibians and Reptiles. SSAR, Oxford, Ohio (Contr. to Herpetol. No. 8), 1-252
  • Londei, Tiziano 2015. Arabian sand boa Eryx jayakari (Squamata: Boidae) preying on Arabian toad-headed agama Phrynocephalus arabicus (Squamata: Agamidae): a nocturnal-to-diurnal species interaction. Herpetology Notes 8: 155-156 - get paper here
  • Melnikov, Daniel; Ekaterina Melnikova, Roman Nazarov, Mahdi Rajabizadeh,, Awadh Al-Johany, Zuhair S. Amr, and Natalia B. Ananjeva 2014. TAXONOMIC REVISION OF Phrynocephalus arabicus ANDERSON, 1984 COMPLEX WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES FROM AHVAZ, SOUTH-WESTERN IRAN. Russ. J. Herpetol. 21 (2): 149-159
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