The Morphology and Distribution of Ablepharus bivittatus (Ménétriés, 1832) (Reptilia: Sauria: Scincidae) in Turkey

Çetin Ilgaz, Yusuf Kumlutaş, Kurtuluş Olgun, İbrahim Baran

Abstract


A total of 34 Ablepharus bivittatus specimens collected from two different localities in Van, Turkey (75 km SE of Van — first locality of Ablepharus bivittatus in Turkey and 10 km NE of Çaldıran) were examined in terms of pholidosis characters, morphometric measurements and color-pattern features. Two populations were differentiated from one another in terms of the number of the scales composing the rings around the eyes (left) (ESa) according to the results of the Mann–Whitney U-test. One-way analyses variance (ANOVA) based on morphometric measurements revealed significant differences in terms of the distance of fore and hindlimb index (GA1), head index (HI), head length index (HL1), forelimb index (LP1a) and hindlimb index (LP2a) between the 2 populations. Regarding morphological features, especially morphometric measurements, Turkish specimens are differentiated from Ablepharus bivittatus specimens from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Furthermore, Ablepharus bivittatus specimens were recorded for the first from a new locality (10 km NE of Çaldıran) and the known range of species was extended in Turkey.

Keywords


Ablepharus bivittatus; new locality; distribution; Van; Turkey

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2007-14-2-91-97

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