BIHAREAN BIOLOGIST 8 (2): 126-128 ©Biharean Biologist, Oradea, Romania, 2014 Article No.: 141208 http://biozoojournals.ro/bihbiol/index.html

New locality records of the Striped Dwarf Snake, Eirenis lineomaculatus Schmidt, 1939

(Squamata: Ophidia: Colubridae) in Turkey

Bayram GÖÇMEN1, Musa GEÇİT2 and Mert KARIŞ1,*

1. Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Zoology Section, 35100 Bornova, Izmir, Turkey.

2. Nur Mahallesi Neighbourhood Unit, 47200 Artuklu, Mardin, Turkey. *Corresponding author, M. Kariş, E-mail: mert.karis@hotmail.com

Tel: +90 (232) 311 17 95, Fax: +90 (232) 388 10 36

Received: 31 August 2014 / Accepted: 22. September 2014 / Available online: 04. October 2014 / Printed: December 2014

Abstract. Two new localities of the Striped Dwarf Snake, Eirenis lineomaculatus, from Akçadağ, Malatya province, and Artuklu, Mardin province, are presented based on our fieldwork conducted in eastern and south-eastern Turkey in May-June, 2014. The Akçadağ record represents the northernmost locality and about 30 km (air distance) far to the north from the nearest known locality (40 km SW Malatya). The Artuklu record is the easternmost locality and represents a considerable range extension for the species, approximately 270 km air distance to the southeast from its nearest known locality (40 km SW Malatya).

Key Words: Striped Dwarf Snake, Eirenis lineomaculatus, Colubridae, new locality, distribution, Turkey.

The Striped Dwarf Snake was described by Schmidt (1939) from the Jordan Valley, Palestine, as Eirenis lineomaculata. The first Anatolian record was also given by Schmidt (1939) from the Amik Plain, Hatay province, as the single paratype of this species. Chernov (1948) placed it under the synonym of Eirenis coronella, which is closely related with the Eirenis lineomaculatus. However, this species was not mentioned, not even as a synonym of Eirenis coronella, in the studies of the Bodenheimer (1944) and Mertens (1952) on the Turkish her-petofauna. Başoğlu (1970) was the first to include Eirenis lineomaculatus to the Turkish herpetofauna with two speci-mens (Adana and İskenderun) from Turkey. Baran (1976) and Başoğlu & Baran (1980) examined in detail the Anatolian populations of Eirenis lineomaculatus and concluded this spe-cies is restricted from Hatay to Adana provinces in Turkey. Schmidtler & Schmidtler (1978) recorded a single specimen from 5 km South of Narlı, Kahramanmaraş province. Nagy et al. (2003) gave a record from 40 km southwest of Malatya province. The last Anatolian records were given by Mahlow et al. (2013) from the north of Adana and Mersin provinces, respectively. Later, the taxonomy of the Eirenis lineomacula-tus was reorganized in the subgenus “Pediophis” which was established with the detailed and comprehensive molecular, morphological and other non-molecular investigations by Nagy et al. (2003).

At present, Eirenis lineomaculatus has wide distribution range known along the south-north direction in the Middle East approximately 800 km air distance from Al Karak, Jor-dan to 40 km southwest of Malatya province with a vertical distribution from sea level up to 1200 m a.s.l. (Schmidt 1939, Başoğlu 1970, Schmidtler & Schmidtler 1978, Başoğlu & Baran 1980, Disi 1985, Esterbauer 1985, Disi et al. 2001, Hraoui-Bloquet et al. 2002, Nagy et al. 2003, Shwayat et al. 2009, Amr & Disi 2011, Mahlow et al. 2013, Budak & Göçmen 2014).

In May-June 2014, during a photographical-herpetolo-gical trip to eastern and south-eastern Anatolia, we discov-ered two new localities of the Striped Dwarf Snake “Eirenis lineomaculatus”; Akçadağ, Malatya province, and Artuklu, Mardin province. The Akçadağ record extends the distribu-tion about 30 km air distance north, whereas the Artuklu re-cord is far distant from the nearest locality (40 km SW of Malatya) with approximately 270 km air distance. The new and previously known localities from the literature are shown in Figure 1. We photographed the Artuklu specimen naturally and with a pho-tography box for ventral and close aspects, then we released it to its

Figure 1. Map of the new localities of Eirenis lineomaculatus (solid asterisk) and previously known localities from literature (solid circles) in the Middle East. [1. Al Karak, Jordan (Shwayat et al., 2009); 2. Jerusalem, Israel (Mahlow et al., 2013); 3. Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel (Mahlow et al., 2013); 4. Ramat, Tel Aviv, Israel (Mahlow et al., 2013); 5. Jordan Valley, Palestine (Schmidt, 1939); 6. Jarash, Jordan (Amr & Disi, 2011); 7. Al Zarqa, Jordan (Disi, 1985); 8. Al Mafraq, Jordan (Shwayat et al., 2009); 9. Irbid, Jordan (Shwayat et al., 2009); 10. Haifa, Israel (Mahlow et al., 2013); 11. Golan hights, Syria (Mahlow et al., 2013); 12. Al Qunaytra, Syria (Esterbauer, 1985); 13. Majdal Al Shams, Syria (Esterbauer, 1985); 14. El Manssoura, Nabatieh, Lebanon (Esterbauer, 1985); 15. Mazboud, Lebanon (Hraoui-Bloquet et al., 2002); 16. Barouk, Beirut, Lebanon (Hraoui-Bloquet et al., 2002); 17. Amioun, Lebanon (Disi, 1985); 18. Amik Plain, Hatay, Turkey (Schmidt, 1939); 19. İskenderun, Hatay, Turkey (Başoğlu, 1970); 20. Mersin, Turkey (Mahlow et al., 2013); 21. Adana, Turkey (Başoğlu, 1970); 22. North Adana, Turkey (Mahlow et al., 2013); 23. 5 km S Narli, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Schmidtler & Schmidtler, 1978); 24. 40 km SW Malatya, Turkey (Nagy et al., 2003); 25. Akçadağ, Malatya, Turkey (new locality); 26. Artuklu, Mardin, Turkey (new locality)]

Range extensions of Eirenis lineomaculatus in Anatolia

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Figure 2. E. lineomaculatus from Artuklu, Mardin province, and the habitat of the new locality; (a) Dorsolateral view, (b) Ventral aspect, (c) Upper body and head configuration, (d) Habitat landscape of the new locality (Artuklu, Mardin).

Table 1. Comparison of some metric (in mm) and meristic (pholidotic) character variations of the E. lineomaculatus Artuklu, Mardin specimen and other studies. Abbreviations of the metric characters were given in text (n.m.- not mentioned).

Mardin Specimen

Schmidt 1939

Başoğlu 1970

Baran 1976

Başoğlu & Baran 1980

Shwayat et al. 2009

Amr & Disi 2011

Mahlow et al. 2013

Supralabialia 7 7 7 7 n.m. 7 n.m. 7 or rarely 8 Sublabialia 8-6 8 7 or 8 7 or 8 n.m. 7 or 8 n.m. 7-8 or rarely 9 Lorealia 1-1 none 1-0 or 1-1 none or 1 n.m. none or 1 1-1 none or 1 Preocularia 1-1 1-1 1-1 1-1 1-1 1-1 1 or rarely 2 1 or rarely 2 Postocularia 1-2 2 1-1 often 1-1 1 or rarely 2 1-2 2 1-2 Ventralia 123 118-119 112-120 103-132 103-132 110-145 110-145 101-145 Subcaudalia 24 22-38 24-30 21-38 21-38 29-47 29-47 21-47 Ventral pattern spotted unspotted both spotted spotted n.m. unspotted spotted TBL 272 217 205-225 110-313 up to 320 187-300 187-300 up to 320 SVL 237 172 175-185 n.m. n.m. 150-250 150-250 152-250 TL 35 45 30-40 n.m. n.m. 32-50 32-50 19-56

capture site. Photographs of Eirenis lineomaculatus from living speci-men are shown in Figure 2-a,b,c. Some metric measurements [Total Body Length (TBL), Snout-vent Length (SVL), Tail Length (TL)] of the Mardin specimen are given and compared with other studies in Table 1. Our specimen agrees with the original description given by Schmidt (1939), especially in the following characters: the ar-rangement of the dorsal spots in alternating longitudinal rows, and the number of dorsal scales, which is 17. On the other hand, although Schmidt (1939) stated that this species is characterized by having no loreal, this plate is present in our specimen on each side. The other character variations are also tabulated and compared with other studies in Table 1.

The Artuklu specimen was found in hilly lowlands at an air temperature of 15 °C. The specimen was found under the stone in dry habitat with light soil and bushy vegetation. The habitat is shown in Figure 2-d. Other sympatric herptiles; Stel-

lagama stellio, Mediodactylus heterocercum, Timon princeps, Lacerta media, Trachylepis vittata, Apathya cappadocica, Trapelus lessonae, Ophisops elegans, Eirenis decemlineatus, Macrovipera le-betina and Pseudepidalea variabilis. We suggest that, a popula-tion in Mardin province needs more comprehensive and com-parative studies with other known populations. As a result of this survey, the new records of Eirenis lineomaculatus extend the known distribution of this species around 30 km air dis-tance to the north and 270 km air distance to the southeast. Acknowledgements. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sec-tors. We would like to thank Ms. Beylam Atik for her support in term of proofreading. At the same time, we express our gratitude to Dr. Konrad Mebert for his review of an earlier version of the manu-script.

B. Göçmen et al.

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