Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Morphologie, Verbreitung und Systematik der Schlanknatter Platyceps najadum (Eichwald, 1831) (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubrinae)

2005; Natural History Museum of Geneva; Volume: 112; Linguagem: Inglês

10.5962/bhl.part.80315

0035-418X

Beat‏ Schätti, Ana Carolina Stutz, Corinne. Charvet,

Spider Taxonomy and Behavior Studies

Morphology, distribution, and systematics of the Slender racer Platyceps najadum (Eichwald, 1831) (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubrinae).-External, dentition, vertebra, and hemipenis characters as well as distribution data of Platyceps najadum (Eichwald) were examined.The species is found from the Adria to the Kopet Dag, Turkmenistan, and extends at least as far south as the lower Euphrates Valley and the Zagros range in Iran.The number of supralabials as well as certain details of dorsal colouration and scale row reduction pattern differ between western and eastern populations.In the latter, subcaudal counts are highly variable.Ventral scales show remarkable geographic variation.Eichwald's racer is polytypic.P. n. dahlii (Schinz) from Europe and western Anatolia qualitatively differs in the number of supralabials, dorsal scale reduction pattern, and dorsal colouration vis-à-vis the nominate subspecies from eastern Turkey and adjacent areas including the Caucasus.Populations from Rhodes and the Near East (Lebanon, Syria, Irag) are difficult to classify.So far, P. n. albitemporalis (Darevskij & Orlov) and P. n. atayevi (Tunijev & Sammakov) are only known on the basis of their type series from SE AzerbajdZan and the western Kopet Dag, respectively.Coluber (s.l.) schmidtleri Schätti & McCarthy is considered a subspecies of P. najadum.The P. najadum group including P. collaris (Miiller) differs from congeneric taxa in the number of apical pits as well as in COI and 12S rDNA gene sequences.