Tuesday, February 24, 2015

[Herpetology • 2014] Bungarus persicus • A New Species of Krait, Bungarus (Elapidae, Bungarinae) and the First Record of that Genus in Iran


Bungarus persicus  
Abtin, Nilson, Mobaraki, Hosseini & Dehgannejhad. 2014

Abstract
We describe a new species of krait (Elapidae, Bungarus) from Baluchistan, Iran and that differs from all species of Bungarus except its closest relative Bungarus sindanus by having 17 dorsal midbody scale rows. The new species differs from the related allopatric Bungarus sindanus and B. caeruleus by a higher number of ventral plates and a different pattern and by an isolated occurrence in Baluchistan (Iran and Pakistan border region). The new species is especial by having a clear black spot in the loreal region and with an occasionally developed loreal plate (on both sides of head in the holotype).

Keywords: Bungarus; Bungarus persicus; new species; Iran


The distribution of Bungarus persicus sp. nov. (Sarbaz, Iran) (1 ) and the Ras Jiunri specimen (Baluchistan – Pakistan) (2 ) (Shockley 1949) and the known distribution of the Sindhi Krait, Bungarus sindanus sindanus in Pakistan and India (3–8 ) and Bungarus sindanus razai in northwestern Punjab, Pakistan and Afghanistan (9 – 12 ). The subspecies Bungarus sindanus walli and are not on the map but it is distributed to the east and southeast in India. The western border for Bungarus caeruleus in Pakistan is indicated by the black line (after Khan, 2002).

Elham Abtin, Göran Nilson, Asghar Mobaraki, Ashraf Ali Hosseini and Mousa Dehgannejhad. 2014. A New Species of Krait, Bungarus (Reptilia, Elapidae, Bungarinae) and the First Record of that Genus in Iran. Russian Journal of Herpetology. 21(4); 243 – 250 

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