Darevskia spitzenbergerae subsp. wernermayeri Arribas & Candan & Kornilios & Ayaz & Kumlutaş & Gül & Yilmaz & Caynak & Ilgaz 2022, ssp. nov.
Creators: name: Arribas, Oscar
name: Candan, Kamil
name: Kornilios, Panagiotis
name: Ayaz, Dinçer
name: Kumlutaş, Yusuf
name: Gül, Serkan
name: Yilmaz, Can
name: Caynak, Elif Yildirim
name: Ilgaz, Çetin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Lacertidae
Darevskia
Darevskia spitzenbergerae
Darevskia spitzenbergerae wernermayeri

description: Darevskia spitzenbergerae wernermayeri ssp. nov.
(Appendix 5; Fig. 12a).
Synonymy/Chresonymy:
Lacerta valentini lantzicyreni; Eiselt, Darevsky & Schmidtler, 1992. (from “Yukarı Narlıca”-sic.!-).
Darevskia valentini “Clade A”; Candan et al. (2021). (same locality as this study)
ZooBank registration (http://zoobank.org): urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 927894FD-EEFD-450A-81D9-0A68188EDC3B.
Holotype: ZDEU123 /2015 (n.3). ♁, Yukarınarlıca Village, Çatak, Van, Turkey. leg. Yusuf Kumlutaş, Çetin Ilgaz, 29.07.2015.
Paratypes: 7 ♁♁, 10 ♀♀. Same locality, date and collectors as holotype.
Derivatio nominis: The specific epithet refers to Dr. Werner Mayer (1943-2015), for his remarkable work on the knowledge of lacertid genera relationships and species taxonomy.
Diagnosis: Darevskia spitzenbergerae wernermayeri ssp. nov. differs from nominate form (D. s. spitzenbergerae) in having a higher number of supraciliar granules (18-31 vs. 14-23), supratemporal (4-6 vs. 3-6), ventrals (29-31 vs. 26-30) (females), preanals (1-3 vs. 1-3), tibial scales (16-21 vs. 15-19), temporal scales 1 (5-7 vs. 2-6) and temporal scales 2 (4-6 vs. 2-6). Darevskia s. wernermayeri ssp. nov. has a relatively smaller head relative length (0.18- 0.21 vs. 0.19-0.24). It also differs by a characteristic color pattern of the body. The main osteological diagnostic characters that differ from the nominate form can be specified as follows: The higher number of maxillary (19-21 vs. 16-18) and dentary teeth (23-24 vs. 20-23). Postorbital greater or equal than postfrontal (greater, rarely equal in D. s. spitzenbergerae).
Description of holotype: An adult male. Tail regenerated (see Appendix 5c). Fixed with ethanol and conserved in 96% ethanol.
Scalation: Rostral not in contact with the nostril. Single postnasal on each side. Width of frontonasal (internasal) plate subequal to length, not in contact with rostral. Sutures between prefrontal plates and frontal plate straight. Parietal plates in contact with postorbital plates on each side. Supraciliar granules 13 and 12, interrupted series on left, continuous on right. Supraciliar plates 6 on each side. Supralabial and sublabial plates 4 and 6 on each side, respectively. Plates in supratemporal region 6 on left, 5 on right side. The first supratemporal plate large narrows towards the back, and ends bluntly. Masseteric large, in one piece on left and two pieces on right, separated from the first supratemporal plate by three longitudinal scales on each side. Tympanic obvious, separated from masseteric by three and two rows of small scales on left and right, respectively. Nine flat collaria. Gularia 33. Ventralia contains 6 longitudinal and 28 transverse rows of plates. Preanal scale singular, surrounded by 6 rows of plates. Femoral pores 20 on each side. Subdigital lamellae 28 on each side. Tibialia 20. Dorsalia 51.
Biometry: SVL 63.57 mm. Pileus width 6.90 mm, pileus length 12.96 mm, head width 8.26 mm, head length 13.74 mm. Length of forelimb 22.02 mm, length of hindlimb 31.37 mm. Anal plate width and length are 4.12 mm and 1.84 mm, respectively.
Coloration and pattern (in alcohol): Ground color of dorsum greenish-brown, with two irregular paravertebral rows of dark spots. Similar dark spotting is present on each side of the body, that show the reminiscent of a reticulate pattern reduced to only isolated irregular spots. Between these two areas of dark spots, located both in the middle of the dorsum and flank, a paler and spot-free double strip area extends from nape to base of the tail (see photos in Appendix 5). There are few pale spots on dark bandings on the flanks, and more on the forelimb. A few spots near the basis of the forelimb are bluish. The belly, along with the head and neck, is whitish (Appendix 5). The background color of head plates is brownish, with a few scattered and small black spots. The first longitudinal row of ventral plates has dark spots on each side.
Variations of paratypes: Descriptive statistics and variation range of the morphometric and scalation characters are given in Table 8. Frontonasal rarely contacts with rostral. The suture between the prefrontal and frontal is usually slanted. The Parietal is in contact with the postorbital in general. Supraciliar granules sometimes are double rows. Tight scales are feeble-keeled. In four specimens, transverse dark spots on ground color are combined with spots on each side, do not form two separate rows. In seven samples, paler spots on the forelimb base are not blue. Belly, along with throat and neck, whitish in seven specimens. In three samples, no dotting on head plates. In fifteen samples, the first longitudinal row of ventral plates contains bluish spots on each side.
Distribution: Around Narlıca Valley, Çatak (Van) in the south of Van Lake, Turkey.
Habitat: Subalpine-like vegetation of Irano-Turanian Region, on rocky and stony areas, 2363 m. No other reptile species could be identified in the area during study.
description: Published as part of Arribas, Oscar, Candan, Kamil, Kornilios, Panagiotis, Ayaz, Dinçer, Kumlutaş, Yusuf, Gül, Serkan, Yilmaz, Can, Caynak, Elif Yildirim & Ilgaz, Çetin, 2022, Revising the taxonomy of Darevskia valentini (Boettger, 1892) and Darevskia rudis (Bedriaga, 1886) (Squamata, Lacertidae): a Morpho-Phylogenetic integrated study in a complex Anatolian scenario, pp. 1-68 in Zootaxa 5224 (1) on pages 24-25, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5224.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7517907