On the Eumeces Schneiderii (Daudin, 1802) (Sauria: Scincidae) Specimens Collected from Northeastern Anatolia, Turkey

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BIHAREAN BIOLOGIST 8 (1): 1-4 ©Biharean Biologist, Oradea, Romania, 2014 Article No.: 141101 http://biozoojournals.ro/bihbiol/index.html

On the Eumeces schneiderii (Daudin, 1802) (Sauria: Scincidae) specimens collected from Northeastern Anatolia, Turkey

Murat AFSAR1, Cemal Varol TOK2 and Kerim ÇİÇEK3,*

1. Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Science and Literature, Biology Department, TR-45030, Muradiye Campus, Manisa, Turkey 2. Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Science, Biology Department, TR-17020, Bornova-Izmir, Turkey 3. Ege University, Faculty of Science, Biology Department, Zoology Section, TR-35100, Tezioğlu Campus, Çanakkale, Turkey *Corresponding author, K. Çiçek, E-mail’s: [email protected] / [email protected]

Received: 12. August 2013 / Accepted: 2. October 2013 / Available online: 16. February 2014 / Printed: June 2014

Abstract. In this study, the specimens of Eumeces schneiderii obtained from the vicinity of Aralık (Iğdır) and – for the first time – Digor (Kars) in North-eastern Anatolia were examined morphologically and compared with the literature concerned. According to the obtained results, the specimens under examination resembled subspecies pavimentatus in terms of some characters, whereas they were considered to be E.s.cf. princeps as they were closer to subspecies princeps in terms of the leg index (LI), the number of scales at the mid-body (ScDM), the mean number of scales around (encircling) the left parietal plate (ScP-left) and colour-pattern characteristics that were important in terms of the discrimination of subspecies.

Key words: Eumeces schneiderii, distribution, North-eastern Anatolia, Turkey.

Introduction Materials and Methods

Schneider's Skink, Eumeces schneiderii (Daudin 1802) is dis- In the study, a female Eumeces schneiderii was captured between the Melekli Village and Karakoyunlu District (Province of Iğdır, Lat.= tributed over an extensive area from Turkey, Cyprus, North 39.949954, Long.= 44.114561, 856 m a.s.l.) on June 25, 2010 and an Africa and the Middle East in the Western Palearctic Region adult female specimen in Kazım Karabekir Directorate of Agricul- to South-western Asia (Eiselt 1940, Mertens 1946, Darevsky tural Enterprise, Aralık (Province of Iğdır, Lat.= 39.758601, Long.= 1981, Disi & Böhme 1996, Baran & Atatür 1998, Göçmen et al. 45.653411, 804 m a.s.l) on August 26, 2010. In addition, a male speci- 2002, Kumlutaş et al. 2007, Ayaz et al. 2011, Baran et al. men and a female specimens were captured in the Çatak Village (Di- 2012). Divided into six subspecies within its distributional gor) [Province of Kars, Lat.= 46.246716, Long.= 43.602226, 1,366 m range according to Sindoco & Jeremcenko (2008), Eumeces a.s.l., Fig. 1] on June 24, 2011. schneiderii is represented with three subspecies in Anatolia: The specimens are deposited in the Museum of the Faculty of Art and Science, Onsekiz Mart University and incorporated into the E. s. barani (Kumlutaş et al. 2007), E. s. pavimentatus (Geoffroy collection of ZDEU-COMU (Department of Zoology at Ege Univer- St.-Hilaire 1827), and E. s. princeps (Eichwald 1839). Of them, sity-Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University). subspecies E. s. barani was described in the vicinity of Pa- mukkale-Denizli and Bozdağ-İzmir from Western Anatolia in the recent years by Kumlutaş et al. (2007). For long years, researchers (Eiselt 1940, Bodenheimer 1944, Mertens 1946, 1952, 1953, Clark & Clark 1973, Baran 1977, Baran & Atatür 1998, Kumlutaş et al. 2004a, b, 2007) accepted that of the other two subspecies of the species, E. s. pavimentatus was distributed in the provinces of Adana and Hatay in the Mediterranean Region, while E. s. princeps was distributed in the southern sections of Anatolia and in Central, South- eastern, and Eastern Anatolia. In addition, the distributional ranges of both subspecies were described to contact around Adana by Baran (1977). However, with a study at a molecu- lar level by Perera et al. (2012), the distribution of subspecies E. s. pavimentatus in Anatolia was expanded eastwards. With the study concerned, the distributional ranges of subspecies pavimentatus and princeps were determined to have inter- Figure 1. General view of the habitat from Çatak Village, Digor, twined in a broader area in southern and south-eastern Ana- Kars where the specimen of E. schneiderii was found. tolia. Teynié (1991) first indicated that E. schneiderii, distributed over an extensive area particularly in the southern sec- The obtained specimens were evaluated in terms of colour- tions of Anatolia, was also found in the north-east of Turkey. pattern, pholidosis and morphological characters. Colour and pat- On the other hand, the first real record from the region was tern characteristics were recorded and colour slides were taken while provided from the vicinity of Iğdır by Ayaz et al. (2011). In the specimens were alive. The terminology used in describing the this study, it was aimed to make a detailed morphological specimens conforms to Göçmen et al. (2001) and Kumlutaş et al. (2007). Pholidosis characteristics were determined under a stereomi- examination of the specimens of E. schneiderii obtained from croscope. Morphological measurements were taken using digital the vicinity of Kars (Digor) in North-eastern Anatolia, which calipers with accuracy 0.01 mm. is a new locality, together with the specimens obtained from the vicinity of Iğdır. 2 M. Afsar et al.

Results Table 1. Summary statistics of pholidosis, morphometric measurements (in millimeters) and ratios of Eumeces schneiderii specimens Colour and pattern from Kars (Digor) and Iğdır. [N: number of specimens, M: mean; The ground colour of the dorsal side is grey brown in the SD: standard deviations and SE: standard errors of the means, SVL: male specimen from Digor (Kars). On the other hand, the Snout-Vent Length, TL: Tail length, HL: Head Length, HW: Head Width, PL: Pileus length, PW: Pileus width, FLL: Fore limb length, lateral sides are in a slightly darker shade than the mid- HLL: Hind limb length, FTLL: The length of the fourth toe of the body. This ground color contains irregularly distributed or- hind limp, HI: Head indices (Head width / Head length*100), PI: ange red spots which are not very dense. The spots continue Plieus indices (Pileus width / Pileus length*100),LI: Leg indices by getting denser up to the tip of the tail. The band extend- (Fore limb length/Hind limb length*100), HL/SVL: Head ing lengthwise between the darker dorsal colour and the length/Snout-vent length, PL/SVL: Pileus length/Snout-vent light ventral colour on the sides of the body is reddish. The length N: Nasalia, Nuc: Nuchale InP: Interparietal SprL-left/right: head and the part below the neck are dark yellow, while the Supralabials-left/right, SprC-left/right: Supraciliaries-left/right, SprO-left/right: Subraoculares-left/right, ScP-left/right: Scales sur- subventral area and the tail are light yellow. In the female rounding the parietal-left/right, Arcl-left/right: Auricularia- specimen, the ground colour of the dorsal side resembles left/right, ScDM:Scales along the dorsal midline around SubdgtL- that of the previous specimen. Nevertheless, there are indis- left/right:Subdigital lamellae under the fourth toes of the hind tinct whitish spots in the middle of the dorsal scales. The limbs-left/rights, DsOC:Dorsal scales from occipit (parietalia) to band extending lengthwise between the darker dorsal colour above cloaca]. and the light ventral colour on the sides of the body is red- Characters N Mean Range SD SE dish. In one of the two female specimens captured in Iğdır, SVL 4 140.25 128-158 12.659 6.329 the dorsal side is completely spotless, while the dark ground TL 1 293 - - - color of the other specimen contains irregularly distributed HL 4 25.59 21.59-28.57 3.01 1.50 spots which are not very dense. HW 4 17.27 13.99-19.09 2.34 1.17

PW 4 11.90 10.11-13.31 1.43 0.71 Pholidosis PL 4 21.30 18.06-23.77 2.47 1.23 The auricular plates are cuneate in all specimens. The num- FLL 4 33.69 29.03-36.70 3.29 1.64 bers of these plates are 4/5 (left/right) in the male specimen HLL 4 49.41 43.02-52.61 4.40 2.20 and 4/4 in the female specimen captured from Digor, and 4 FTLL 4 13.54 11.44-15.53 1.86 0.93 (3 big and 1 small)/4 in a female specimen and 5/5 in the HI 4 67.38 64.80-69.45 4.66 2.33 other female specimen from Iğdır. The number of lengthwise PI 4 55.87 54.80-56.72 0.79 0.39 dorsal scales between parietalia and above cloaca is 65 in the LI 4 68.14 67.35-69.76 1.11 0.55 male specimen and 67 in the female specimen from Digor, HL/SVL 4 0.18 0.17-0.20 0.01 0.006 while they are 67 and 65 in the specimens of Iğdır, respec- PL/SVL 4 0.15 0.14-0.16 0.01 0.004 tively. The numbers of scales in a ring at the mid-body are 26 N 4 2 2-2 - - and 26 in male and female specimens from Digor, respec- Nuc 4 1 1-1 - - tively, whereas they are 28 and 27 in the specimens of Iğdır, InP 4 1 1-1 - - respectively. The numbers of subdigital lamellae under the SprL-left/right 4 8.00/8.00 8-8/8-8 0.00/0.00 0.00/0.00 fourth toes of the hind limbs are 16/16 in a male specimen SprC-left/right 4 5.00/4.50 4-6/4-5 0.81/0.57 0.40/0.28 and 16/16 in a female specimen from Digor, and 16/16 and SprO-left/right 4 6.00/6.00 6-6/6-6 0.00/0.00 0.00/0.00 15/15 in the specimens of Iğdır, respectively. The other brief ScP-left/right 4 2.50/2.50 2-3/2-3 0.57/0.57 0.28/0.28 statistics on the pholidosis characteristics of the specimens Arcl-left/right 4 4.25/4.50 4-5/4-5 0.50/0.57 0.25/0.28 are provided in Table 1. ScDM 4 26.75 26-28 0.95 0.47 SubdgtL-left/right 4 15.75/15.75 15-16/15-16 0.50/0.50 0.25/0.25 Morphometrics DsOC 4 66.00 65-67 1.16 0.58 The pileus lengths were measured as 20.84 mm in the male specimen and as 18.06 mm in the female specimen captured from Digor, while they were measured as 23.77 mm and compared with the literature information (Eiselt 1940, 22.55 mm in the two female specimens from Iğdır, respec- Bodenheimer 1944, Mertens 1946, Baran 1977, Başoğlu & tively. The pileus widths were measured as 11.42 mm in the Baran 1977, Anderson 1999, Kumlutaş et al. 2007, Ayaz et al. male specimen and 10.11 mm in the female specimen cap- 2011). The specimens evaluated by Kumlutaş et al. (2007) tured from Digor, while they were measured as 13.31 mm and the specimens in the present study are compared in Ta- and 12.79 mm in the two female specimens from Iğdır, re- ble 2. The specimens examined in this study resemble sub- spectively. The head+body lengths were measured as 137 species E. s. princeps in terms of the number of scales at the mm in the male specimen and as 128 mm in the female mid-body, the number of scales around (encircling) the left specimen captured from Digor and as 158 mm and 138 mm parietal plate, the head length (HL), the pileus index (PI), in the two female specimens from Iğdır, respectively. The and the mean number of right supraciliary lamellae. The brief statistics on the body measurements, ratios and indices number of subdigital lamellae under the fourth toes of the of the specimens are presented in Table 1. hind limbs and the mean number of dorsal scales from occipit (parietalia) to above cloaca (DsOC) were found higher than the mean values provided for subspecies princeps in the Discussion literature (Table 2). The specimens we examined resemble subspecies pavimentatus in terms of these characters. The specimens from the vicinity of Kars and Iğdır were Kumlutaş et al. (2007) stated that the mean value for the Eumeces schneiderii (Daudin, 1802) (Sauria: Scincidae) specimens collected from Northeastern Anatolia, Turkey 3

Table 2. Comparison of the pholidosis, morphometric measurements, ratios and indices of Eumeces schneiderii specimens from Kars (Digor) and Iğdır with data given in the Kumlutaş et al. (2007) for E. s. princeps, E. s. pavimentatus, E. s. barani.

E. s. princeps E. s. princeps E. s. pavimentatus E. s. barani Present study Kumlutaş et al. (2007) Kumlutaş et al. (2007) Kumlutaş et al. (2007) Characters ♀♀+♂♂n=4 ♀♀+♂♂n=5 n=5 n=10 Mean-Range Mean-Range Mean-Range Mean-Range SVL 140.25 (128-158) 122.89 (113.72-131.32) 151.04 (131.64-167.16) 131.67 (110.88-143.20) TL 293 (n:1) 182.60 (148-230) 230.67 (189-256) 196.67 (150-235) HL 21.15 (18.33-23.64) 22.14 (21.00-22.92) 26.51 (23.02-29.82) 25.59 (19.34-26.80) HW 17.27 (13.99-19.09) 14.72 (14.24-15.36) 17.98 (16.08-19.52) 15.51 (12.00-18.50) PW 11.90 (10.11-13.31) 10.69 (10.26-11.10) 12.60 (11.70-13.38) 11.18 (9.26-12.76) PL 21.30 (18.06-23.77) 19.30 (19.00-19.60) 22.98 (21.38-25.66) 19.81 (17.00-22.12) FLL 33.69 (29.03-36.70) 30.06 (28.38-32.16) 35.03 (34.24-35-64) 33.72 (28.18-47.34) HLL 49.41 (43.02-52.61) 45.44 (43.20-47.82) 52.78 (51.28-54.70) 44.83 (31.12-52.62) FTLL 13.54 (11.44-15.53) 12.31 (11.88-12.74) 14.04 (13.12-15.86) 12.79 (10.58-10.66) HI 67.38 (64.80-69.45) 66.55 (63.46-72.38) 67.95 (64.04-72.46) 65.53 (56.39-72.70) PI 55.87 (54.80-56.72) 55.34 (53.94-56.63) 54.96 (51.13-59.73) 56.34 (53.69-60.30) LI 68.14 (67.35-69.76) 66.18 (60.72-69.83) 66.40 (63.40-67.73) 45.32 (40.08-67.74) HL/SVL 0.18 (0.17-0.20) 0.18 (0.17-0.19) 0.18 (0.17-0.18) 0.18 (0.17-0.19) PL/SVL 0.15 (0.14-0.16) 0.16 (0.14-0.17) 0.15 (0.14-0.16) 0.15 (0.14-0.16) N 2.0 (2.0-2.0) 2.0 (2.0-2.0) 2.0 (2.0-2.0) 2.0 (2.0-2.0) Nuc 1.0 (1.0-1.0) 1.0 (1.0-1.0) 1.0 (1.0-1.0) 1.0 (1.0-1.0) InP 1.0 (1.0-1.0) 1.0 (1.0-1.0) 1.0 (1.0-1.0) 1.0 (1.0-1.0) SprL-left/ right 8.00 (8-8)/8.00 (8-8) 8.00 (8-8)/8.00 (8-8) 8.00(8-8)/8.00(8-8) 7.8 (7-8)/7.9 (7-8) SprC-left/ right 5.00 (4-6)/4.50 (4-5) 4.2 (3-5)/4.6 (4-5) 5.2 (5-6)/5.0 (5-5) 4.9 (4-6)/4.9 (4-6) SpO-left/ right 6 (6.0-6.0)/6 (6.0-6.0) 6 (6.0-6.0)/6 (6.0-6.0) 6 (6.0-6.0)/6 (6.0-6.0) 6 (6.0-6.0)/6 (6.0-6.0) ScP-left/ right 2.50 (2.0-3.0)/2.50 (2-3) 2.6 (2.0-3.0)/2.2 (2.0-3.0) 2.8 (2.0-3.0)/2.2 (2.0-3.0) 2.0 (2.0-2.0)/2.2 (2.0-3.0) Arcl-left/ right 4.25 (4.0-5.0)/4.50 (4-5) 3.6 (3.0-5.0)/4.0 (3.0-5.0) 3.6 (3.0-4.0)/3.6 (3.0-4.0) 4.0 (4.0-4.0)/4.0 (4.0-4.0) ScDM 26.75 (26-28) 26.40 (26-28) 24.0 (23-25) 26.6 (26-28) Subdgt-left/right 15.75 (15-16)/15.75 (15-16) 13.6 (12-15)/14.0 (13-15) 14.2 (13-15)/14.6 (14-16) 13.1 (12-14)/13.1 (12-14) DsOC 66.00 (65-67) 64.0 (63-65) 64.8 (63-67) 64.4 (64-66)

leg index (LI) in subspecies barani was lower than those of tinct whitish spots are found in the middle of the dorsal the other two subspecies (E. s. pavimentatus and E. s. prin- scales in a female specimen from Kars. Anderson (1999) re- ceps). In this study as well, the values for the leg indices of ported that subspecies princeps inhabited the north and the our specimens are within the ranges provided for subspecies west of Iran and the neighboring countries of the region (the princeps by Kumlutaş et al. (2007). east of Turkey). Although Bodenheimer (1944) stated that the mean In conclusion, when the specimens examined in the head+body length was a taxonomic character which was study were compared with the literature, it was determined considered the basis for the discrimination of subspecies, that they did not show any significant taxonomic difference Kumlutaş et al. (2007) determined that this mean value does from the present taxa and that even though they resembled not show any statistically significant difference among the subspecies pavimentatus in terms of the number of subdigital three subspecies distributed in Anatolia. In the specimens lamellae under the fourth toes of the hind limbs, the DsOC examined in the present study, the head width (HW), the and the mean head+body length, they much more resembled mean head+body length and the head index (HI) were found subspecies princeps in terms of the leg index (LI), the number close to the values provided for subspecies pavimentatus (Ta- of scales at the mid-body (ScDM), the mean number of scales ble 2). Furthermore, the mean length of the fourth toe of the around (encircling) the left parietal plate (ScP-left) and the hind limb (FTLL) is close to the values provided for subspe- colour-pattern characteristics that were considered the basis cies pavimentatus. for the discrimination of subspecies. According to the re- Eiselt (1940), Mertens (1946), Baran (1977), Başoğlu & sults, the specimens from the vicinity of Kars and Iğdır are Baran (1977) and Kumlutaş et al. (2007) reported that the similar to the both two subspecies. However, they were con- three subspecies could be discriminated from each other par- sidered as subspecies to be E. s.cf. princeps. ticularly in terms of colour-pattern characteristics. It was stated that the pattern shape formed by the light spots se- quenced in rows lengthwise on the dorsum which was seen in subspecies pavimentatus out of them was not present in Acknowledgments. This study partly financially supported by subspecies princeps, but it was only seen in adult females and TUBİTAK [Project number: 108T559]. We are indebted TUBITAK for juveniles (without covering the whole size of the scale) in financial support. subspecies barani (Kumlutaş et al. 2007). In the three specimens examined in Kars and Iğdır, the dorsal spots are of the type seen in subspecies princeps. On the other hand, indis- 4 M. Afsar et al.

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