Herpetology Notes, volume 10: 323-325 (2017) (published online on 05 June 2017)
Sympatry of Pseudocerastes persicus and P. urarachnoides in the western Zagros Mountains, Iran
Bobby Bok1,*, Matthieu Berroneau2, Masoud Yousefi3, Joachim Nerz4, Frank Deschandol5, Maud Berroneau2 and Laura Tiemann6
The viperid genus Pseudocerastes Boulenger, 1896 currently consists of three Middle Eastern species: P. persicus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854), P. fieldi Schmidt, 1930, and P. urarachnoides Bostanchi, Anderson, Kami & Papenfuss, 2006. The generic name Pseudocerastes (“false horned”) refers to the horn-like structures above the eyes, which consist of numerous smaller scales, in contrast with the horns of the “true” horned viper (genus Cerastes). Pseudocerastes persicus is the most widely distributed species of the genus, ranging from Pakistan and Afghanistan westwards to Iraq. An isolated occurrence is known from extreme northern Oman and the UAE (Gardner, 2013; Sindaco, et al., 2013). Pseudocerastes fieldi was long considered a subspecies of P. persicus. Its distribution is confined to the north of the Arabian Peninsula, eastern Egypt and southwestern Iran (Gholamifard and Reza Esmaeili, 2010). Pseudocerastes urarachnoides is endemic to the western Iranian Zagros mountain range. The dorsal scales are even more strongly keeled than in the other two species. The headscales end in knob-like structures giving the animal a rugous appearance. Its most distinct feature is an oval bulb-like structure with protruding elongated scales at the end of the tail. This structure is
1 St. Michael College, Leeghwaterweg 7, 1509 BS Zaandam, The Netherlands 2 Association ATHERIS, 15 allée Terre Rouge,33320 Le Taillan- Médoc, France 3 Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran 4 Jägerstrasse 50, 71032, Böblingen, Germany 5 26 Impasse Niepce, 76600 Le Havre, France 6 Department of Neurology, Technische Universität München, Figure 1. Heads of Pseudocerastes persicus (upper) and 81675 Munich, Germany P. urarachnoides (middle). Lower: Size comparison of P. * Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] urarachnoides (left) and P. persicus (right). 324 Bobby Bok et al.
persicus was found lying in the shade of a large boulder at 994m a.s.l. After being disturbed it regurgitated an Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Sitta tephronata. Shortly after noon, a specimen of P. urarachnoides was found resting in a small hole on a vertical limestone cliff near a small Ficus carica at 927m a.s.l. Both observation sites were located on the same southward facing slope. The distance between the two sites was 150m and no notable differences between them were observed. Pseudocerastes urarachnoides is only known from a confined distributional range, where it can almost exclusively be found on vertical limestone cliffs in close vicinity to large bushes (Fathinia, et al., 2016). It has been suggested to be specialized on migratory birds as prey items (Fathinia, et al., 2015). In contrast, the more widespread P. persicus is known to occur in various semi-desert habitats such as mountain wadis and rocky deserts, and feeds on a variety of prey items such as lizards, mammals or birds (Disi, et al., 2001). The observations reported here present a first well- documented case of syntopy between two species. It can be hypothesized that the two species are able to co- occur in certain habitats due to their specific trophic- and ecological niches. Sympatry between these two Figure 2. Upper: Map depicting the observation locality in the species is not new and has been mentioned before province of Ilam, Iran. Lower: Observation site. (Fathinia and Rastegar-Pouyani, 2010). However, this is not well known to the wider public and has therefore not yet been considered in more recent distribution maps (Bostanchi, et al., 2006; Martínez Del Marmol, used as a caudal lure to attract prey (Fathinia, et al., 2015; et al., 2016), demonstrating the demand for further Martínez Del Marmol, et al., 2016; Phelps, 2010). publications. During a field excursion to the western Zagros Based on the presence of suitable habitat we deem it Mountains in the Ilam Province, Iran in May 2016, we likely that P. urarachnoides might be more widespread explored a known habitat of P. urarachnoides in the Bina than currently assumed. Thus, the exploration of & Bijar No-hunting Area. This habitat consists mostly suitable habitat in search of contact zones between the of limestone substrate providing many deep holes and two species and analyses of their habitat requirements crevices in which the vipers can hide. Vegetation is appears to be a promising goal for future studies. xerophylic and sparse but a few scattered trees such as Pistacia khinjuk, P. atlantica, Quercus brantii and Acknowledgments. The authors would like to thank the Ficus carica are present (Fathinia, et al., 2016). We Department of Environment of Iran for providing the necessary searched between 800 – 1000m a.s.l. We refrain from permits (permit number: 95/3966), the DOE officers who assisted presenting exact locality data to discourage poaching. them in the field, as well as Anooshe Kafash for providing the Other herpetofauna recorded at the locality represented map used in Fig. 2. tadpoles and one adult of Bufotes luristanicus found in the riverbed of a small temporal stream, and Ophisops References elegans, Heremites septemtaeniatus and Laudakia Bostanchi, H., Anderson, S.C., Gholi Kami, H., Papenfuss, T.J. nupta found on steep slopes rising from the stream. The (2006): A new species of Pseudocerastes with elaborate tail weather was cloudy with rain in the morning. However, ornamentation from Western Iran (Squamata: Viperidae). the sky cleared at around 10am and temperatures Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 57: 443- rose quickly. Shortly before noon, one specimen of P. 450. Sympatry of Pseudocerastes persicus and P. urarachnoides in Iran 325
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Accepted by Jiri Smid