Subspecies:

Darevskia raddei chaldoranensis  RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al., 2011

Types:

Holotype: RUZM LL70.1; paratypes: RUZM

Terra Typica:

Chaldoran area (39° 03` N, 44° 22` E) in the northern regions of west Azerbaijan Province, Iran.

Taxonomic notes:

With the introduction of the new subspecies Darevskia raddei chaldoranensis, the intermediate form, from the north-east of Turkey and the north-west of Iran, between Darevskia raddei raddei and Darevskia raddei vanensis (EISELT et al., 1993), might have been described. Also the Ararat population (PANNER, 2005; 2010) might be part of this newly described subspecies. Additional research is necessary to determine the actual distribution of all subspecies.

Relevant taxonomic literature:

• Rastegar-Pouyani, N. & Karamiani, R. & Oraei, H. & Khosrawani, A. & Rastegar-Pouyani, E. (2011) -  A New Subspecies of Darevskia raddei (Boettger, 1892) (Sauria: Lacertidae) from the West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. -  Asian Herpetological Research 2011, 2(4): 216–222.    

  ×

  Based on extensive field work in the northern Zagros Mountains, a new subspecies of Darevskia raddei (Boettger, 1892) from the west Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran is described. The new subspecies is distinguishable from all the other three subspecies of D. raddei based on the combination of several distinguishing characters, such as dorsal body with 50−55 oval to round, smooth, or very weakly keeled, scales, 25−31 scales across the gular region, 18−20 femoral pores on each side of body (reaching the knee), 29−31 tuberculate lamellae under the fourth toe, 11−12 supraciliaries, 9−11 collars and a specific color pattern. The new subspecies meets all the morphological characters described by Eiselt et al. (1993) for an undefined and intermediate form between D. raddei raddei in the east of and D. r. vanensis in the west of the distribution range of the species.