New distribution records of cave-dwelling gekkonid lizards (Sauria, Gekkonidae and Phyllodactylidae) in the Zagros Mountains of Iran Author Esmaeili-Rineh, Somayeh Author Akmali, Vahid Author Fathipour, Farajollah Author Heidari, Nastaran Author Rastegar-Pouyani, Nasrullah text Subterranean Biology 2016 18 39 47 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.18.8185 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.18.8185 1314-2615-18-39 1FBFF48EEA5D4051907EEB5803835F79 Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Gekkonidae Hemidactylus persicus Anderson, 1872 Figure 3F Hemidactylus persicus Persian gecko Remarks. Mean snout-vent length 53.3 mm, tail 62.9 mm. The species is widely distributed from coastal Arabia north to southern Iran and Iraq, east to Sind Waziristan, Pakistan ( Anderson 1999 ). In Iran it is known from Khuzestan, Fars, Kerman, and Baluchistan Provinces. We collected this gecko in six caves (Table 1). All of these caves are located in different parts of the Zagros Mountains and are formed in limestone. The caves are almost similar in terms of habitat conditions such as moisture content, hydrology, entrance size and brightness. One of these caves is Tadovan located at a height of 1200 meter above the sea level. This cave is large and complex with a large entrance within a rocky overhang and is situated in a steep cliff on the left, eastern side of the Ghare-Aghaj river valley. The cave is a series of well passable corridors and domes of different width (ca. 1-5 m) and height (ca. 2-7 m). Immediately inside the entrance is a large pit of about 6 m in depth. After the pit, in the twilight zone, is a large gallery with 36% humidity and 30°C temperature. Hemidactylus persicus was found in this gallery which has the lowest humidity (36%) compared to other galleries in which their humidity ranges from 45% to 97%. This lizard was not found in other parts of the cave with different humidity.