oa First Record Of Pseudoceramodactylus Khobarensis Haas, 1957 (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) In Qatar

The Gulf sand gecko (Pseudoceramodactylus khobarensis Haas, 1957) is a nocturnal gecko endemic to the Arabian Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iran). The species is easily recognizable, being a medium sized ground dwelling gecko with no enlarged tubercles on the dorsum nor lamellae beneath toes, like Stenodactylus species, but Pseudoceramodactylus khobarensis has at least one pair of enlarged postmental scales, absent in Stenodactylus species. In this study we report the presence Pseudoceramodactylus khobarensis in Qatar for the first time. We found the species on two islands (Al Aaliya and Al Saflia) and in the mainland (Abu Samra and two areas in Ras Laffan). The islands are the smallest where this species is known to occur. The habitat occupied by the geckos consists of salty coastal areas with shrubs. Our findings in this study bridge one of the current geographic gaps in the known distribution range of this species. We believe that this gecko species is more widely distributed in Qatar than we report here and an extensive inventory is required to map the full range of the species in Qatar and also in other countries of the Arabian Gulf. This abstract is a contribution for the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference (QF-ARC-2013).