{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T12:16:02Z","timestamp":1788524162073,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Pensoft Publishers","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["ZK"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The Western Palearctic genus\n                    <jats:italic>Heremites<\/jats:italic>\n                    Gray, 1845 (Scincidae) has a long history of taxonomic uncertainty, with particularly unstable placement of the disjunct Hindu Kush populations reported from eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. Herein this eastern population is reassessed using an integrative dataset combining broad mitochondrial screening, a six-locus phylogeny, and comparative morphology. Phylogenetic analyses recovered four main well-supported clades corresponding to\n                    <jats:italic>H. auratus<\/jats:italic>\n                    , the\n                    <jats:italic>H. septemtaeniatus<\/jats:italic>\n                    complex, the\n                    <jats:italic>H. vittatus<\/jats:italic>\n                    complex, and the Hindu Kush lineage. The Hindu Kush lineage is inferred to be deeply divergent and was recovered as sister to the clade comprising\n                    <jats:italic>H. auratus<\/jats:italic>\n                    and the\n                    <jats:italic>H. septemtaeniatus<\/jats:italic>\n                    complex, with an estimated split in the Late Miocene at approximately 10 Mya. This deep mitochondrial divergence is further supported by concordant structuring in the nuclear allele networks. Uncorrected p-distances further support its distinctiveness, with high mitochondrial divergence from western clades (15.2\u201315.8% in cyt\n                    <jats:italic>b<\/jats:italic>\n                    ; 17.0\u201321.0% in ND2) and comparatively lower but consistent nuclear differentiation (1.17\u20132.59% in MC1R and 2.5\u20133.3% in RAG1). Multivariate analyses of morphometric, meristic, and categorical data separate the Hindu Kush lineage from\n                    <jats:italic>H. auratus<\/jats:italic>\n                    and the\n                    <jats:italic>H. septemtaeniatus<\/jats:italic>\n                    complex, supporting the genetic data. We therefore describe this eastern lineage as a new species, currently known from two foothill localities along the southern margin of the Hindu Kush, and discuss its biogeographic significance and the need for a further genus-wide integrative revision.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3897\/zookeys.1291.1863652","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T11:31:12Z","timestamp":1788521472000},"page":"111-136","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A new species of Heremites Gray, 1845 (Squamata, Scincidae) from the transboundary Hindu Kush foothills"],"prefix":"10.3897","volume":"1291","author":[{"given":"Daniel","family":"Jablonski","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Zoology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia"},{"name":"Herpetological Collection, 1st Zoological Department, Natural History Museum Vienna, Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sylvia","family":"Hofmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig, Bonn, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Muhammad","family":"Idrees","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Zoological Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Muazzam Ali","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Zoology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qaisar","family":"Jamal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Zoological Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wolfgang","family":"B\u00f6hme","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig, Bonn, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rafaqat","family":"Masroor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoological Sciences Division, Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2258","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"186365_B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ympev.2014.07.018"},{"key":"186365_B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ympev.2022.107414"},{"key":"186365_B3","unstructured":"Akhmedov SB, Szczerbak NN (1987) Geographic variation and intraspecific systematics of Mabuya aurata (Sauria, Scincidae). Vestnik Zoologii 1987(5): 20\u201324. [in Russian]"},{"key":"186365_B4","unstructured":"Anderson SC (1999) The Lizards of Iran. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Oxford, Ohio, 442 pp."},{"key":"186365_B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/sysbio\/43.3.387"},{"key":"186365_B6","unstructured":"Bahmani Z, Rastegar-Pouyani N, Rastegar-Pouyani E (2016) Systematics of the Genus Trachylepis Fitzinger, 1843 (Sauria: Scincidae) with special reference to the Middle East: a review. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 12: 211\u2013224."},{"key":"186365_B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/24701394.2017.1373107"},{"key":"186365_B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12862-017-0969-0"},{"key":"186365_B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1006650"},{"key":"186365_B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12862-017-0890-6"},{"key":"186365_B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/sysbio\/syae032"},{"key":"186365_B12","unstructured":"Candan K, G\u00fcl S, Kumluta\u015f Y (2019) The new locality records for Eumeces schneideri (Daudin, 1802), Heremites vittatus (Olivier, 1804) and Ablepharus chernovi (Darevsky, 1953) (Sauria: Scincidae) from Anatolia, Turkey. Acta Biologica Turcica 32: 26\u201332."},{"key":"186365_B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1477200003001099"},{"key":"186365_B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.11646\/zootaxa.5023.2.9"},{"key":"186365_B15","unstructured":"Chernov S (1926) Sur la connaissance de la faune herp\u00e9tologique d\u2019Arm\u00e9nie et de la contr\u00e9e du Nakhiczevan. Bulletin Scientifique de l\u2019Exploration R\u00e9gionale du Caucase Nord 1: 63\u201372. [in Russian with French summary]"},{"key":"186365_B16","unstructured":"Faizi H, Rastegar-Pouyani N (2006) Intra- and interspecific geographic variation in the Iranian Scincid lizards of the genus Trachylepis Fitzinger 1843 (Sauria: Scincidae). Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 2: 1\u201311."},{"key":"186365_B17","unstructured":"Faizi H, Rastegar-Pouyani N, Rajabizadeh M, Heydari N (2010) Sexual dimorphism in Trachylepis aurata transcaucasica Chernov, 1926 (Reptilia: Scincidae) in the Zagros Mountains, western Iran. 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