Publications

subdigital setae of narrow-toed geckos, including a eublepharid (aeluroscalabotes felinus).	subdigital adhesive setae have previously been documented in all legged gecko families except the eublepharidae. i present evidence that members of aeluroscalabotes felinus, the only arboreal eublepharids, possess subdigital setae up to 9 mum in length. this discovery suggests that the conditions leading to adhesive setae were probably present in the ancestors of all geckos, rather than arising multiple times within gekkota. the digits and setae of aeluroscalabotes resemble those of other climbi ...	2008	18484604
phylogenetic relationships of semaphore geckos (squamata: sphaerodactylidae: pristurus) with an assessment of the taxonomy of pristurus rupestris.	a molecular phylogeny of the sphaerodactylid geckos of the genus pristurus is inferred based on an alignment of 1845 base pairs (bp) of concatenated mitochondrial (12s) and nuclear (acm4, cmos, rag1 and rag2) genes for 80 individuals, representing 18 of the 23-26 species, and the three subspecies of p. rupestris. the results indicate that p. rupestris is polyphyletic and includes two highly divergent clades: the eastern clade, found in coastal iran and throughout the hajar mountain range in nort ...	2014	25081434
a preliminary report on the distribution of lizards in qatar.	we have updated the list of the lizard species present in qatar and produced the first distribution maps based on two field surveys in 2012 and 2013. we used the qnd95/qatar national grid with a grid of 10 × 10 km squares for mapping. our results show the occurrence of 21 lizard species in qatar, from the 15 species indicated in the last biodiversity report conducted in 2004. the most abundant family found in qatar is gekkonidae with nine species (bunopus tuberculatus, cyrtopodion scabrum, hemid ...	2014	24493961
assessing the diversity, host-specificity and infection patterns of apicomplexan parasites in reptiles from oman, arabia.	understanding the processes that shape parasite diversification, their distribution and abundance provides valuable information on the dynamics and evolution of disease. in this study, we assessed the diversity, distribution, host-specificity and infection patterns of apicomplexan parasites in amphibians and reptiles from oman, arabia. using a quantitative pcr approach we detected three apicomplexan parasites (haemogregarines, lankesterellids and sarcocystids). a total of 13 haemogregarine haplo ...	2016	27609411
dispersal beyond geographic barriers: a contribution to the phylogeny and demographic history of pristurus rupestris blanford, 1874 (squamata: sphaerodactylidae) from southern iran.	pristurus rupestris is a member of semaphore geckos with a wide distribution range. recently, 14 candidate species of p. rupestris rupestris have been identified in the hajar mountains (arabia), yet the knowledge on the iranian counterparts is limited. the present study elucidates the phylogenetic position of the iranian p. rupestris and investigates the hypothesis on its historical colonization from oman to iran and the associated islands. therefore, 20 iranian specimens along with 115 individu ...	2019	31146909