About Paralaudakia himalayana (Steindachner, 1867)
Paralaudakia himalayana (Steindachner, 1867) has the following morphological characteristics. The head is very depressed; the snout is slightly longer than the diameter of the orbit. The nostril is positioned laterally, below the canthus rostralis, and is slightly tubular. Upper head scales are smooth, and the occipital scale is not enlarged. Small, closely set spinose scales are present on the head near the ear and on the neck. The ear is entirely exposed, and is larger than the eye opening. The throat is strongly folded, and no gular pouch is present. The body is depressed, with a more or less distinct fold on each side of the back. Scales on the neck and sides are small, uniform, and either smooth or very weakly keeled. Scales in the vertebral region are enlarged, equal, roundish-hexagonal, imbricate, and also either smooth or very weakly keeled. Ventral scales are smooth, and slightly smaller than the enlarged dorsal scales. The limbs are strong, with compressed digits. Scales on the upper surface of the limbs are large and strongly keeled. The fourth finger is slightly longer than the third finger. The fourth toe is considerably longer than the third toe: the claw tip of the third toe does not reach the base of the claw of the fourth toe. The fifth toe extends beyond the first toe. The tail is rounded, strongly depressed at the base, and covered with moderately sized, strongly keeled scales arranged in rings. The tail length is 2.5 to 3 times the distance from the gular fold to the vent. Males have a double or triple row of thickened pre-anal scales. The species is olive-colored on the dorsal side, marbled with black, and typically marked with round light spots that form a network pattern. Sometimes black spots form a festooned band along each side of the vertebral line. Males have blackish marbling on the throat. This species is distributed in NE Afghanistan, N Pakistan, Kashmir, Nepal, China (Xinjiang), SE Turkmenistan, and extends eastward through W Tajikistan to W Kyrgyzstan and E Uzbekistan. Its type locality is Leh and Kargil, Ladakh Region.
