Lacertidae

Aloufi, Abdulhadi A., Amr, Zuhair S., Abu Baker, Mohammad A. & Hamidan, Nashat, 2019, Diversity and conservation of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine reptiles and amphibians in Saudi Arabia, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 204) 13 (2), pp. 181-202 : 192

Family Lacertidae

Twenty species of lacertids occur in Saudi Arabia. They belong to five genera ( Acanthodactylus , Mesalina , Ophisops , Philochortus , and Phoenicolacerta ). Species of the genus Acanthodactylus were extensively studied at the molecular level ( Tamar et al. 2016a), and constitute the highest number of species, followed by species of the genus Mesalina . Acanthodactylus tilburyi is known only from Saudi Arabia and southern Jordan ( Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008). Among lizards of the genus Mesalina, Sindaco et al. (2018) described Mesalina arnoldi from southwestern Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and Mesalina saudiarabica was described from Mahazat as-Sayd, near Makkah ( Šmíd et al. 2017). By now, Mesalina brevirostris is known to be distributed in eastern Saudi Arabia, while Mesalina bernoullii is known from northeastern Saudi Arabia ( Šmíd et al. 2017). Al-Sadoon et al. (2016) recorded Acanthodactylus orientalis and Acanthodactylus robustus for the first time from Turaif region. Phoenicolacerta kulzeri ssp. was recently recorded from Al Konah, Tabuk ( Aloufi and Amr 2015).