Acanthodactylus dumerilii (Milne-Edwards, 1829)

Bauer, Aaron M., DeBoer, Jonathan C. & Taylor, Dylan J., 2017, Atlas of the Reptiles of Libya, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 64 (8), pp. 155-318 : 212-213

Acanthodactylus dumerilii ( Milne-Edwards, 1829:85, pl. VII, fig. 9)

1829 Lacerta Dumerilii Milne-Edwards, Recherches zoologiques pour servir à l’histoire des lézards, extraites d’une monographie de ce genre. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Paris, sér. 1, 16: 50-89, pls. V–VIII.

LECTOTYPE.— MNHN 2759 fide Brygoo (1988), “ Sénégal ” designated by Crochet et al. (2003).

1838 Scapteira inornata Gray , Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species. Part 1. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 1, 1:274–283 [281].

LECTOTYPE.— BMNH 1946.9.3. 76, “ Tripoli ” [ Libya] designated by Crochet et al. (2003).

1885 Acanthodactylus scutellatus var. exiguus Lataste, Les acanthodactyles de Barbarie et les autres espèces du genre. Description d’une nouvelle espèce, du pays des Çomalis ( Acanthodactylus Vaillanti ). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, ser. 2, 2:476–516 [493].

LECTOTYPE.— BMNH 1920.1.20. 1349, designated by Crochet et al. (2003), “en Algérie, à Biskra, Mraïer, Tougourt, Bled Ahmar, Hadjira, N’Gouça, Tilremt, Laghouat, Aïn-el-Hel et Bou-Sâada […] en Tunisie, à l’oued el Kreil (entre le plateau de Haouaïa et Ghumraçen), Kébili (dans le Nefzaoua), Tozeur, et Nefta (dans le Djérid),” restricted to “Hadjira, Algeria ” by lectotype designation.

Acanthodactylus scutellatus [part], Le Berre 1989:190.

Acanthodactylus dumerili, Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008:220 .

Complexe Acanthodactylus dumerili, Trape, Trape, and Chirio 2012:304 .

DISTRIBUTION.— Northern Senegal and

Mauritania across Western Sahara, Morocco,

northern Algeria, southern Tunisia and northwestern Libya, although absent from Mediterranean Morocco and Algeria (Sindaco and

Jeremčenko 2008; Tamar et al. 2016b). The

Libyan records mark the easternmost extent of the species. It was not included in the Libyan fauna by Schleich et al. (1996).

Libyan Records (Map 27): TRIPOLITA-

NIA: NUQAT AL KHAMS: 7: Brito et al. 2008.

TRIPOLI: 45: BMNH 1946.9.3. 76; RMNH

RENA 3493; Gray 1838, 1845; Boulenger

1887, 1918, 1921; Crochet et al. 2003; Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008. NALUT: 102: Brito et al.

2008. 115: Brito et al. 2008. FEZZAN: WADI

AL SHATII: 202: Brito et al. 2008. 203: Brito et al. 2008. WADI AL HAYAA: 268: Brito et al. MAP 27. Distribution of Acanthodactylus dumerilii in 2008. Libya.

COMMENTS.— Two subspecies are currently recognized within A. dumerilii by some authors (e.g., Salvador, 1982); the nominate form is West African, whereas the specimens found in North Africa, including Libya, belong to A. d. exiguus Lataste, 1885 . Acanthodactylus dumerilii was synonymized with A. scutellatus by Boulenger (1887) and Arnold (1983), who considered the nature of variation in A. scutellatus to be too complex to warrant meaningful application of subspecific names. Sindaco and Jeremčenko (2008) did not recognize any subspecies in A. dumerilii . Tamar et al. (2016b) generated a multilocus phylogeny for the genus Acanthodactylus and found that A. dumerilii is made paraphyletic by A. senegalensis within the “ scutellatus clade.” Their sampling included no Libyan samples, however. Supposed A. dumerilii from Senegal, Mauritania and Western Sahara in their study grouped with A. senegalensis , suggesting that these southwestern records for A. dumerilii need to be verified. The type locality for A. dumerilii is “ Sénégal ” but, as noted by Crochet et al. (2003), this probably refers to an area in northwestern Africa outside of the nation of Senegal as currently recognized. Bons and Girot (1964) treated A. inornatus and A. dumerilii as different species and regarded the former as occurring across North Africa, although they plotted only two records in Libya, one in northwestern Tripolitania and the other along the Egyptian border and certainly referable to some congener. Crochet et al. (2003) showed that A. inornatus and A. exiguus are junior synonyms of A. dumerilii .

IUCN THREAT STATUS.— Not assessed, but assumed to be Least Concern.