Acanthodactylus boskianus asper (Audouin, 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 : 210-212

Acanthodactylus boskianus asper ( Audouin, 1827:174, pl. I, fig. 10)

1827 Lacerta aspera Audouin, Explication sommaire des planches de reptiles (supplément), publiées par Jules-César Savigny, Membre de l’Institut; offrant un exposé des caractères naturels des genres, avec la distinction des espèces. Pp. 161–184 In: M. J.-C. L. de Savigny, (ed.), Description de l’Égypte, ou Recueil des Observations et des Recherches qui ont été Faites en Égypte Pendant l’Expédition de l’Armée Française. Histoire Naturelle. Tome premier. Partie premier. Imprimerie Impériale, Paris.

HOLOTYPE.— Specimen figured in fig. 10, pl. 1 of the Atlas to the Description de l’Égypte , not located fide Brygoo (1988), “ Egypte.”

Acanthodactylus boskianus, Le Berre 1989:186 .

Acanthodactylus boskianus, Schleich, Kästle, and Kabisch 1996:378 .

Acanthodactylus boskianus, Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008:210 .

Complexe Acanthodactylus boskianus, Trape, Trape, and Chirio 2012:294 .

DISTRIBUTION.— The range of A. boskianus as a whole extends from Mauritania and Western Sahara and as far south as northern Nigeria east to Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt, and across Sinai and through the Levant to southeastern Anatolia, Iraq, Kuwait and western Iran (Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008). The subspecies A. b. asper occupies most of North Africa (but see Comments for the confusion surrounding the delineation of taxa within this group). In Libya they are found across the country, except Kufrah (Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008).

Libyan Records (Map 26): TRIPOLITANIA: NUQAT AL KHAMS: 3: NHMC 80.3.76.62–64. 5: Werner 1909; Zavattari 1934. 6: Werner 1909. ZAWIYAH: 23: NMBA-REPT 15319; Zavattari 1934. 24: Werner 1909. JAFARA: 33: BMNH 1975.1200; Salvador 1982. TRIPOLI: 39: FMNH 82966. 45: MCSN 2407; ZSM 172/1979; Werner 1909;

Ghigi 1913; Zavattari 1934; Sayers 1964. 53:

NMBA-REPT 15320. MURQUB: 66: Sindaco,

pers. obs. 4/29/2008. 67: Sindaco, pers. obs.

4/29/2008. 68: BMNH 1955.1.8. 55; Boulenger

1914; Zavattari 1934; Salvador 1982. 69:

BMNH 1955.1.8. 56; Salvador 1982; Sindaco obs. 4/26/2008. MISRATAH: 82 : NHMC

80.3.76.65–74. 75: BMNH 1955.1.8. 57; Salvador 1982. NALUT: 101: BMNH 1965 .1248;

Salvador 1982. 105: MNHN 2004.0083;

Ibrahim and Ineich 2005. 119: BMNH

1954.1.5. 98; Salvador 1982. 122: Brito et al .

2008. JABAL AL GHARBI: 136: BMNH

1965.1250; Salvador 1982. 138: ZMA 13082.

141: ZSM 169/1975. SIRTE: 174: ZMB 18007.

185: BMNH 1965.1137, 1965.1247; Salvador

1982. 187: BMNH 1965.1249. “ Tripolitania ”: MAP 26. Distribution of Acanthodactylus boskianus Latase 1885 . “ Tripolitania settentrionale ”: asper in Libya.

Zavattari 1937. “ Sirtica ”: Zavattari 1937. FEZZAN: WADI AL SHATII: 200: Brito et al. 2008. 210: NMBA-REPT 15470; ZMB 37603. 211: Zavattari 1937. JUFRA: 213: BMNH 1954.1.6. 3; ZSM 165/1979, 175/1979; Salvador 1982. 216: ZMB 18008; ZSM 134/1983; Peters 1880, 1881; Wern- er 1909; Ghigi 1913; Zavattari 1934. 217: Zavattari 1937. 218: MCSN 2062, 2073; ZSM 44/1981. 221: MCSN 2074; Scortecci 1935b. GHAT: 249: MCSN 2069, 2077, 2168. 253: MCSN 2067, 2113; Scortecci 1937a. WADI AL HAYAA: 265: MCCI R1452(1); Brito et al. 2008; Sindaco, pers. obs. 4/24/2008; Tamar et al. 2016b. 267: Sindaco, pers. obs. 4/24/2008. 268: Brito et al. 2008. 269: Zavatarri 1934. 270: Sindaco, pers. obs. 4/24/2008. 272: MCSN 2061. 274: CUP R 025; Frynta et al. 2000. SABHA: 281: MCSN 2070. 285: MCSN 2078; MSNG 50658; NMBA-REPT 15428–31; Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963; Schnurrenberger 1963. 291: NMBA-REPT 15310–17. MURZUQ: 298: AIC 2006.1572; BMNH 1954.1.5. 9; MCSN 2076, 2165; ZSM 161/1979; Salvador 1982; Ibrahim 2008; Werner and Ibrahim 2012. 303: BMNH 1956.1.1. 7; MCSN 2060; ZCT 2005.04; Salvador 1982; Ibrahim 2008a. 311: ZCT 2006.33, 2006.41, 2006.66; Ibrahim 2008a. 312: MCSN 2083. 316: ZSM 135/1983. 318: Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963; Schnurrenberger 1963. “ Fezzan ”: BMNH 1954.1.5. 91–97; Salvador 1982. CYRENAICA: BENGHAZI: 342: MCSN 2173; MZUT R2278; USNM 146795; Salvador 1982. 357: BMNH 1954.1.5. 79–86; MTKD 17224–27; MZUF 769; NHMW 8216; SMF 34696; von Martens 1883; Werner 1909; Ghigi 1913; Calabresi 1923; Umani 1923; Zavattari 1929, 1930, 1934; Salvador 1982. 361: BMNH 1987.1029. 363: BMNH 1985.1191–92. 365: SMF 34588. 376: BMNH 1954.1.5. 87–90; MCSN 2469; Salvador 1982. MARJ: 385: MCSN 1943; Zavattari 1937. 389: SMF 34587; Calabresi 1923; Zavattari 1929, 1930, 1934. JABAL AL AKHDAR: 410: FMNH 82940. 414: FMNH 82935, 82939, 82967–68. 415: FMNH 214941–44; Resetar 1981. 417: Zavattari 1922, 1929, 1934; Calabresi 1923. 452: Zavattari 1929, 1930. 457: KNP 1981/149, 204, 277, 292, 298–299, 305–308, 311, 318, 324, 329, 339–341, 343–344, 347–349, 353, 357, 394, 396–397, 406, 409; Schleich 1987; 457f: Schleich 1987. 457i: Schleich 1987. 457l: Schleich 1987. DARNAH: 484: MCSN 2364; MZUF 661, MZUT R2276; Calabresi 1923; Zavattari 1929, 1930, 1934. BUTNAN: 507: BMNH 1965.1251–53; Salvador 1982. AL WAHAT: 529: MSNG 31604*; MCSN 2017, 2064, 2081; ZSM 138/1983; Vinciguerra 1931; Zavattari 1934; Scortecci 1935b. 533: MSNG 31604*. 537: SMF 55755. 540: BMNH 1965.1254; Salvador 1982. 544: MSNG 31604*; Vinciguerra 1931; Zavattari 1934. 553: MCSN 2172; ZSM 137/1983. 557: BMNH 1909.7.28. 28–29; Salvador 1982. 558: NMP 34932; Moravec 1995. 564: Zavattari 1929, 1930, 1934, 1937. “ Cyrenaica ”: ZMB 10502. “ Kouf National Park, Ras Latin ”: ZSM 136/1983. LIBYA: NHMW 31123; NMP 34932.

COMMENTS.— The complicated dating of the natural history portions of Description de l’Égypte has been elucidated by Sherborn (1897) and Tollitt (1986). The subspecies present in Libya and most of the North African range is A. b. asper. The A. boskianus species complex has long been believed to be paraphyletic (Harris and Arnold, 2000). The nominate form occupies the region of the Nile Delta and coastal north Sinai. Acanthodactylus b. euphraticus Boulenger, 1919 is in the region of Iraq. Trape and Trape (in Trape et al. 2012) named A. b. khattensis from western Mauritania and Trape, Chirio, and Geniez (in Trape et al. (2012) erected A. b. nigeriensis for material from Niger. The subspecific division of A. boskianus has been considered questionable (Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008), but Werner and Ibrahim (2012) presented morphological evidence for the distinctness of A. b. asper and A. b. boskianus . Tamar et al. (2016b) recovered a “ boskianus group” within which A. boskianus asper was made paraphyletic by A. schreiberi schreiberi + A. s. ataturi, A. s. syriacus, A. b. nigeriensis, and A. b. khattensis. Divergences within A. b. asper are relatively shallow. The sole Libyan sample in the study of Tamar et al. (2016b), from the southwest of the country, is in a clade including samples from Mauritania, Niger, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt (west of the Suez Canal) and Sudan. This clade represents true A. b. asper and its inclusion of both A. b. nigeriensis and A. b. khattensis suggests that these two taxa should be synonymized with A. b. asper ( Tamar et al. 2016b). Material from Sinai, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon (including some specimens identified as A. s. syriacus), Yemen and southern Oman also form a relatively shallow clade and although labeled as A. b. asper in Tamar et al.’s (2016b) tree, correspond to the traditional concept of A. b. boskianus . Other clades in the A. boskianus group include: 1) specimens from the U.A.E., northern Oman, and the Jordanian panhandle, 2) A. schreiberi schreiberi + A. s. ataturi from Cyprus and the Cilician region of Turkey, respectively, and 3) Syrian A. boskianus .

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