Acanthodactylus dumerilii (MILNE-EDWARDS, 1829)
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Acanthodactylus dumerilii
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| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Duméril's Fringe-fingered Lizard G: Dumérils Fransenfinger |
| Synonym | Lacerta dumerili MILNE-EDWARDS 1829: 85 Scapteira inornata GRAY 1838: 281 Acanthodactylus scutellatus var. exiguus LATASTE 1885 (fide SALVADOR) Acanthodactylus scutellatus variété exiguus — DOUMERGUE 1901 Acanthodactylus senegalensis CHABANAUD 1918 Acanthodactylus scutellatus var. dumerili — BOULENGER 1921: 105 Acanthodactylus scutellatus var. inornatus — BOULENGER 1921: 104 Acanthodactylus scutellatus inornatus — BONS 1959 Acanthodactylus dumerili — BONS & GIROT 1964: 331 Acanthodactylus dumerili dumerili — SALVADOR 1982: 128 (part.) Acanthodactylus dumerili exiguus — SALVADOR 1982: 130 Acanthodactylus scutellatus — ARNOLD 1983: 322 (part.) Acanthodactylus dumerilii — SCHLEICH, KÄSTLE & KABISCH 1996: 400 Acanthodactylus scutellatus — HARRIS & ARNOLD 2000: 352 (part.) Acanthodactylus dumerilii — CROCHET et al. 2003 Acanthodactylus senegalensis — CROCHET et al. 2003 Acanthodactylus dumerilii — TRAPE, CHIRIO & TRAPE 2012 Acanthodactylus dumerilii — LIZ et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | SW/E Morocco (West-Sahara), Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, N Algeria, Tunisia, NW Libya. Type locality: “Sénégal” (certainly not present-day Senegal, but probably another north-western Africa country within the range of A. dumerili as understood here; see CROCHET et al. 2003). exiguus: Algerina; Type locality: Type locality: "En Algérie, à Biskra, Mraier, Tougourt, Bled Ahmar, Hadjira, N'Gouça, Tilremt, Laghouat, Ain el Hel et Bou-Saada. En Tunisie, à l'oued el Kreil, Kebili, Tozeur, et Nefta". Syntypes, not catalogued, but probably BM 1920.1.20.1349c (Bled Ahmar), 1920.1.20.1349 (Hadjira), 1920.1.20.1349d (Tilremt), 1920.1.20.1349e (Laghouat), 1920.1.20.1349i (Mraier), 1920.1.20.1349g (Biskra), 1920.1.20.3006 (Oued el Kreil) [Salvador 1982] senegalensis: Mauritania, Western Sahara, Senegal, Mali, Algeria. Type locality: “Sangaleam, près de Rufisque”. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: MNHN-RA 2759 Lectotype: BMNH 1946.9.3.76. Type locality: ‘Tripoli’, Libya [Scapteira inornata]. Syntypes (not catalogued but probably: BMNH 1920.1.20.1349c and BMNH 1920.1.20.1349c2 (Bled Ahmar), BMNH 1920.1.20.1349 (Hadjira), BMNH 1920.1.20.1349d (Tilremt), BMNH 1920.1.20.1349e and MNHN 5838B (Laghouat), BMNH 1920.1.20.1349i (Mraïer), BMNH 1920.1.20.1349g (Biskra), BMNH 1920.1.20.3006 (Oued el Kreil). see Salvador, 1982: 130 [exiguus]. Lectotype: BMNH 1920.1.20.1349. Type locality: originally ‘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 CROCHET et al. (2003) [exiguus]. Holotype: MNHN-RA 1918.0043 [senegalensis] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Small species with short, blunt snout. Five supralabials anterior to the subocular. Subocular not in contact with the upper lip. Ventrals arranged in 12 or 14 longitudinal rows. Fourth supraocular divided. Dorsals flat, large and sharply keeled. One or two rows of granules between the supraoculars and the superciliaries. Color pattern very faint or completely absent (Salvador 1982: 126). Diagnosis (exiguus): 14 oblique longitudinal rows of ventrals. Relatively shorter hindlegs. Fourth supraocular generally entire. One row of granules between the superciliaries and the supraoculars. Slightly reticulate color pattern in males. Females with pale band on each side of the body (Salvador 1982: 130). Diagnosis (senegalensis). Small size (snout-vent length of adults between 49 and 60 mm, mean: 51.6; Table 2). The subocular in contact with three or (rarely) four supralabials in 100% of the individuals (Table3) distinguishes Acanthodactylus senegalensis from A. aureus and A. taghitensis. Acanthodactylus senegalensis has the lowest scale counts within the group. Low number of large dorsal scales (range: 34–53, mean: 41.3), about twice as large as the flank scales, flat and strongly carinate (code 6 in 89% of the individuals, the remaining ones having code 4 or 5; Table 3, see Fig. 16). Fewer than two rows of supraciliary granules in 59% of our sample, two rows or more in 41% of the specimens (Table 3). Generally 10, 11 or 12 longitudinal rows of ventral scales (in 89% of the specimens, range: 10–14, mean: 12; Table 2). Low number of femoral pores (generally fewer than 18 on each side, range: 11–20.5, mean: 15.6). Always three colours on the dorsum. In males, black dots over a dappled pattern of whitish spots on a beige or russet ground colour, flanks darker than the dorsum. Females have a lineated pattern with a dark vertebral line. Black spots of the males sometimes aligned over the dorsum, resulting in a pattern similar the females pattern. Pileus sandy-coloured with darker, weakly delimited spots. When present, this typical pattern (dark flanks of males, dark vertebral line of females) distinguishes A. senegalensis from A. scutellatus, A. dumerili and A. longipes (see Fig. 12a). A further difference from these three species is the obvious size difference between the scales of the flanks and the scales of the dorsum. Number of dorsal scales diagnostic in comparison with A. longipes (34–53 dorsal rows in A. senegalensis [n = 187] against 55–77 dorsal rows in A. longipes [n = 65]). Dorsal number also useful in comparison with A. scutellatus: 47 or fewer rows of dorsals in 95% of A. senegalensis specimens, 48 or more in 92% of A. scutellatus specimens. Further separated from A. scutellatus and A. longipes by the lower number of ventrals (13 or more in 96% of the A. scutellatus and in 100% of the A. longipes, compare also minima and maxima for A. senegalensis and A. longipes in Table 2). Dorsal scales also more strongly carinate than in either A. scutellatus or A. longipes: no specimens of these species reach code 6 for CARE (compare with A. senegalensis above). For comparisons with A. dumerili, especially in the area of sympatry, see that species (Crochet et al. 2003). |
| Comment | Synonymy: Acanthodactylus dumerili, exiguus, audouini, and inornata were synonymized with A. scutellatus by ARNOLD (1983). Acanthodactylus senegalensis CHABANAUD 1918 has been removed from synonymy by CROCHET et al. (2003). However, Liz et al. (2022) confirmed that senegalensis is genetically indistinguishable from dumerilii and thus seems to be just an ecomorph. Types: One of the syntypes of A. s. exiguus, (Biskra), the specimen BMNH 1920.1.20.1349c2 (Bled Ahmar) is in fact an A. longipes (CROCHET et al. 2003). |
| Etymology | named after one of the Duméril brothers. Le Floch-Prigent (2008) published a short biography of André Marie Constant Duméril (1774-1860). A. senegalensis was named after the type locality. |
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