Mesalina bahaeldini SEGOLI, COHEN & WERNER, 2002
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Mesalina bahaeldini
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| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Mesalina bahaeldini bahaeldini SEGOLI, COHEN & WERNER 2002 Mesalina bahaeldini curatorum WERNER & ASHKENAZI 2010 |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Mesalina bahaeldini SEGOLI, COHEN & WERNER 2002 Mesalina bahaeldini — BISCHOFF 2007 Mesalina bahaeldini — YOUSEFKHANI et al. 2015 Mesalina bahaeldini — SINDACO et al. 2018 Mesalina bahaeldini curatorum WERNER & ASHKENAZI 2010 Lacerta guttulata LICHTENSTEIN 1823 (part.) Mesalina bahaeldini curatorum — SINDACO et al. 2018 |
| Distribution | Egypt (southern Sinai peninsula), Israel, Jordan Type locality: Near St. Catherine Monastery, Sinai, Egypt. curatorum: Egypt; Type locality: Suez, Egypt. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: HUJ R 10712, Zool. Mus., Hebrew univ. Jerusalem Holotype: ZMB 1122, male collected during 1820-1821 by the W. Hemprich and C.G. Ehrenberg expedition to the Near East [curatorum] |
| Diagnosis | Mesalina bahaeldini resembles M. guttulata in conventional key characters but differs from it in consistently being striped (rather than ocellated) and brownish (rather than greyish); having on average fewer supralabials; fewer dorsals in a transverse count at midbody; fewer transverse rows of ventral plates; fewer subdigital lamellae under the fourth toe; but longer toes, relative to hindlimb length; individual subdigital lamellae are longer, relative to body size (from the abstract of SEGOLI et al. 2002). Diagnosis. A prominent occipital in contact with the interparietal; curved collar; transparent disc of lower eyelid comprising two major scales, with black vertical bar; ventral plates in 10 straight longitudinal rows. Scales on the upper surface of the tibia keeled. Lamellae under 4th toe, 21. Scales on ventral side of tail smooth. Dorsal coloration of adult brownish, with distinct longitudinal stripes (may be somewhat interrupted). Supralabials anterior to subocular 4; supralabials total 8 or 9; gulars, 22; plates in collar, 11. Dorsals across midbody, 45; ven- trals across belly, 9; femoral pores, 11 (Yousefkhani et al. 2015). Diagnosis (curatorum): A Mesalina with a prominent occipital in contact with the interparietal; moderately curved collar; transparent disc of lower eyelid comprising 2major scales, with black vertical bar; upper labials in front of the subocular usually 4, exceptionally 5. Dorsals across mid-body approx. 35-40. Ventral plates in 10 straight longitudinal rows.Scales on the upper surface of the tibia keeled. Lamellae under the 4th toe, 21-22. Scales on ventral side of tail smooth. Coloration semi- striped. Laterally a light stripe from the middle of the ear towards the groin, accompanied above by a broader dark band, accompanied above by a dorso- lateral chain of black-and-white spots; mid-dorsally anteriorly plain, posteriorly speckled. |
| Comment | Distribution: see (unnecessaily confusing) maps in Sindaco et al. 2018: 515 (Fig. 1), Kapli et al. 2008: 104 (Fig. 1). The endemic M. bahaeldini and the widespread M. guttulata are geographically sympatric but usually not syntopic. The former occurs only above 600-1000 m a.s.l., the latter at a wide range of altitudes but its occurrence at the same high altitudes is unclear (from the abstract of SEGOLI et al. 2002). See Bar et al. 2021 for a map. Types: The series of nine syntypes of Lacerta guttulata LICHTENSTEIN, 1823, in the Zoologisches Museum, Berlin, collected by HEMPRICH and EHRENBERG in Egypt and Nubia, is heterogeneous, only six fitting the description of the species. Therefore a lectotype is designated and the species redescribed (from the abstract of SEGOLI et al. 2002). Subspecies: the status of M. b. curatorum remains unclear, given the uncertainty of the type locality of curatorum (in an area between the distribution range of M. guttulata and M. bahaeldini), the lack of clear morphological characters to sort out the taxonomy of this species complex, and the impossibility of including the holotype or paratypes in the molecular analyses of Sindaco et al. 2018. |
| Etymology | Named after Sherif M. Baha El Din (b. 1960), Egyptian zoologist. |
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