Mesalina cryptica ŠMÍD, VELENSKÁ, POLA, TAMAR, BUSAIS, SHOBRAK,<br />ALMUTAIRI, SALIM, ALSUBAIE, ALGETHAMI, ALGETHAMI, ALANAZI, ALSHAMMARI, EGAN, RAMALHO, OLSON, SMITHSON, CHIRIO, BURGER, HUYSSTEEN, PETFORD & CARRANZA, 2025
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Mesalina cryptica
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| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Mesalina cryptica ŠMÍD, VELENSKÁ, POLA, TAMAR, BUSAIS, SHOBRAK, ALMUTAIRI, SALIM, ALSUBAIE, ALGETHAMI, ALGETHAMI, ALANAZI, ALSHAMMARI, EGAN, RAMALHO, OLSON, SMITHSON, CHIRIO, BURGER, HUYSSTEEN, PETFORD & CARRANZA 2025 Mesalina guttulata — AL-SADOON 1988 Mesalina guttulata — ROSS 1988 Mesalina guttulata — TILBURY 1988 Mesalina guttulata guttulata — AL-SADOON et al. 2016 |
| Distribution | Saudi Arabia (Riyadh Province) Type locality: Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, about 7 km N of Hadlulah Al Muzahimeyah (24.561°N, 46.307°E (datum WGS84; Fig. 4B), 750 m a.s.l. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. NMP6V 76,937 (sample code CN15773; MorphoBank accessions: M908788–M908801; Figs. 4A, and 5), adult male; collected by J. Šmíd, S. Carranza, M. Shobrak on 14 June 2019. Paratypes. NMP6V 76941 (sample code CN11194), adult male; NMP6V 76940 (sample code CN11193), adult female; NMP6V 76938 (sample code CN11195), adult female; all three from Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Sha’Ib Luha, about 15 km South of Riyadh (24.444°N, 46.676° E, 660 m a.s.l.), collected by L. Chirio on 17 January 2015; NMP6V 76939 (sample code CN11200), adult female; Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Wadi Hanifa, about 5 km Southwest of Al Awsat (24.324°N, 46.396° E, 810 m a.s.l., collected by L. Chirio on 10 April 2015). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-sized species of Mesalina, member of the M. guttulata species complex with the following combination of morphological characters: 1) SVL up to 47 mm in both sexes (the character is not sexually dimorphic; adult males: 43.5–47.0 mm, adult females: 41.8–46.1 mm); 2) well-developed occipital scale in contact with the interparietal; 3) lower eyelid with a transparent window made up of two large scales; 4) 8–10 supralabials; 5) four upper labials in front of the subocular; 6) 9–12 plates in collar; 7) 21–29 gulars; 8) ventral plates in eight straight longitudinal rows; 9) 36–48 dorsal scales across midbody; 10) 24–29 femoral pores in males, 25–33 in females (the character is not sexually dimorphic); 11) 19–22 lamellae under 4th toe; 12) dorsal coloration of adults beige to dark brown, with black-and-white ocelli (the white dots are flanked but not completely surrounded by black specks); the ocelli are arranged in irregular longitudinal and transverse rows; 13) adult males with orange flanks; 14) juveniles sometimes with pale dorsolateral stripes that start at the level of the eye and extend all the way down on the tail; 15) juveniles with a bluish tail. (Šmíd et al. 2025) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 3345 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Distribution: for a map of localities see Šmíd et al. 2025: 3 (Fig. 1). |
| Etymology | Named after the Latin word for “concealed” or “hidden”, and refers to that the species had been overlooked for its morphological similarity with the other species of the M. guttulata complex, which were considered conspecific prior to the taxonomic revision by Sindaco et al. 2018. |
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