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Mesalina pasteuri (BONS, 1960)

IUCN Red List - Mesalina pasteuri - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaLacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Pasteur's Lizard 
SynonymEremias pasteuri BONS 1960
Eremias pasteuri — PAPENFUSS 1969: 296
Mesalina pasteuri — SZCZERBAK 1975
Mesalina pasteuri — SCHLEICH, KÄSTLE & KABISCH 1996: 423
Mesalina pasteuri — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008 
DistributionCentral Sahara (Morocco, S Algeria, Niger), Western Sahara, W Mauritania, Mali, NW Egypt

Type locality: Amguit (Ahaggar)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 1932.0141 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: The distribution of this species is centered in central Sahara. This species is beige with one middorsal and two lateral white stripes on each side; the stripes are separated by narrow white or yellowish lines; ocelli are absent. The middorsal line continues for some distance onto the tail. Like M. rubropunctatus, M. pas- teuri occupies the driest regions, but unlike the former species it does estivate. Another difference is its prefer- ence for mobile sands with tufts of grass and sand dunes, whereas M. rubropunctatus prefers stony, rocky areas. As with the latter species, population densities are extremely low. The lizards stay sheltered at noon during the summer months. Only small food items such as aphids, ants, termites and insect larvae are taken. M. pasteuri is eaten by a number of predators including scorpi- ons, one species of wind scorpion, the Desert Monitor Varanus griseus, various snakes and crows. Diagnostic features include 4 – 5 (usually 5) supralabials in front of the subocular; 2 (sometimes 3 plus smaller) translucent scales, with 2 – 3 smaller ones on low anterior margins. Body with granular or subimbricate, smooth or slightly keeled scales in 34 – 41 rows at midbody; 10 longitudinal and 28 – 33 transverse rows. Large anal plate surrounded by two series of preanals. Femoral pores 10 – 14 beneath each thigh. Sexual maturity probably reached in 1 year (Bons, 1960, Yousefkhani et al. 2015). 
Comment 
EtymologyNamed after French herpetologist, geneticist, and evolutionary biologist Georges Pasteur (1930-2015). He made important contributions to the systematics of Lygodactylus and several other reptiles. See Ineich 2016 for an obituary. 
References
  • Baha el Din, S. 2006. A guide to the reptiles and amphibians of Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo. xvi + 359 pp.
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Bons, J. 1960. Description d'un nouveau lézard du Sahara: Eremias pasteuri sp. nov. (Lacertidés). C. R. Séances mens. Soc. Sci. nat. phys. Maroc., 4: 69-71 - get paper here
  • Geniez, P.; Mateo, J.A.; Geniez, M. & Pether, J. 2004. The amphibians and reptiles of the Western Sahara (former Spanish Sahara) and adjacent regions. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 228 pp. [reviewed in Reptilia GB 44: 81]
  • Hosseinian-Yousefkhani, Seyyed Saeed; Gabriel M.D. Marmol Marin, Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani 2015. A Bibliographic Recompilation of the Genus Mesalina Gray, 1838 (Sauria: Lacertidae) with a Key to the Species. Russ. J. Herpetol. 22 (1): 23-34 - get paper here
  • Kapli, P., Lymberakis, P., Crochet, P.-A., Geniez, P., Brito, J. C., Almutairi, M., Ahmadzadeh, F., Schmitz, A., Wilms, T., Pouyani, N. R., Poulakakis, N. 2014. Historical biogeography of the lacertid lizard Mesalina in North Africa and the Middle East. Journal of Biogeography, doi: 10.1111/jbi.12420 - get paper here
  • Martínez del Mármol, Gabriel; D. James Harris, Philippe Geniez, Philip de Pous, and Daniele Salvi 2019. Amphibians and Reptiles of Morocco. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 478 pp - get paper here
  • Padial, J. M. 2006. COMMENTED DISTRIBUTIONAL LIST OF THE REPTILES OF MAURITANIA (WEST AFRICA). Graellsia, 62(2): 159-178 - get paper here
  • Papenfuss, T. J. 1969. Preliminary analysis of the reptiles of arid central West Africa. Wasmann Journal of Biology 27:249—325 - get paper here
  • Pizzigalli, C., Crochet, P.-A., Geniez, P., Martínez-Freiría, F., Velo-Antón, G., & Carlos Brito, J. 2021. Phylogeographic diversification of the Mesalina olivieri species complex (Squamata: Lacertidae) with the description of a new species and a new subspecies endemic from North West Africa. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 00, 1– 29 - get paper here
  • Rouag R, Ziane N, De Sousa M 2024. A tentative list of reptilian fauna of Algeria and their conservation status. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e120471 - get paper here
  • Schleich, H.H., Kästle,W., Kabisch, K. 1996. Amphibians and Reptiles of North Africa. Koeltz, Koenigstein, 627 pp.
  • Shcherbak, N.N. [= Szczerbak] 1975. Katalog afrikanskikh Jaszczurok [Catalog of African sand lizards [Eremiainae]]. Akad. Sci. Ukrain. SSR, Zool. Inst., Zool. Mus.: 2-83
  • Sindaco, R. & Jeremcenko, V.K. 2008. The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 579 pp. - get paper here
  • Sow, Andack Saad; Duarte Vasconcelos Gonçalves, Fábio Vieira Sousa, Fernando Martínez- Freiría, Frederico Santarém, Guillermo Velo-Antón, Hamidou Dieng, João Carlos Campos, Saer Khayar Diagne, Zbyszek Boratyński, José Carlos Brito 2017. Atlas of the distribution of amphibians and reptiles in the Diawling National Park, Mauritania. Basic and Applied Herpetology - get paper here
  • Sow, Andack Saad; Fernando Martínez-Freiría, Pierre-André Crochet, Philippe Geniez, Ivan Ineich, Hamidou Dieng, Soumia Fahd, José Carlos Brito 2015. Atlas of the distribution of reptiles in the Parc National du Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania. Basic and Applied Herpetology - get paper here
  • Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here
  • Szczerbak, Nikolai N. 1989. Catalogue of the African Sand lizards (Reptilia: Sauria: Eremiainae: Lampreremias, Pseuderemias, Taenieremias, Mesalina, Meroles). Herpetozoa 1 (3/4): 119-132. - get paper here
  • Trape, J.F.; Trape, S. & Chirio, L. 2012. Lézards, crocodiles et tortues d'Afrique occidentale et du Sahara. IRD Orstom, 503 pp. - get paper here
 
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