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Notes on Some Egyptian Lacertidae, Including a New Subspecies of Mesalina, Involving the Seligmann Effect

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Notes on Some Egyptian Lacertidae, Including a New Subspecies of Mesalina, Involving the Seligmann Effect Turk J Zool 34 (2010) 123-133 © TÜBİTAK Research Article doi:10.3906/zoo-0905-8 Notes on some Egyptian Lacertidae, including a new subspecies of Mesalina, involving the Seligmann effect Yehudah Leopold WERNER1, Shoshana ASHKENAZI2 1Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem - ISRAEL 2National Natural History Collections, Berman building, Edmond J. Safra campus, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem - ISRAEL Received: 11.05.2009 Abstract: These notes on some Egyptian lacertid lizards contribute to faunal data for the planning of biodiversity conservation. Mesalina bahaeldini curatorum n. subsp. is described from Suez, characterized by coloration and larger (fewer) body scales. Range extensions are documented for Acanthodactylus aegyptius, Mesalina olivieri, and M. rubropunctata. The previously reported occurrence ofA. opheodurus in Sinai is doubted. The fact that the M. b. curatorum types were collected in the 1820s demonstrates the importance of museum collections. Key words: Acanthodactylus aegyptius, A. longipes, A. opheodurus, Mesalina bahaeldini, M. guttulata, M. olivieri, M. rubropunctata, Suez Introduction Our observations derive mainly from 2 sources. The mounting worldwide concern for the First, the historical type series of Lacerta guttulata Lichtenstein,1823, collected by Hemprich and preservation of biodiversity calls for increased efforts Ehrenberg's expedition to northeastern Africa, 1819- to describe the biodiversity, beginning with the 1826 (Stresemann, 1954), comprised 9 specimens and identification of taxa and definition of their was heterogeneous in both characters and distribution ranges (Meffe and Carroll, 1997; Samper, geographical origin (Segoli et al., 2002). We discuss 2004; Secretariat of the Convention on Biological here the 3 specimens that in the aforementioned study Diversity, 2008). This is especially true in the were found to be irrelevant to Mesalina guttulata. Mediterranean Basin, which has been defined a global Second, recently one of us (SA) had an opportunity biodiversity hotspot for reptiles as well as for plants to observe reptiles in southwestern Egypt, where the (Baha El Din et al., 2008). In this spirit we report here herpetofauna is relatively poorly researched, as is on some Egyptian lacertid lizards, relying on the reflected in all major relevant reviews (Anderson, recent review by Baha El Din (2006) as a baseline for 1898; Flower, 1933; Marx, 1968; Saleh, 1997; Baha El assessing the significance of additional observations. Din, 2006). * E-mail: [email protected] 123 Notes on some Egyptian Lacertidae, including a new subspecies of Mesalina, involving the Seligmann effect Abbreviations Comparisons were made with congeneric material BMNH, National Museum of Natural History, in HUJR and with photographs from Egypt (Baha El London Din, 2007) and of Acanthodactylus longipes and A. scutellatus also from Libya (Adel Ibrahim, pers. HUJ, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem comm.). L, left Characters R, right For taxonomy we examined the following PCO, Principal Coordinate Analysis characters (Boulenger, 1921), beyond verifying agreement of diagnostic characters with the Mesalina RA, rostrum-anus length (Werner, 1971) guttulata-bahaeldini group. PERCRA, percents of RA (Werner, 1971) Mensural characters ZMB, Museum für Naturkunde, Universität Except for RA and tail length, which were Humboldt , Berlin measured to the nearest 0.5 mm, all characters were measured to the nearest 0.1 mm. Except RA, all are presented as PERCRA. Materials and methods Rostrum-anus length (RA): Distance from tip of Museum specimens snout to cloaca. Mesalina bahaeldini (26): 15 males and 11 females, Head length: Distance from tip of snout to the from several museums, listed in Segoli et al. (2002). posterior edge of the ear, measured parallel to long Mesalina guttulata (56): 31 males and 25 females, axis of body with special modified callipers (Goren in HUJR, from Sinai (Egypt) and the Negev (Israel). and Werner, 1993). Mesalina cf. olivieri (3): HUJR 14,498-14,499, Head width: Greatest width of head. Nabq Mangroves, Sinai (approx. 28°04´N, 34°25´E), Head depth: Greatest depth of head. 20 November 1981; ZMB 1118, Lower Egypt Forelimb length: From axilla to tip of distal claw. (probably near Alexandria or Siwa), 1820-1821, W. Hemprich and C.G. Ehrenberg (Stresemann, 1954). Hindlimb length: From groin to tip of distal claw. Mesalina sp. (2): ZMB 1122, 63004, Suez, Egypt, Fourth toe length: From insertion of 5th toe, claw 1820-1821, W. Hemprich and C.G. Ehrenberg. included. Comparisons were made with congeneric material Tail length: From cloaca to tip of tail, if original. in HUJR. Meristic characters Photographs Some meristic characters we examined bilaterally and tested for directional asymmetry (Werner et al., Photographs were taken in February 2008, by SA 1991). These are indicated by an asterisk (*). In the except as noted, and are deposited in the archive of text the data are marked L, R. the HUJ Herpetology Collection. *Supralabials, total: Number of supralabials from Acanthodactylus aegyptius: HUJR-PHO 504, 505, the most posterior clearly enlarged plate, to lizard, approx. 30 km west of the Oasis of Farafra (excluding) the rostral, including the suborbital. (27°18´N, 27°45´E), 25 February 2008; HUJR-PHO Gulars: Number of gular scales in a straight 506, the habitat. median series. Mesalina rubropunctata: HUJR-PHO 502 (photo Plates in collar: Number of larger scales in collar. Amnon Bruchiel), HUJR-PHO 501, lizard, west side of Gilf Kebir Plateau approx. 40 km from Libyan Dorsals: Number of dorsal scales across midbody. frontier (23°25´N, 25°35´E), 21 February 2008; Ventrals across belly: Number of ventral scales in HUJR-PHO 503, the habitat. the longest row across belly. 124 Y. L. WERNER, S. ASHKENAZI *Transverse rows of ventrals: Number of transverse only to sympatric M. guttulata to avoid confounding series of ventral scales, counted along the ventral side from geographical variation. However, herein we to (and excluding) the level of the femoral pores. included all available M. guttulata data, i.e. from Sinai *Femoral pores. and southern Israel. Consequently the PCO failed to th clearly separate the 2 species. Therefore we invoked *Subdigital lamellae: Along underside of the 4 the Seligmann effect and repeated the analysis toe, defined by their width, the one touching the claw excluding all specimens lacking complete tails. included. According to the Seligmann effect such individuals Computed characters may be accident-prone with a statistical correlation of Head index = 100 × Head length divided by head deviant morphometrics that can obscure differences width. existing between samples being compared (Almog et al., 2005; Lachman et al., 2006). The new PCO was Head depth index = 100 × Head depth divided by instructive and thereupon we tested the significance head length. of inter-sample differences by 2-tailed T-test. Toe index = 100 × fourth toe length divided by total hindlimb length. Results and discussion Lamella PERCRA = fourth toe length in PERCRA divided by the number of Subdigital lamellae under Acanthodactylus aegyptius Baha El Din, 2007 that toe. (Figures 1 and 2) Qualitative characters This species was recently described as new (Baha El Din, 2007) within the eastern part of the range Coloration was checked in the following terms: In earlier ascribed to A. longipes (Baha El Din, 2006). Acanthodactylus, size of the light dorsal spots and presence of black spots. In Mesalina, dark dorsal One individual was photographed (Figure 1, stripes: number and position, continuous, broken, HUJR-PHO 505) on 25 February 2008 approx. 30 km studded with light dots, with ocelli, represented by a west of the Oasis of Farafra (27°18´N, 27°45´E), chain of ocelli. Lateral stripe from ear region: light or elevation of ca. 300 m, in the Western Desert. This is dark, if dark, same options, position relative to ear the eastern edge of the “Great Sand Sea" and (middle or upper or lower end). Extension to eye. beginning of limestone plateau and limestone structures. The habitat of the lizard was a foothill of Research strategy mixed sand, limestone and some silt with scattered Bilateral characters were tested for the presence of shrubs of Anabasis sp., Zygophyllum sp. and others directional asymmetry (Werner et al., 1991) and in its (Figure 2, HUJR-PHO 506). absence (here in all cases) the right-side data were The individual was identified from photographs used. by its long tail (200-215 PERCRA), short snout During the redescription of Mesalina guttulata (distance from snout tip to eye-centre smaller than (Segoli et al., 2002), 2 of the original syntypes were from eye-centre to ear), and fine dorsal reticulation excluded from the redescription due to their deviant (diameter of light spots approx. 2 PERCRA, compared coloration. These syntypes somewhat resembled M. with approx. 3 PERCRA in A. longipes). bahaeldini described in that paper. Therefore we This observation extends the known range of the applied PCO (run on Standardized Euclidian matrices species in the Western Desert by about 150 km to SW using MVSP, the multivariate statistical package of (Figure 3 map), and increases the likelihood of Kovach Computing Services) to these 2 specimens sympatry with A. longipes, already indicated in some together with available data of both species. This was areas (Baha El Din, 2007: Figure 5). done separately for each sex because of the sexual dimorphism prevalent in Lacertidae (Segoli, Cohen Acanthodactylus opheodurus Arnold, 1980 and Werner, 2002; briefly reviewed in Seifan et al., Werner (1986) presented locality records of A. 2009). Originally M. bahaeldini had been compared opheodurus from Sinai but Baha El Din (2006) 125 Notes on some Egyptian Lacertidae, including a new subspecies of Mesalina, involving the Seligmann effect considered this identification erroneous, ascribing the records to A. boskianus, because he had seen in Sinai hundreds of A. boskianus and no A. opheodurus. This question seems to require re-examination, which, however, cannot be undertaken at this time. Mesalina bahaeldini curatorum n.
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