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Algeria is a case study of biodiversity ignorance. To date, there are neither complete inventories for any taxa nor atlas across the country! Yet, Algeria is of great importance for global biodiversity. The coastal area of Algeria is part of the global biodiversity hostpot which is the Mediterranean perimeter and has several regional red spots of biodiversity. Moreover, the Saharan part encompasses a diversity of endemic organisms adapted to the strong conditions of drought. The Algerian authorities are deploying an ambitious project for conservation aiming to reach 50% of the country`s surface as protected areas! However, the location of these protected areas and their management don’t obey to a scientific evidence based, but are rather based on experts opinion. The main aim of this thesis is the study of the biodiversity ignorance distribution in Algeria by focusing on the `Linnean, Wallacean, and Darwinian Shortfalls` and to contribute to reduce them. The first chapter aims at reducing the Linnean Shortfall by proposing 1) a first checklist of reptiles and amphibians of Algeria which is the result of an accurate review of scientific publications on these taxa in North Africa. 2) a first pre-assessment of the conservation status of reptiles and amphibians of Algeria for the production of the first national red list. The second part of this manuscript deals with the ignorance of the geographical distribution of species. The purpose of this part is to map the ignorance which is defined as the difference between the expected specific richness diversity and the observed specific richness. The predicted species richness was modelled with two approaches: 1 ecological niche modelling with the maximum entropy method (MaxEnt) to predict the suitable habitats for each species and then add the different binary layers of species presence to calculate the specific richness. 2) Minimum convex polygon method was used to create range maps of each species and were auditioned to obtain predicted species richness. Both approaches have shown the same trend at a national scale: the concentration of the richest areas along the Saharan Atlas and the High Plateaus which are the transition zone between the Sahara and the Mediterranean part of Algeria. The opposition of the Saharan with a low species richness and the northern part with a higher species richness. Finally, the Saharan massifs of the Hoggar and Tassili form a very distinct zone with a much greater wealth compared to the rest of the Sahara. In terms of gaps, in the northern part, Kabylie, El Kala National Park and the Oran region are fairly well surveyed. In the Sahara, only a few points are clearly well prospected as Biskra, Bechar and some areas of the Hoggar and Tassili. The third part deals with the distribution of genetic llineages in the Maghreb. The aim of this section is to locate the phylogeographic breaks between the divergent eastern and western populations of the Maghreb and to try to understand the mechanisms that led to this pattern of genetic diversity. To answer these questions, I carried out a comparative phylogeography on 11 species of reptiles and amphibians with continuous and wide distribution in the Maghreb. Two suture zones have been identified: one zone on the border of Algeria and Morocco, the other in Kabylia west of the Soummam valley. The divergences between the eastern clades and the western clades occurred between the pre-Messinian periods up to the pliopleistocene boundary and were maintained in climatic refugia in the East and West of the Maghreb.

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Extensive field investigations have determined the geographic distribution of four species of Acanthodactylus in Tunisia: A. inornatus, A. pardalis, A. boskianus and A. savignyi blanci. Important changes of the ranges, in comparison to those given in the literature, are available for the last three species. The ranges of these species are here related to bioclimatic zones and habitats.

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The herpetological populations in the islands of Zembra and Zembretta -- An extensive research of the Reptilian fauna on these two islands was conducted through three expéditions by the Tunis Science Faculty. The islands of Zembra is populated by three species of lizards Psammodromus algirus (Lacertids), Chalcides ocellatus (Scincids) and Hemidactylus turcicus (Gekkonids) and the three species of Colubrid snakes: Malpolon monspessulanus, Macroprotodon cucullatus, Coluber hippocrepis. On the Island of Zembretta only the three species of lizards mentioned above were found. Their distribution and biotope were precised. Two sea turtles visit their costal waters: Caretta caretta (Chelonids) and Dermochelys coriacea (Dermochelyids). The terrestrial herpetofauna on Zembra and Zembretta displays the fundamental characteristics of an insular environment — spécific poorness: the western slopes of the Cap Bon tip include 11 Lacertids, 7 Ophids, 3 Chelonids and 6 Batrachian species. — individual abundance in the Zembra Lacertid populations and even more on Zembretta. — composition unbalance: some species would not find convenient biotops or preys on these two islands but the absence of a few others species cannot be ecologically explained.

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La présente étude vient apporter les premières données faunistiques et écologiques sur les amphibiens et reptiles en Kabylie de la Soummam, région dont, à notre connaissance, aucune étude n’a été consacrée à ce sujet auparavant. Le travail de terrain s’est étalé du début avril à fin juin 2006, en suivant un protocole d’échantillonnage par stations au niveau des principales zones humides de la région (cours d’eau permanents et mares temporaires) ainsi que de quelques milieux terrestres. Un total de 6 espèces d’amphibiens et 17 espèces de reptiles a été identifié dans la région. Les données recueillies sur le peuplement herpétologique et le milieu ont fait l’objet d’une discussion autour des aspects faunistiques, biogéographiques et écologiques de l’herpétofaune de la zone étudiée et dégager quelques pistes de recherche à développer dans l’avenir.

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Reptiles are a successful group in subtropical arid regions. However, little is known about the drivers that influence the diversity of arid reptile communities. One approach is to investigate the variation in phylogenetic structure of the communities along a broad environmental gradient. In this study, I investigated these patterns in the communities of lacertids at the periphery of the Sahara Desert in Tunisia. The effect of the environment was assessed based on a set of variables describing the climate, topography, substrate and cover of perennial vegetation. The phylogenetic alpha diversity was described using the mean pairwise distance (MPD) and the mean nearest taxon distance (NTD) metrics. The analyses showed that the lacertid species could be clustered into three main ecological groups: mesic (Podarcis vaucheri, Psammodromus algirus, Psammodromus blanci, Timon pater), xeric (Acanthodactylus blanci, Acanthodactylus boskianus, Acanthodactylus maculatus, Mesalina olivieri, Ophisops occidentalis), and hyperxeric (Acanthodactylus dumerilii, Acanthodactylus longipes, Acanthodactylus scutellatus, Mesalina guttulata). The analyses also indicated that environment had a weak influence on species richness (15.7% of explained variance), but a strong effect on the phylogenetic (76.5% NTD, 89.5% MPD) structure. The lacertid communities tended to be phylogenetically clustered on sandy substrates under arid climate conditions, and overdispersed under more humid climatic conditions.

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We have used mitochondrial 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA and nuclear β-fibrinogen (intron 7) sequences to investigate the phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships between Acanthodactylus erythrurus group species (except for A. boueti). The phylogenetic analyses of the Acanthodactylus genus did not cluster A. guineensis and A. savignyi with the remaining species of the group (A. blanci, A. lineomaculatus and A. erythrurus). Within the A. erythrurus group, the results of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) showed a complex phylogeny with geographic structure, but it was not congruent with the present taxonomy. Some taxonomic units, such as A. blanci, A. lineomaculatus, A. e. atlanticus and A. e. belli did not form monophyletic genetic units. The application of a molecular clock suggested that the uplift of the Atlas Mountains in the mid-late Miocene and the reopening of the Strait of Gibraltar could be major biogeographic events responsible for the genetic differentiation in the group. Additionally, diverse micro-evolutionary patterns due to the recent contraction/expansion phases of the habitats in North Africa associated with the high dispersal capabilities of these lizards could be related to the complex phylogenetic patterns observed.

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Conclusions. Our analyses indicate that Iberian A. e. erythrurus were separated from northern African forms around the time of the re-opening of the Straits of Gibraltar. This differs from Podarcis, which appear to have made two natural transmarine crossings (Harris et al., 2002) and from chamaeleons which were anthropogenically introduced to the Iberian Peninsula twice from genetically distinct source populations in North Africa (Paulo et al., 2002). As stated before, all taxa are not uniformly affected by the same geological event (Busack, 1986). More sampling from Algeria will be crucial in evaluating the distinctiveness of A. blanci. Within Morocco our data do not support the separation of A. e. lineomaculatus as a distinct species. However, patterns of relationships are not strongly supported by our preliminary data, and clearly more data will be needed to define more precisely the North African genetic lineages within the A. erythrurus species group.

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The life and work of the Alsatian Louis Amédée Lantz (1886-1953), a pioneer of European herpetology. A trained and professional research-chemist, the Alsatian Louis Amédée Lantz was an active and particularly dynamic herpetologist. His residence of nearly twelve years in Russia enabled him to make several field trips to regions such as the Caucasus and Iran. He always carried with him a home made telescopic net that he used to catch lizards. That net became symbolic of Lantz for most people around him. He realized significant herpetological collections mainly deposited in the Museum of the Zoology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. Soon after the Russian Revolution in 1917, he had to leave the country and stayed for a few years in France before joining England. During this period, Lantz visited the French Pyrenees and the Mediterranean border (Hyeres Islands, Bandol), enabling him to discover for the first time oviparous populations of common lizard and also to describe a new species of lizard from the French Pyrenees. Lantz is also at the origin of the discovery of unisexual reproduction by parthenogenesis in reptiles. His collaboration with the Swedish amateur herpetologist Otto Cyrén, whom he met through the German herpetologist Willy Wolterstorff, was particularly successful throughout his career. Lantz died at the age of 66 years, in Switzerland, as he was about to join the team of herpetologists at the Natural History Museum in Paris.

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Several recent papers have reviewed the life and work of French herpetologist Louis Amédée Lantz. They have detailed the composition of his collections deposited in several museums. However, since then, several other important specimens from his collections deposited at the Natural History Museum (NHM, UK) have come to light and we here present all of them in detail. We discovered paralectotypes of Lacerta saxicola obscura Lantz & Cyrén (BMNH 1918.11.21.5–7), syntypes of Lacerta boemica Sukhov (BMNH 1960.1.4.26–30, BMNH 1965.337–342) and Lacerta viridis media Lantz & Cyrén (BMNH 1960.1.4.25, 1966.512). We also identified numerous specimens from the French Mediterranean islands in Lantz’s collection deposited at the NHM, some of which represent the first reported specimens of their species from certain islands. We here provide data on all these specimens. We also place the Mediterranean island specimens from the Lantz collection in their historical context and emphasize the historical and taxonomic value of these collections.

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Aim To map and assess the richness patterns of reptiles (and included groups: amphisbaenians, crocodiles, lizards, snakes and turtles) in Africa, quantify the overlap in species richness of reptiles (and included groups) with the other terrestrial vertebrate classes, investigate the environmental correlates underlying these patterns, and evaluate the role of range size on richness patterns. Location Africa. Methods We assembled a data set of distributions of all African reptile species. We tested the spatial congruence of reptile richness with that of amphibians, birds and mammals. We further tested the relative importance of temperature, precipitation, elevation range and net primary productivity for species richness over two spatial scales (ecoregions and 1° grids). We arranged reptile and vertebrate groups into range-size quartiles in order to evaluate the role of range size in producing richness patterns. Results Reptile, amphibian, bird and mammal richness are largely congruent (r = 0.79–0.86) and respond similarly to environmental variables (mainly productivity and precipitation). Ecoregion size accounts for more variation in the richness of reptiles than in that of other groups. Lizard distributions are distinct with several areas of high species richness where other vertebrate groups (including snakes) are species-poor, especially in arid ecoregions. Habitat heterogeneity is the best predictor of narrow-ranging species, but remains relatively important in explaining lizard richness even for species with large range sizes. Main conclusions Reptile richness varies with similar environmental variables as the other vertebrates in Africa, reflecting the disproportionate influence of snakes on reptile richness, a result of their large ranges. Richness gradients of narrow-ranged vertebrates differ from those of widespread taxa, which may demonstrate different centres of endemism for reptile subclades in Africa. Lizard richness varies mostly with habitat heterogeneity independent of range size, which suggests that the difference in response of lizards is due to their ecological characteristics. These results, over two spatial scales and multiple range-size quartiles, allow us to reliably interpret the influence of environmental variables on patterns of reptile richness and congruency.

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Der Verfasser besuchte Tunesien Anfang April 1978 und berichtet von den Arten, die er da vorfand. Chalcides ocellatus und Tarentola mauritanica wurden häufig beobachtet, besonders in Sousse. Ertaunliche Mengen von mMauremys caspica leprosa wurden in dem kleinen Fluss ´Oued Hamdoun`bei Sousse gesehen, sie wurden aber auch in Kairouan und Gabès anagetroffen. Natrix maura wurde in Sousse und Kairouan immer im oder beim Wasser gesehen, oft ist dieses Wasser hier brackig. Zum Schluss gibt der Verfasser einen Determinationsschlüssel zu den tunesischen Amphibien-, Eidechsen- und Schildkrötenarten mit wissenscjaftlichen, französischen, niederländischen und manchmal auch arabischen Namen.

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Un découpage hiérarchisé du territoire tunisien en quatre domaines zoogéographiques a été réalisé à partir de la composition spécifique en Lacertidés de 25 secteurs correspondant aux différentes régions naturelles du pays. La délimitation, les caractéristiques faunistiques, les affinités et l`origine biogéographique du peuplement en Lacertidés de ces quatre entités, sont analysées et discutées.

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The distribution areas of the 14 species of Lacertids in Tunisia are mapped, using our 265 field survey stations scattered all over the country and surveyed from 1974 to 1995. Biotops characteristics are reported. The respective contributions of ecological factors, such as climate, substrate, vegetation overlapping level, interactions between species (competitive exclusion or, on the reverse, syntopic coexistence) are analyzed and graded.

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Each of die 25 natural regions in Tunisia harbour from I to 9 Lacerlids among the 14 species surveyed in this country. The richest regions are the South-western pari of the Tunisian Central Range and the Dhahars mountains in Southern Tunisia. They are ranging between lower semi-arid and upper saharian. In the sandy, lower saharian Far-south, only one species occurs. Geographie variation of the specific diversity and structure of Lacertid communities arc related to bioelimatical affinities and zoogeographical native areas of the species. Main steps in the immigration or local differentiation of Lacertids are reported. Impacts of climatical and biological factors on Lacertid communities arc discussed.

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A new taxonomic checklist is established for the Amphibians and “Reptiles” of Tunisia. In addition to international zoological scientific names, a French scientific name is attributed to each taxon. The Tunisian herpetofauna presently contains seven species of Amphibians and 62 of “Reptiles”.

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Algeria is situated at the crossroads between Europe and Africa. The northern part of the country is listed as an area of high biodiversity. Currently, the ecosystems (rivers, lakes, deserts, forests etc.) and the species are under more pressure than ever. The impact of humans is significant and many factors constitute a strong threat to this fauna, especially reptiles, which are the most vulnerable because of their low mobility. Thus, pollution, the drying up of wetlands and their conversion to agriculture have clearly affected the existence of many species. The herpetofauna of Algeria is one of the most diversified in the Mediterranean Basin, consisting of 104 species of which 16.98% are endemic. We suppose that the present list of reptilian fauna provided in this paper is not exhaustive and it is expected to include more species given the lack of research on reptiles in Algeria and its large area. Our dataset contains information on reptile occurrences in Algeria. The dataset is based on original research by the staff of the Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Agroecology of Chadli Bendjedid University in Algeria. The conservation status of all recorded species is given.

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Die vorliegende Revision betrifft die Gattung Acanthodactylus (Damilie Lacertidae), die die Trocken- und Wüstengebiete des nördlichen Afrika und des südwestlichen Asiens bewohnt, mit Randpopulationen auf der Iberischen Halbinsel und auf Zypern. Mehr als 6000 Exemplare der Gattung, aus den bedeutendsten europäischen und amerikanischen Sammlungen, wurden untersucht. Zusätzlich wurden über 450 Röntgenaufnahmen für osteologische Untersuchungen ausgewertet. Die historische Übersicht behandelt in chronologischer Reihenfolge alle Arbeiten, die sich mit der Gattung Acanthodactylus beschäftigen, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung taxonomischer Studien. Ein beigegebener Bestimmungsschlüssel ermöglicht die Determination aller Arten der Gattung. Eine Reihe äußerer (Größe und Proportionen, Pholidose, Färbung und Zeichnung) und innerer (d.h. osteologischer) Merkmale wurde im Hinblick auf ihre Variabilität untersucht. Dann wurde ein Land ausgesucht, z.B. Ägypten, aus dem eine gute Materialbasis zur Verfügung stand. Für einen bestimmten Fundort in diesem Lande wurden sodann einige Kombinationen von Merkmalszuständen ermittelt, die sich aus dem Auftreten verschiedener Arten ergaben. Derselbe Vorgang wurde sodann auf den Rest Ägyptens übertragen, und die Merkmalskombinationen stellten sich als übereinstimmend heraus; sie erlaubten dadurch eine sichere Zuordnung von Tieren zu folgen Arten: A. boskianus, A. scutellatus und A. pardalis. Durch die Ausdehnung der Untersuchung nach Westen und Osten kamen weitere Taxa hinzu. Besonderer Aufmerksamkeit wurde diesen Merkmalskombinationen im Hinblick auf sympatrisches oder allopatrisches Auftreten der betroffenen Arten gezollt, mit dem Ergebnis, daß es in einigen Fällen möglich war, abzusichern, daß es sich um Populationen derselben Art handelt. Die Gattung Acanthodactylus wurde in mehrere Artengruppen gegliedert, die sich durch engere Beziehungen ihrer Arten untereinander auszeichnen. Die erste ist die micropholis-Gruppe mit der einzigen Art A. micropholis. Sie wird als die ursprünglichste der gesamten Gattung angesehen. Eine weitere Gruppe ist die boskianus-Gruppe, mit den Arten A. boskianus und A. schreiberi. Erstere wird ausführlich analysiert im Hinblick auf ihre außerordentlich große geographische Variabilität. Die yemenicus-Gruppe besiedelt die Arabische Halbinsel und besteht aus A. yemenicus sp.n., A. masirae, A. opheodurus und A. felicis. Eine weitere Gruppe ist die tristrami-Gruppe mit den Arten A. tristrami und A. robustus. Für erstere wird die Validität der Unterart orientalis verneint, die für iracensis dagegen bejaht. In die grandis-Gruppe wird hier nur A. grandis gestellt, während A. fraseri als dessen Synonym aufgefaßt wird. Die erythrurus-Gruppe enthält A. erythrurus, A. savignyi, A. blanci, A. boueti und A. guineensis. Letzterer rangierte bislang in der Gattung Eremias, gehört aber nach den hier vorgelegten Befunden in die erythrurus-Gruppe von Acanthodactylus. In der pardalis-Gruppe sind enthalten: A. pardalis, A. bedriagai, A. maculatus, A. spinicauda und A. busacki sp.n. aus Marokko. Die scutellatus-Gruppe besteht aus A. scutellatus, A. aureus, A. dumerili und A. longipes. Die letzte Gruppe ist die cantoris-Gruppe mit den Arten A. cantoris, A. arabicus, A. schmidti, A. blanfordi, A. gongrorhynchatus und A. haasi. Eine Bibliographie über die Gattung beschließt die Arbeit. Für jede Art werden Diagnosen, Verbreitungskarten, Synonymien, Beschreibungen und Materiallisten der untersuchten Tiere sowie auch Strichzeichnungen gegeben.

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Acanthodactylus lizards are among the most diverse and widespread diurnal reptiles in the arid regions spanning from North Africa across to western India. Acanthodactylus constitutes the most species-rich genus in the family Lacertidae, with over 40 recognized species inhabiting a wide variety of dry habitats. The genus has seldom undergone taxonomic revisions, and although there are a number of described species and species-groups, their boundaries as well as their interspecific relationships are largely unresolved. We constructed a multilocus phylogeny, combining data from two mitochondrial (12S, cytb) and three nuclear (MC1R, ACM4, c-mos) markers for 302 individuals belonging to 36 known species, providing the first large-scale time-calibrated molecular phylogeny of the genus. We evaluated phylogenetic relationships between and within species-groups, and assessed Acanthodactylus biogeography across its known range. Acanthodactylus cladogenesis is estimated to have originated in Africa due to vicariance and dispersal events from the Oligocene onwards. Radiation started with the separation into three clades: the Western and scutellatus clades largely distributed in North Africa, and the Eastern clade occurring mostly from Arabia to south-west Asia. Most Acanthodactylus species diverged during the Miocene, possibly as a result of regional geological instability and climatic changes. We support most of the current taxonomic classifications and phylogenetic relationships, and provide genetic validity for most species. We reveal a new distinct blanfordii species-group, suggest new phylogenetic positions (A. hardyi, A. masirae), and synonymize several species and subspecies (A. lineomaculatus, A. boskianus khattensis and A. b. nigeriensis) with their phylogenetically closely-related species. We recommend a thorough systematic revision of taxa exhibiting high levels of intraspecific variability as well as clear evidence of phylogenetic complexity such as A. guineensis, A. grandis, A. dumerilii, and A. senegalensis and the pardalis and erythrurus species-groups.