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A complete catalogue is provided for the type specimens of lacertid lizards in the herpetological collection of the Zoological Museum, Berlin, as of December, 1993. The collection contains a total of 514 type specimens, representing 63 taxa, of which 42 are currently regarded as valid at the specific or subspecific level. Types representing an additional four taxa appear to have been lost from the collection. The collections are especially rich in African lacertid types and in historically significant specimens collected early in the Nineteenth Century by Pallas, Eversmann, and Hemprich & Ehrenberg. Also present are the type series of many subspecies of Podarcis lilfordi and P. pityusensis described by Eisentraut.

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Zoogeographically, the Jordanian herpetofauna is heterogeneous, originating from four biogeographical regions (Oriental, Palearctic, Saharo-Sindian, and Afrotropical) and occupying four different ecozones. Ninetythree species and subspecies of amphibians and reptiles are recorded from Jordan, showing different distribution patterns. The Mediterranean ecozone harbours the highest number (35) of recorded species, followed by the Sudanian Tropical penetration zone (16), and the Badyiah ecozone (12), respectively. Jordan is not separated by natural boundaries from the surrounding countries, which prevents the operation of isolation mechanisms, and seems to result in the absence of endemism. There are, however, three areas of endemism within the Eastern Mediterranean region taken as one whole unit: the Badyiah shared by Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the northern part of the Mediterranean ecozone shared by Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Jordan, and southwest Jordan, Israel and Sinai. Some Palearctic species such as Coluber schmidti and C. ravergieri are relicts of the postglacial period and continue to survive in refugal enclaves with delicate ecological patterns. The distribution of some species, such as Bufo viridis, Mauremys caspica rivulata, Natrix tessellata, Coluber ventromaculatus, C. jugularis asianus, Walterinnesia aegyptia, and Vipera palaestinae, has been greatly influenced by climatic as well as anthropogenic changes.

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The lizard fauna of Jordan is very diverse and forms 55.5% of the terrestrial herpetofauna of the country. Lizard species of Arabian origin form the highest percentage (43%) of the lizards, followed by Saharo-Sindian (35%), Palaearctic (20%) and only 2% with Afrotropical affinities. 69.1% of the lizard species inhabit two ecozones: Badia (Eastern Desert); and Wadi Araba and Wadi Rum. The Badia may form the focal point for the evolution of certain Acanthodactylus species. Jordan forms the southernmost limit of the distribution of some Palaearctic species (i.e. Lacerta media, L. laevis, Pseudopus apodus) and they inhabit the Mediterranean ecozone. The presence of diverse habitats in Jordan allowed certain allopatric congeneric species of the genus Ptyodactylus to live in isolation from one another. Southern Jordan and Wadi Rum are part of the Levantine land bridge and act as a “biogeographical filter”. Most of the species found in Wadi Rum are of Arabian affinities and their distribution does not extend towards the west.

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Zoogeographically, the Syrian herpetofauna is heterogeneous, originating from four biogeographical regions (Oriental, Palearctic, Saharo-Sindian and Afrotropical) and is characterized by the presence of five ecozones. 50% of the terrestrial herpetofaunal species are of palaearetic affinity while 32.3%, 14.6% and 3.1% are of Saharo-Sindian, Arabian and Afrotropical affinities, respectively. Five records of reptiles are new to the Syrian fauna: Emys orbicularis, Acanthodactylus opheodurus, Acanthodactylus schreiben syriacus, Pseudotrapelus sinaitus, Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis, and Lepto- typhlops macrorhynchus; Coluber rogersi is reported for the second time. An updated list of the herpetofauna of Syria is given.

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n this study the Check list lizards of Iraq were investigated. by reviewing the old and new data as well as carrying out field work and study of material in the Natural history Museum of Iraq as well as many departments and colleges in various universities, are discussed.Further, various relevant websites in the Internet specialized lizards. I found in this study 7 families, 27 genera and 50 species distribution in the different parts of Iraq. During this study I found Asaccus saffinae (Afrasiab & Mohamad, 2009) the first time in SheraSwar Cave in the Saffine Mountain near Erbil, Kurdistan and the first record new species in Iraq and found Ptyodactylus puiseuxi (Boutan, 1893) the first time in same area . Also found Carinatogecko heteropholis(Minton, S. Anderson, and J. A. Anderson, 1970) Which is one of the endemic species in western Iran in the Erbil western Zagros foothills in Erbil. Trapelus ruderatus (Olivier, 1804) found in the central of Iraq. Cyrtopodion scaber (Heyden, 1827) Previously found in southern Iraq But recently also recorded in the center and northern Iraq. Varanus nesterovi (Bohme, Ehrlich, Milto, Orlov & Scholz, 2015) new species in the northern of Iraq. Lacerta media (Lantz & Cyren, 1758) found newly in central and northern of Iraq and Timon kurdistanicus, Apathya cappadocica (Werner, 1902) (Suchow, 1936) northern of Iraq. I note the two families were finding Previously in Iraq and they did not record any new genus and species in Iraq.

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Mitochondrial DNA sequences consisting of 645 sites from the 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes were used to estimate the phylogeny of 15 of the 32 species of spiny-footed lizards Acanthodactylus. The resultant tree has similarities to that produced from a differentially weighted data set of 32 morphological characters but there are also significant differences. However, combined analysis of molecular and morphological data sets produces the same tree topology as DNA sequence alone. The molecular data confirm that there are distinct eastern and western clades within Acanthodactylus, but place A. boskianus in the former while the A. scutellatus group constitutes a third clade. Species for which only morphological information is available were integrated with the combined tree to give a provisional phylogeny for 31 species. This phylogeny indicates that the ancestor of existing Acanthodactylus probably originated in south-west Asia and that North Africa was invaded by more than one lineage of the genus. It also suggests that soft aeolian sand habitats may have been independently occupied more than once. Molecular data provide independent evidence that the differential weighting of morphological characters in past analyses was appropriate.

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Anhand der Ergebnisse einer Sammelreise des Natural History Museum of Crete (NHMC) im April 1999 werden neue Ergebnisse zur Herpetofauna Syriens vorgestellt. Wir sammelten an 30 Lokalitäten insgesamt 391 Exemplare in 43 Arten. Die Ergebnisse erweitern unser Wissen über die Verbreitung mehrerer Arten. Die systematische Stellung von vier Arten (Rana bedriagae, Ptyodactylus sp., Lacerta kultzeri, Mabuya aurata) wird im Lichte neuerer Revisionen der syrischen Herpetofauna diskutiert.

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Aim Body size is instrumental in influencing animal physiology, morphology, ecology and evolution, as well as extinction risk. I examine several hypotheses regarding the influence of body size on lizard evolution and extinction risk, assessing whether body size influences, or is influenced by, species richness, herbivory, island dwelling and extinction risk. Location World-wide. Methods I used literature data and measurements of museum and live specimens to estimate lizard body size distributions. Results I obtained body size data for 99% of the world`s lizard species. The body size–frequency distribution is highly modal and right skewed and similar distributions characterize most lizard families and lizard assemblages across biogeographical realms. There is a strong negative correlation between mean body size within families and species richness. Herbivorous lizards are larger than omnivorous and carnivorous ones, and aquatic lizards are larger than non-aquatic species. Diurnal activity is associated with small body size. Insular lizards tend towards both extremes of the size spectrum. Extinction risk increases with body size of species for which risk has been assessed. Main conclusions Small size seems to promote fast diversification of disparate body plans. The absence of mammalian predators allows insular lizards to attain larger body sizes by means of release from predation and allows them to evolve into the top predator niche. Island living also promotes a high frequency of herbivory, which is also associated with large size. Aquatic and nocturnal lizards probably evolve large size because of thermal constraints. The association between large size and high extinction risk, however, probably reflects a bias in the species in which risk has been studied.

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Jordan has a very diversified morphology, which is reflected also in the diversity of its herpetofauna. A total 90 amphibian and reptilian species is known to inhabit Jordan. Of those three are amphibians, with the fourth species most probably already extinct, 47 are lizard species, 35 are snake species and five turtle species. The amphibians are represented by three different families, lizards and snakes both by seven families and turtles by four families. The distribution, ecology and systematics for most species are 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.