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A key and check list is provided to the 96 species and six additional subspecies of lizards and two species of amphisbaenians known to occur in and around Arabia. Philochortus neumanni, Lacerta jayakari, Lacerta cyanura, Latastia longicaudata andersonii, Mesalina guttulata, Mesalina olivieri, Mesalina martini, Mesalina brevirostris, Mesalina ayunensis, Mesalina adramitana, Acanthodactylus orientalis, Acanthodactylus robustus, Acanthodactylus opheodurus, Acanthodactylus boskianus, Acanthodactylus felicis, Acanthodactylus yemenicus, Acanthodactylus masirae, Acanthodactylus opheodurus, Acanthodactylus gongrorhynchatus, Acanthodactylus haasi, Acanthodactylus schmidti, Acanthodactylus blanfordii, Acanthodactylus arabicus, Acanthodactylus grandis, Acanthodactylus tilburyi, Acanthodactylus scutellatus hardyi.

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Mesalina are small diurnal lacertid lizards inhabiting arid areas from North Africa to northwestern India. Previous phylo- genetic studies have shown the existence of several species complexes within the genus, some of them with high levels of undiscovered diversity. In the present study, we carry out an integrative systematic revision of the Mesalina guttulata spe- cies complex using both molecular and morphological data from across its entire distribution range in North Africa, the Middle East and Arabia. The results of the genetic analyses indicate that M. guttulata and M. bahaeldini are two allopatric sister taxa separated by the Suez Canal and that the species complex includes a further three unnamed deep phylogenetic lineages, two of them restricted to southern and southwestern Arabia and described herein as Mesalina austroarabica sp. nov. and Mesalina arnoldi sp. nov., respectively. As a result of the lack of enough material, the third deep lineage, distrib- uted across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, is provisionally left undescribed. The two newly described species are char- acterized by their size, scale counts and tail coloration, as well as differences at the three mitochondrial and one nuclear gene analyzed in the present study.

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Aim: Deserts are generally perceived as areas of low diversity, and hence receive little attention from researchers and conservationists. Squamates are the dominant group of vertebrates in arid regions, and as such represent an ideal model to study biodiversity patterns in these areas. We examine spatial patterns of diversity, evolutionary history and endemism of terrestrial squamates of the Arabian Peninsula and test hypotheses on the role of topography and history of isolation so as to identify possible environmental drivers of diversification. Location: The Arabian Peninsula. Taxon: Squamate reptiles (Squamata; lizards and snakes). Methods: We generated distribution maps for all Arabian squamate species (including yet undescribed) and reconstructed their phylogenetic relationships using existing and newly produced genetic data for nearly all the species. We assessed patterns of the distribution of species richness, phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic en demism across the peninsula to identify areas that could be considered evolutionary or endemicity hotspots for squamates. We evaluated community turnover across the peninsula and assessed the possible environmental drivers affecting the diversity of Arabian squamates in a regression framework. Results: The main hotspots of Arabian squamate diversity are mostly along the mountains that rim the peninsula while the most arid, central regions support a low diversity of species. The distribution of the phylogenetic diversity mirrors that of the species richness. Phylogenetic endemism is also highest in the mountains, especially when only endemic species are analysed. The deserts of northern Arabia are poor in terms of species richness and they show low connectivity to the peninsular communities. Topographic heterogeneity is the strongest predictor for Arabian squamates, followed by elevation. There is no correlation between richness and temperature. Main conclusions: The mountains of Arabia support rich and unique squamate communities that are dominated by local radiations of closely related and narrow-ranging species. In particular, the Asir Mountains of SW Arabia, Dhofar Province of Oman and the Hajar Mountains of northern Oman and UAE show unprecedented levels of squamate endemism and phylogenetic endemism. While many generalist species range across Arabia, a low number of species is shared between the peninsula and mainland Asia, indicating an effective isolation of the Arabian fauna. Squamate richness is highest in heterogeneous, topographically complex habitats.