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The National University of Mongolia, the Mongolian State University of Education, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Kansas conducted four collaborative expeditions between 2010 and 2014, resulting in accounts for all species of lacertid and agamid, except Phrynocephalus kulagini. These expeditions resulted in a range extension for Eremias arguta and the collection of specimens and tissues across 134 unique localities. In this paper we summarize the species of the Agamidae (Paralaudakia stoliczkana, Ph. hispidus, Ph. helioscopus, and Ph. versicolor) and Lacertidae (E. argus, E. arguta, E. dzungarica, E. multiocellata, E. przewalskii, and E. vermiculata) that were collected during these four expeditions. Further, we provide a summary of all species within these two families in Mongolia. Finally, we discuss issues of Wallacean and Linnaean shortfalls for the herpetofauna of the Mongolian Gobi Desert, and provide future directions for studies of community assemblages and population genetics of reptile species in the region.

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From the perspectives of biodiversity conservation and management, there is an urgent need to have at hand current synopses of classification and distributions of species. In this paper, we review and summarize the classifications, Chinese and English names, type specimens, type localities and distributions of China’s lizard fauna to promote scientific exchange and species conservation among relevant people in China and internationally. As of December 31, 2020, a total of 230 species of lizard, belonging to 44 genera and 12 families, have been recorded from China, including 4 invasive species: 2 in the family Gekkonidae, 1 in Iguanidae and one in Dactyloidae. There are 115 endemic species, accounting for 50% of this group. The proportion of endemic species to China was the highest in the family Eublepharidae (84.62%), and the number of endemic species to China was the highest in the family Agamidae (42 species). The species distributions and classification in the “Fauna Sinica (Reptilia 2): Squamata (Lacertilia)” were updated. Among the provincial administrative units, there is a larger number of species in the southern provinces, such as Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Taiwan. Sichuan, Yunnan, and Taiwan harbour relatively more endemic species than others. A total of 154 species of lizards were first discovered in China, and the type localities of these species are concentrated in Yunnan, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Sichuan.

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In this article, a list of lizards of fauna of Kazakhstan, compiled according to the latest taxonomic revisions with the aim of unifying the taxonomy is presented, and a short outline of the history of views on the composition of fauna of Kazakhstan lizards are presented. The tasks of this work are explained by a significant increase in the number of special publications and frequent changes in views on the phylogenetic position and taxonomic status of species.

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New finds of the lizards of Eremias multiocellata complex became known for extreme southeast of Kazakhstan. In 2006-2007 re recorded the lizards in the mountain valleys of Kegen and Tekes Rivers creossing an intermountain depression located between Ketmen’ and Terskey-Alatau at altitude 1850-1950 m a.s.l. Morphological analysis revealed the reliable differences of the specimens collected from other species of multiocellata complex inhabited the close areas – E. stummeri from Issyk-Kul’ Depression and E. kokshaaliensis from Sary-Dzhaz River Basin of Kyrgyzstan. Morphological peculiarity of the populations recorded may be caused by their isolative position in extreme southeast of Kazakhstan and needs future elucidation.

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The Eremias multiocellata-przewalskii species complex is a viviparous group in the genus Eremias, and a well-known representative of taxonomically complicated taxa. Within this complex, a new species - E. dzungarica (Orlova et al., 2017) - has been described recently from western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan, with an apparent distribution gap in northwestern China. In this study, we used an integrative taxonomic framework to address whether E. dzungarica indeed occurs in China. Thirty specimens previously classified as E. multiocellata were collected in eastern Kazakhstan and the adjacent Altay region in China. The cytochrome c oxidase I ( COI) barcodes were sequenced and compiled with those from Orlova et al. (2017) and analyzed with the standard and diverse barcoding techniques. We detected an absence of a barcoding gap in this complex, which indicates potential cryptic species in Eremias sp. 3 with high intraspecific diversity and multiple recently evolved species in Clade A. Both BIN and GMYC suggested an unrealistically large number of species (23 and 26, respectively), while ABGD, mPTP and BPP indicated a more conservative number of species (10, 12, and 15, respectively), largely concordant with the previously defined species-level lineages according to phylogenetic trees. Based on molecular phylogeny and morphological examination, all 30 individuals collected in this study were reliably identified as E. dzungarica - a distinct species - confirming the occurrence of this species in the Altay region, Xinjiang, China. Potentially owing to the larger sample size in this study, our morphological analyses revealed many inconsistencies with the original descriptions of E. dzungarica, which were primarily associated with sexual dimorphism and a broader range of values for various traits.

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Here we present the main results of our 2008 field research held in the south-western Mongolia by a herpetological team of the Russian – Mongolian biological expedition. 13 reptile species belonging to five families and eight genera have been recorded. Phrynocephalus versicolor was the most widespread and abundant lizard species. Eremias przewalskii and E. multiocellata were also common in semi-fixed sands subjected to considerable over-grazing (Dundgov’, Umnegov’). Several new localities for Ph.versicolor hispida and E. m. multiocellata and E. m. reticulata are reported. Cyrtopodion elongatum was found in the Nogondov (=Nogon-Dovon) valley located in 300 km northwards from the previously known occurrence of this species. This valley inhabited by Teratoscincus przewalskii, Eremias vermiculata, and Eryx tataricus can be considered as the most western part of the Trans-Altai Gobi Desert adjacent to the Mongolian Dzungaria. The actual status of the C. elongatum populations seems to be out of concern because, according to our night observations, the population density exceeds 20 ind per 500 m². The taxonomical status of Ph. v. hispida and E. m. reticulata is discussed, and the specific status of racerunners collected in the area of their sympatry in the Hovd aimag was confirmed. Some coloration features of living adults and juveniles individuals of the lizards (especially, Eremias and Phrynocephalus species) are reported. Key words: herpetofauna, geographic distribution, population density, habitats, body coloration, southwestern Mongolia.

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We provide an integrative analysis of the diversity of the E. multiocellata—E. przewalskii species complex in Central and Middle Asia using morphological and molecular (COI DNA-barcoding) data. We report preliminary data on mtDNA variation within this group and clarify the taxonomic status and distribution of the members of the species complex. We also provide a description of a new Eremias species from Eastern Kazakhstan and western Mongolia, where it occurs in sympatry with E. multiocellata sensu stricto, from which it can be clearly differentiated using both morphological and molecular characters. The new species, described as Eremias dzungarica sp. nov., is assigned to the subgenus Pareremias on the basis of the following features: subocular not reaching mouth edge; one frontonasal; two supraoculars; the row of small granular scales between supraoculars and frontal with frontoparietals absent; distance between the femoral pore rows being wide; femoral pore rows not reaching knee-joint; coloration pattern with light colored ocelli with black edging. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners on the basis of the following morphological attributes: a mediumsized lacertid lizard, maximum snout-vent length (SVL) = 64.5 mm, tail being ca. 1.5 times longer than body length (SVL), hindlimbs relatively long (hindlimb length to SVL ratio 0.46); subocular scale not reaching mouth edge, in touch with 6–8 supralabials; males with bright coloration consisting of 2–3 dorsolateral rows of light-colored ocelli with thick black edging; the ventral row of ocelli in life is greenish to bluish; dorsal pattern consisting of black irregular blotches along the middorsal line. We also report on the high genetic and morphological diversity of E. multiocellata in Mongolia and China, synonymize E. m. bannikowi with the nominative form E. m. multiocellata, discuss variation within E. przewalskii, synonymize E. p. tuvensis with the nominative form E. przewalskii, provide new data on E. cf. reticulata and E. m. tsaganbogdensis, confirm validity and clarify distribution ranges of E. stummeri, E. szczerbaki and E. yarkandensis and discuss further progress on taxonomic studies of the E. multiocellata—E. przewalskii species complex.

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The Kokshaal racerunner, Eremias kokshaaliensis Eremchenko et Panfilov, 1999, together with other central Asian racerunner species, is included in the Eremias multiocellata complex. In the present work, for the first time, the results of the analysis of historical mitochondrial DNA (barcode) are presented and the taxonomic status and preliminary phylogenetic relationships within the complex are specified. We present, for the first time, the results of the molecular analysis using historical DNA recovered from specimens of several species of this complex (paratypes of the Kokshaal racerunner and historical collections of the Kashgar racerunner E. buechneri from Kashgaria) using DNA barcoding.

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The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Eremias dzungarica from the Junggar Basin in Northwest China was determined for the first time by next generation sequencing. The total length is 19,899bp, containing13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and one control region. This gene arrangement is similar to the typical mtDNA of vertebrates. The 13 concatenated PCGs were used to perform Bayesian phylogenetic analyses together with several congeners as well as ten representative lacertids with mitogenome data available in GenBank. The resulting phylogenetic tree supports the monophyly of viviparous species in Eremias, with E. dzungarica being more closely related to E. przewalskii than to E. multiocellata. The mitogenome of E. dzungarica will provide fundamental data for the exploration of the mitogenome evolution in lacertids.