| Holotype: MNHN RA-2016.0105 (formerly BEV.9439, tissue sample in the BEV tissue collection, code T1176), adult male, collected on the 11th of February 2008 by P.-A. Crochet (Fig. 6). Paratypes. BEV.9440 (tissue sample code T1177, adult female, collected in the Ademine forest 1.6 km past the Agadir-Taroudant road towards Biougra, Morocco, 30.31579°N 9.36004°W, on the 11th of February 2008 by P.- A. Crochet); MCCI-R.560 (adult male, collected from between Inchaden and Tifnite, Morocco, 30.15°N, 9.59°W, on the 9th of May 1993 by R. Sindaco and N. Fedrighini); MCCI-R.561 (adult male, collected from Souss valley, outskirts of Biougra, Morocco, 30.21°N, 9.38°W, on the 9th of May 1993 by R. Sindaco and N. Fedrighini); MCCI- R.562 (sub-adult female, collected from Souss valley, outskirts of Biougra, Morocco, 30.21°N 9.38°W, on the 9th of May 1993 by R. Sindaco and N. Fedrighini). |
| 500 m north-east of Sidi Binzarne, approximately 3 km south-east of Sidi R’bat (Massa), Morocco, 30.0580°N, 9.6456°W (WGS84). |
Tamar, K. & Geniez, P. & Brito, J.P. & Crochet, P-A. (2017) - Systematic revision of Acanthodactylus busacki (Squamata: Lacertidae) with a description of a new species from Morocco. - Zootaxa, 4276 (3): 357-386.   × Recent molecular phylogenies of the Acanthodactylus pardalis species-group have revealed a deep genetic divergence within the nominal species A. busacki from north-west Africa. The species is phylogenetically separated into northern and southern lineages, which correspond to a previously observed morphological differentiation between the northern and southern populations of this species. Based on morphological comparisons of the type material and location of the type locality, the nomen Acanthodactylus busacki SALVADOR, 1982 is assigned here to the southern lineage, known from the northern Saharan Atlantic coastal desert. The northern lineage, described here as Acanthodactylus margaritae sp. nov., is prominently characterized by weakly keeled dorsal scales and a characteristic colour pattern. The new species is endemic to Morocco and confined to arid and semi-arid bioclimatic areas between the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains, from around Tamri in the north to Tiznit in the south and the Souss valley in the east.
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