Audouin, J.V. (1829) - Description of Acanthodactylus boskianus asper. - In: “Explication sommaire des planches de reptiles (supplément) ... offrant un exposé des caractères naturels des genres, avec la distinction des espèces. .” In: Savigny, M. J. C. L.de., Description d’Égypte, Vol. l. Historie Naturelle. Paris: Imprimerie impériale/Imprimerie royale.  Gilad, A. & Klass, K. & Werner, Y.L. (2012) - New methods and old pictures illuminate the status of the lacertid lizard Acanthodactylus boskianus asper (AUDOUIN, 1827). - North-Western Journal of Zoology, Oradea, Romania, 8: 154-163.   × The publication entitled Description de l’Égypte, which carries scientific results from Napoleon Bonaparte’s conquest of Egypt, includes illustrated descriptions of two lizards, Acanthodactylus boskianus (Daudin 1802), and the new A. asper (Audouin 1827). We note that their original drawings differ conspicuously in the degree of abruptness with which the dorsal scales are enlarged towards the rear of the back. However, this character has been overlooked by later researchers, who often found it difficult to distinguish the two nominal species by conventional transverse scale counts. We developed a method to quantify the degree of abruptness with which scale size changes along the back. For studying this new descriptor we reduced the expected within-sample variation by limiting the sample in two ways: (1) viewing the sexes separately, and (2) heeding the Seligmann effect and considering only whole-tailed individuals. However, the systematic problem persisted. According to our graphic analysis, in A. b. asper both the degree of abruptness of change in scale size, and when abrupt, the location of this change along the back, varied strongly but unimodally. The ranges overlap between provisional geographical areas. Similar abruptness in the change of dorsal scale size does not occur in the populations called A. b. boskianus and A. b. euphraticus. We conclude that the two classical illustrations must be considered as representing two extremes of a complex gradient. The taxonomic implication is to maintain the current trinomials in the complex until a major revision may direct otherwise. Tamar, K. & Carranza, S. & Sindaco, R. & Moravec, J. & Meiri, S: (2014) - Systematics and phylogeography of Acanthodactylus schreiberi and its relationships with Acanthodactylus boskianus (Reptilia: Squamata: Lacertidae). - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 172 (3): 720-739. × Acanthodactylus is a widespread lacertid genus occurring from the Iberian Peninsula and western North Africa to western India including the Middle East, Cyprus, and the Arabian Peninsula. The genus is in dire need of a taxonomic revision, and the phylogenetic relationships amongst and within its species remain unclear. In particular, the taxonomy and relationship of the allopatric, narrow-ranged Acanthodactylus schreiberi and its close relative, the widespread Acanthodactylus boskianus asper, are poorly understood. We estimated the phylogenetic and phylogeographical structure of A. schreiberi across its distribution range, and evaluated its relationships to A. b. asper, using mitochondrial and nuclear data. The phylogenetic results indicate that both species are paraphyletic, with A. schreiberi nested within A. b. asper, and the subspecies A. schreiberi syriacus nested within a distinct lineage of A. b. asper. We suggest that the group is in need of a taxonomic revision because the identified lineages and genetic diversity are incongruent with the currently recognized taxonomy. We tentatively conclude that A. schreiberi is restricted to Cyprus and Turkey, reduced to a single form, and that the populations in Lebanon and Israel belong to A. b. asper. Tamar, K. & Carranza, S. & Sindaco, R. & Moravec, J. & Trape, J.-F. & Meiri, S. (2016) - Out of Africa: Phylogeny and biogeography of the widespread genus Acanthodactylus (Reptilia: Lacertidae). - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 103: 6-18. × 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.
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