Extinct species:

Acanthodactylus ahmaddisii  WERNER, 2004

Synonyms:

Acanthodactylus ahmaddisii  SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008

Common names:

Jordanischer Pantherfransenfinger (German)

Types:

Holotype: HUJ-R 1296 (male).

Terra Typica:

36 km south of Amman.

Taxonomic notes:

The description of this `species` is one of the most bizarre things modern taxonomy has to offer. The description is based on the only (!) specimen ever collected in Jordan (1936), which, according to the author, differs morphologically from the A. beershebensis described from Israel. Since the habitat in question has been completely destroyed by urbanization and agricultural use, it seems strange that WERNER claims to have `named` the taxon in order to promote its protection and the search for it in nature and that it is to be expected that that the population will be subject to separate evolution in the future, and that it therefore deserves recognition as a separate species according to the phylogenetic species concept!

WERNER MAYER, 2015

Relevant taxonomic literature:

• Werner, Y.L. (2004) -  A new species of the Acanthodactylus pardalis group (Reptilia: Lacertidae) from Jordan. -  Zoology in the Middle East, Heidelberg, 32 (1): 39-46.    

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  A new species of the Acanthodactylus pardalis group, A. ahmaddisii sp.n., is described from Jordan, from a single specimen which differs from A. pardalis (Lichtenstein, 1823) of east- ern Libya and Egypt, and A. beershebensis Moravec et al., 1999 from Israel. Compared to the lat- ter two populations, A. ahmaddisii is larger with smaller head and shorter appendages and fewer (larger) dorsals. It also differs in qualitative pholidotic characters, especially by having tricarinate subdigitals, and in colour pattern.