| Holotype: MCCI R890, Adult female, R. Sindaco and C. Sindaco leg., 7 February 1998. Paratype. Adult male MZUF-28670, Yemen, Al Mahwit Governatorate, Kawkaban (about 15.50°N, 43.90°E WGS84), M. Poggesi, M. Borri, M. Manetti and M. Sammicheli leg., 31 January 1984. |
| Yemen, Amran Governatorate, plateau between Zakatin village (Hababah) to Kawkaban (Haraz Mt.) (about 15.51°N, 43.86°E WGS84), 2.600-2.800 m NN. |
Arnold, E.N. (1986) - A key and annotated check list to the lizards and amphisbaenians of Arabia. - Fauna of Saudi Arabia, 8: 385-435. × 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. Sindaco, R. & Simó-Riudalbas, M. & Sacchi, R. & Carranza, S. (2018) - Systematics of the Mesalina guttulata species complex (Squamata: Lacertidae) from Arabia with the description of two new species. - Zootaxa, 4429 (3): 513-547. × 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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