Vertebrate Zoology (Nov 2023)

A new species of Pseudotrapelus (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) from Central Arabia

  • Karin Tamar,
  • Marek Uvizl,
  • Mohammed Shobrak,
  • Mohammed Almutairi,
  • Salem Busais,
  • Al Faqih Ali Salim,
  • Raed Hamoud M. AlGethami,
  • Abdulaziz Raqi AlGethami,
  • Abdulkarim Saleh K. Alanazi,
  • Saad Dasman Alsubaie,
  • Laurent Chirio,
  • Salvador Carranza,
  • Jiří Šmíd

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.73.e110626
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 73
pp. 1033 – 1045

Abstract

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Abstract A recent molecular phylogeny of the agamid genus Pseudotrapelus, distributed in the rocky areas of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, revealed the presence of a genetically distinct lineage around the city of Riyadh in central Saudi Arabia. With the inclusion of additional specimens, we were able to describe this lineage as a new species, P. tuwaiqensis sp. nov., confined to the Tuwaiq Escarpment, thus endemic to central Saudi Arabia. Our results of morphological examinations and molecular analyses, using three mitochondrial (COI, 16S, ND4-tRNAs) and two nuclear (c-mos, MC1R) gene fragments, show the new species is genetically differentiated and phylogenetically close to P. sinaitus and P. chlodnickii.