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

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1033-1045
Number of pages13
JournalVertebrate Zoology
Volume73
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
Saudi Wildlife Authority
Univerzita Karlova v Praze204069
Grantová Agentura České Republiky22-12757S
Generalitat de Catalunya
Ministerstvo KulturyPID2021-128901NB-I00, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, DKRVO 2019–2023/6, 00023272, PGC2018-098290-B-I00
European Regional Development Fund2021-SGR-00420

    Keywords

    • Acrodonta
    • DNA barcoding
    • Middle East
    • Saudi Arabia
    • biogeography
    • multilocus phylogeny
    • reptiles

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