Sand runners (lizards)
| Sand runner | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Algerian sand runner ( Psammodromus algirus ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Psammodromus | ||||||||||||
| Fitzinger , 1826 |
The sand runners ( Psammodromus ) are a genus within the family of real lizards with six species or subspecies.
features
The sand runners are small lizards with little conspicuous coloring. Their backs and flanks are covered with large rhombic and strongly keeled scales that overlap like shingles. In contrast to the quill lizards , they do not wear a collar. The first shield of the upper lip extends up to the nostril.
distribution
The main distribution area is on the Pyrenees Peninsula . Extensions of the distribution area of the genus extend in the north over the French Mediterranean coast of the Languedoc to the Rhone and in the south over Gibraltar to North Africa in the states of Morocco , Algeria and Tunisia . Two species occur only in the African area ( P. blanci and P. microdactylus ). There is also a population ( P. algirus ) on the Isola dei Conigli , an islet just off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa .
species
- Algerian sand runner ( P. algirus )
- Psammodromus blanci
- Psammodromus microdactylus
- Spanish sandpiper ( P. hispanicus ) with the subspecies
- Psammodromus occidentalis
The Spanish sandpiper ( P. hispanicus ) was divided into three lines in 2012 based on molecular genetic and morphological data, two of which correspond to the two previously recognized subspecies P. hispanicus hispanicus and P. hispanicus edwardsianus . The third line is the new species Psammodromus occidentalis from the populations in the north of the Iberian Peninsula . Accordingly, the elevation of the two subspecies to separate species was proposed, but this has not yet been generally accepted.
In the first description of the author Dugés , 1829, the spelling of the species name was reproduced several times as edwarsianus (without the second d). This leads to confusion about the correct spelling to this day. About half of all publications on this subspecies or species do not use the original spelling, but speak of Psammodromus edwardsianus , as this lizard was named after the naturalist Henri Milne Edwards .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Patrick S. Fitze, Virginia Gonzalez-Jimena, Luis Mauro San-Jose, Diego San Mauro & Rafael Zardoya: A new species of sand racer, Psammodromus (Squamata: Lacertidae), from the Western Iberian Peninsula Zootaxa, 3205, p. 41 -52, 2012.
- ^ Psammodromus in The Reptile Database .
- ↑ Pierre-André Crochet: Nomenclatural issues in the Psammodromus hispanicus (Squamata: Lacertidae) species group. Zootaxa, 3964, 1, pp. 149-150, 2015.
literature
- Wolf-Eberhard Engelmann, Jürgen Fritzsche, Rainer Günther, Fritz Jürgen Obst : amphibians and reptiles of Europe . Neumann Verlag, Leipzig 1985
