Genus:

Mesalina GRAY, 1838

Species (27):

Mesalina adramitana  (BOULENGER, 1917)

Mesalina adrarensis  PIZZIGALLI et al., 2021

Mesalina ardestanica  BOROUMAND, BAFTI, SABERI-PIROOZ, BÖHME & AHMADZADEH, 2024

Mesalina arnoldi  SINDACO et al., 2018

Mesalina austroarabica  SINDACO et al., 2018

Mesalina ayunensis  ARNOLD, 1980

Mesalina bahaeldini  SEGOLI et al., 2002

Mesalina balfouri  (BLANFORD, 1881)

Mesalina bardaskanensis  BOROUMAND, BAFTI, SABERI-PIROOZ, BÖHME & AHMADZADEH, 2024

Mesalina bernoullii  (SCHENKEL, 1901)

Mesalina brevirostris  BLANFORD, 1874

Mesalina ercolinii  (LANZA & POGGESI, 1975)

Mesalina esfarayensis  BOROUMAND, BAFTI, SABERI-PIROOZ, BÖHME & AHMADZADEH, 2024

Mesalina guttulata  (LICHTENSTEIN, 1823)

Mesalina halilica  BOROUMAND, BAFTI, SABERI-PIROOZ, BÖHME & AHMADZADEH, 2024

Mesalina kermanensis  BOROUMAND, BAFTI, SABERI-PIROOZ, BÖHME & AHMADZADEH, 2024

Mesalina khuzestanensis  BOROUMAND, BAFTI, SABERI-PIROOZ, BÖHME, & AHMADZADEH, 2024

Mesalina kuri  JOGER & MAYER, 2002

Mesalina martini  (BOULENGER, 1897)

Mesalina microlepis  (ANGEL, 1936)

Mesalina olivieri  (AUDOUIN, 1829)

Mesalina pasteuri  (BONS, 1960)

Mesalina rubropunctata  (LICHTENSTEIN, 1823)

Mesalina saudiarabica  MORAVEC et al., 2017

Mesalina simoni  (BOETTGER, 1881)

Mesalina sp. 1  guttulata species complex SINDACO et al., 2018

Mesalina watsonana  (STOLICZKA, 1872)

Species Typica:

Mesalina rubropunctata  (LICHTENSTEIN, 1823)

Relevant taxonomic literature:

• Gray, J.E. (1838) -  Description Genus Cabrita. -  In: “Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians” – I. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 (1) (1838) : 274-283.   

  ×

• Hosseinian Yousefkhani, S.S. & Marmol Marin, G.M.D. & Rastegar-Pouyani, N. & Rastegar-Pouyani, E. (2015) -  A bibliographic recompilation of the genus Mesalina GRAY, 1838 (Sauria: Lacertidae) with a key to the species.  -  Russian Journal of Herpetology, Moscow, 22 (1): 2334.     

  ×

  In this study we review the species of lizards in the genus Mesalina (Lacertidae) and present a new key for their identification. We also obtained five photos of each species from the British Museum of Natural History that illustrate the dorsal, lateral (right and left), and ventral views of the head and the femoral pores of each species. The papers with the original descriptions of each species were reviewed and used in preparation of the key. Some remarks about the habitat, natural history, updated distribution map and previous taxonomic changes are explained.

• 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.

• Simó-Riudalbas, K. & Tamar, K. & Smid, J. & Mitsi, P. & Sindaco, R. & Chirio, L. & Carranza, S. (2019) -  Biogeography of Mesalina (Reptilia: Lacertidae), with special emphasis on the Mesalina adramitana group from Arabia and the Socotra Archipelago. -  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 137: 300-312.     

  ×

  The lacertid lizards of the genus Mesalina inhabit the arid regions of the Old World, from North Africa to NW India. Of the 19 recognized species within the genus, eleven occur in Arabia. In this study, we explore the genetic variability and phylogeographic patterns of the less studied M. adramitana group from southern Arabia and the Socotra Archipelago within the phylogenetic and biogeographic context of the entire genus. Our unprecedented sampling extends the distribution ranges of most Mesalina species and, for the first time, sequences of M. ayunensis are included in a phylogenetic analysis. We perform analyses of concatenated multilocus datasets and species trees, conduct species delimitation analyses, and estimate divergence times within a biogeographic framework. Additionally, we inferred the environmental suitability and identified dispersal corridors through which gene flow is enabled within M. adramitana. Our results show that the Socotra Archipelago was colonized approximately 7 Mya by a single oversea colonization from mainland Arabia. Then, an intra-archipelago dispersal event that occurred approximately 5 Mya resulted in the speciation between M. balfouri, endemic to Socotra, Samha and Darsa Islands, and M. kuri, endemic to Abd al Kuri Island. Similar to previous studies, we uncovered high levels of genetic diversity within the M. adramitana species-group, with two highly divergent lineages of M. adramitana living in allopatry and adapted to locally specific climatic conditions that necessitate further investigation.