Pseudotrapelus chlodnickii Melnikov, Śmiełowski, Melnikova, Nazarov, and Ananjeva, 2015

Bauer, Aaron M., DeBoer, Jonathan C. & Taylor, Dylan J., 2017, Atlas of the Reptiles of Libya, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 64 (8), pp. 155-318 : 181-182

Pseudotrapelus chlodnickii Melnikov, Śmiełowski, Melnikova, Nazarov, and Ananjeva

2015:55, figs. 2, 3 2015 Pseudotrapelus chlodnickii Melnikov, Śmiełowski, Melnikova, Nazarov and Ananjeva.

Red’n’blues: a new species of Pseudotrapelus ( Agamidae, Sauria ) from Sudan, Africa. Russian Journal of Herpetology 22(1):53–60.

HOLOTYPE.— ZISP 28540, “ Gamamiya , Bayuda Desert, Sudan, Africa (19°27′18.3″N 32°48′40.5″E).”

Agama sinaita, Le Berre, Faune du Sahara 1989:128.

Pseudotrapelus sinaitus [part], Schleich, Kästle, and Kabisch 1996:290.

Pseudotrapelus sinaitus [part], Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008:159.

Pseudotrapelus sinaitus, Trape, Trape, and Chirio 2012:160 .

DISTRIBUTION.— Northern Sudan, southern and eastern Egypt (including part of the Sinai Peninsula), and extreme southeastern Libya (Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008; Trape et al. 2012). The map presented by Tamar et al. (2016a) also implies that the species is present in northeastern Chad,

but this is not currently supported by voucher specimens.

Libyan Records (Map 8): CYRENAICA: KUFRAH: 581: BMNH 1975.1228. 582: Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008; Trape et al. 2012. 583: MZUF 721. 584: Scortecci 1935c; Zavattari 1937. 586: MZUF 722; Scortecci 1935c. 587: MZUF 720; Scortecci 1935b,c, 1939.

COMMENTS.— This recently described species was previously included within Pseudotrapelus sinaitus (Heyden, 1827) , a species now restricted to the Sinai Peninsula, parts of Jordan, southern Syria, western Iraq, and northwestern Saudi Arabia ( Tamar et al. 2016a). The original authors of P. chlodnickii ( Melnikov et al. 2015) provided only a few localities for the taxon, all in Sudan. As noted by Tamar et al. (2016a), the piecemeal reevalu- MAP 8. Distribution of Pseudotrapelus chlodnickii in

Libya. ation of the Pseudotrapelus sinaitus complex by Melnikov and colleagues (Melnikov et al. 2012, 2013a, 2013b, 2014, 2015; Melnikov and Pierson 2012; Melnikov and Melnikova 2013; Melnikova et al. 2015), based on small samples form restricted localities, left the taxonomic status of many populations of Pseudotrapelus unresolved. Tamar et al. (2016a) sampled sufficiently broadly to confirm that a specimen from southwestern Egypt, close to the Kufrah records, was conspecific with near-topotypical P. chlodnickii .

Le Berre (1989) did not include Libya in his map of the distribution of Agama sinaita , but explicitly mentioned Scortecci’s (1939) record from Jabal Al Uwaynat. This locality straddles the Libyan, Sudanese and Egyptian borders and historical records from Jabal Al Uwaynat and Ayn Murr have been variously interpreted by different authors as being Libyan (e.g., Kramer and Schnurrenberger 1963) or Sudanese ( Baha El Din 2006a). We here treat the record as Libyan.

IUCN THREAT STATUS.— Not evaluated, but anticipated to be Least Concern.