BAUER, DEBOER, & TAYLOR: ATLAS OF THE REPTILES OF LIBYA 
237 
species of S. albifasciatus by most authors) as occurring in southern Morocco and parts of western 
Algeria. Sindaco and Jeremcenko (2008) questionably regarded S. albifasciatus as a species sepa¬ 
rate from S. scincus, with S. a. laterimaculatus as a northwestern subspecies. Within S. scincus they 
recognized four subspecies, S. s. scincus, S. s. cucullatus, S .s. conirostris Blanford, 1881 (eastern 
Arabia to Iran) and S. s. meccensis Wiegmann, 1837 (southern Jordan and into Arabia). Although 
they mapped records from Kufrah as S. scincus (presumably the nominate subspecies) they cited 
Kufrah as being within the range of S. a. albifasciatus, although they did not map this locality for 
that species. Trape et al. (2012) assigned Kufrah Scincus records to S. s. scincus and plotted no 
S. albifasciatus records east of eastern Niger. However, they did plot records in extreme south¬ 
eastern Algeria, adjacent to the Libyan border near Ghat. As the nearest locality of S. albifasciatus 
is more than 2000 km away from Kufrah, we agree with recent authors that southeast Libyan spec¬ 
imens bearing the albifasciatus markings are convergent in this pattern with S. albifasciatus sensu 
stricto (type locality “Dakar,” Senegal). However, if the interpretation of Trape et al. (2012) is cor¬ 
rect, it is likely that S. a. albifasciatus does enter Libya in the southwest. Unfortunately, the only 
molecular study to date did not include specimens from Libya, so confirmation of this hypothesis 
awaits further study. As the taxonomy of Scincus scincus in Libya remains unsettled we have not 
differentially plotted locality records by subspecies. 
IUCN Threat Status.— Not assessed, but assumed to be Least Concern. 
Family Varanidae 
Varanus griseus (Daudin, 1803:352) (Fig. 29) 
An XI [1803] Tupinambis griseus Daudin, Histoire Naturelle, Generate et Particuliere des Reptiles, 
Ouvrage faisant Suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d’Histoire Naturelle 
Redige par C.S. Sonnini, Membre de Plusieurs Societes Savantes. Tome huitieme. F. Dufart, Paris. 439 pp., 
pis. xciii-c. 
Holotype. — MNHN lost fide Brygoo (1987), “Egypte.” 
Varanus griseus, Le Berre 1989:236. 
Varanus griseus, Schleich, Kastle, and Kabisch 1996:458. 
Varanus griseus, Sindaco and Jeremce nk o 2008:206. 
Varanus griseus, Trape, Trape, and Chirio 2012:412. 
Distribution.— Western Sahara east to 
Sinai and Sudan, as far south as Niger and 
northern Chad. In Asia from Israel, Jordan, 
probably Syria and southeastern Turkey and 
Iraq to the majority of the Arabian Peninsula 
and eastwards to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan 
and Middle Asia as far north as southern Kaza¬ 
khstan. Also in northern India and portions of 
the Deccan Plateau. In Libya they are found 
across the country. 
Libyan Records (Map 45): TRIPOLITANIA: Zawiyah : 25 Andreucci 1913; Zavattari 1934. 
Tripoli : 45: Konig 1888; Condorelli-Francaviglia 1896; Wemer 1909; Andreucci 1913; Ghigi 
1913; Zavattari 1934. 47: BMNH 1954.1.1.14. Nalut : 113: Sindaco, pers. obs. 5/2/2008. 114: Sin¬ 
daco, pers. obs. 5/2/2008. 117: Sindaco, pers. obs. 4/30/2008. “Tripolitania settentrionale”: 
Zavattari 1937. “Sirtica”: Zavattari 1937. FEZZAN: Ghat: 245: Scortecci 1937a. 256: Scortecci 
Figure 29. Varanus griseus from Az-Zytouna, Murzuq, 
Fezzan, Libya, 2006. Photo © Adel Ibrahim. 
