BAUER, DEBOER, & TAYLOR: ATLAS OF THE REPTILES OF LIBYA 
267 
Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768:61) 
This species was first listed for the Libyan fauna by von Martens (1883), based on an identi¬ 
fication made by Reichenow. The record was repeated by Ghigi (1913). Calabresi (1923) also men¬ 
tioned this species from Benghazi, but did not believe the record to be “sufficiently validated.” It 
is widely distributed across southern and parts of central Europe and into Anatolia. The only Podar¬ 
cis with a natural distributional range approaching Libya is P. vaucheri (Boulenger, 1905), which 
ranges from Morocco to northern Tunisia. There is also a record of Podarcis sicula from Tripoli 
(BMNH 1965.1132). We assume that all records of Podarcis from Libya represent introduced indi¬ 
viduals. As only a few scattered records exist, there is no evidence that these wall lizards have 
established viable populations in the country. 
Psammodromus algirus (Linnaeus, 1766:203) 
This species was depicted on a map by Le Berre (1989) as just entering far northwestern 
Tripolitania but no specific localities or specimens were mentioned. It reaches as far east as Tunisia 
north of the Gulf of Gabes, and Lampedusa Island (Italy). 
Scincidae 
Chalcides delislei (Lataste and Tremeau de Rochbrune in Lataste, 1876:238, pi. 10, figs. 1-13). 
Schleich et al. (1996) suggested on their map (p. 367) that this species might occur in south¬ 
ern Libya, although a question mark indicated a lack of data for the region, and these authors sug¬ 
gested that central Saharan records needed to be verified. Sindaco and Jeremcenko (2008) indicat¬ 
ed no records nearer to the Libyan border than 900 km away in west central Niger. 
Scincus albifasciatus albifasciatus Boulenger, 1890:85, pi. 11, fig. 5 
Specimens of Scincus from Kufrah have been assigned to S. albofasciatus (type locality 
“Dakar, Senegambia” [Senegal]).by Arnold and Leviton (1977), and although Sindaco and 
Jeremcenko (2008) mapped records from Kufrah as S. scincus (presumably the nominate sub¬ 
species) they cited Kufrah as being within the range of S. a. albifasciatus. Trape et al. (2012) 
assigned Kufrah Scincus records to S. s. scincus and plotted no S. albifasciatus records east of east¬ 
ern Niger. However, they did plot records in extreme southeastern Algeria, adjacent to the Libyan 
border near Ghat. Given the more than 2000 km separating Kufrah from the nearest confirmed 
S. albofasciatus localities, we suggest that southeast Libyan specimens are likely convergent with 
this species. However, if the interpretation of Trape et al. (2012) is correct, it is likely that S. a. alb¬ 
ifasciatus 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. 
Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein, 1823:103). 
Mapped by LeBerre (1989) as Mabuia [sic] quinquetaeniata for “Cyrenai'que”. This was on 
the basis of Condorelli-Francaviglia’s (1896) record of Euprepes savignii, a synonym of T. quin¬ 
quetaeniata. The collection reported on in that publication was that of Prof. Panceri, which was 
made in Egypt as well as Libya, so it is likely that the specimen came from Egypt, where this 
species does occur. Ghigi (1913) repeated the Libyan record, but Werner (1909) questioned its 
validity. The species is chiefly distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and reaches North Africa only 
