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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Series 4, Volume 64, No. 8 
Discussion 
Ghigi (1913) listed the number of terrestrial reptile species then known from Libya as 38 and 
Zavattari (1937) noted 56 species and subspecies. Eight of the taxa listed by the latter author have 
since been synonymized or determined to have been erroneously recorded for Libya and today the 
total number of reptiles stands at 66 (including three marine turtles), three of which are represent¬ 
ed in the country by two named subspecies, and one of which is recognized as a complex of numer¬ 
ous, yet to be described, taxa. Many recent changes in the faunal list of the country have been the 
result of the taxonomic revision of groups long known to be represented in the fauna. For exam¬ 
ple, Pseudotrapelus chlodnickii, described in 2015 (Melnikov et al. 2015) had long been recorded 
from Libya as P. sinaitus, and the leptotyphlopid Myriopholis lanzai Broadley et al., 2014 had pre¬ 
viously been treated as Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus . Similar examples include Agama tassilien- 
sis (formerly A. impalearis ) and Ptyodactylus togoensis (formerly P ragazzii and before that 
P hasselquistii ). Other additions represent range extensions into Libya from adjacent regions, such 
as Tarentola mindiae, which enters Libya from the Western Desert of Egypt, and Scincopus fas- 
ciatus, which, though widely distributed in North Africa, was not recorded in Libya until 1995 
(Sindaco 1995). Newly described taxa include Uromastyx alfredschmidti, with its type from the 
Tassili n’Ajjer of Algeria, but also noted from the Libyan Tadrart Akakus in its description (Wilms 
and Bohme 2001), and Tarentola neglecta lanzai, thus far the only strictly Libyan endemic reptile 
(Bshaena and Joger 2013), although several other putative new species in Libya have been signaled 
in the Tarentola fascicularis group (including T. deserti sensu lato ) (Bshaena 2011). Another recent 
addition to the fauna has been Indotyphlops braminus (Joger et al. 2008), the only known estab¬ 
lished invasive species (although several extralimital taxa are known from one or more encounters 
(see Unconfirmed or Erroneous Taxon Records from Libya, pp. 265-269). 
Naturally, the reptile fauna of Libya shares similarities with that of all of its neighbors (Table 
2). However, Sudan, Chad and Niger have large areas that lie in the Sahel, which supports a rich¬ 
er and fundamentally different fauna of sub-Saharan taxa with mostly southern affinities (Trape et 
al. 2012). Although all three countries have a more diverse fauna than Libya, that of Chad is par¬ 
ticularly poorly documented. Only about a third or les of the Libyan fauna occurs in any of these 
countries. Similarities between Egypt and Cyrenaica are strong and a number of taxa, such as Tar¬ 
entola mindiae, Acanthodactylus pardalis, and Platyceps rogersi, show this connection well. In 
total, Egypt harbors 43 of the 65 terrestrial reptile taxa known from Libya. However, Egypt has a 
much more species rich reptile fauna (at least 110 species, Baha El Din 2006 and subsequent tax¬ 
onomic revisions) as the Nile Valley provides a corridor that allows penetration of Sub-Saharan 
taxa, like Trachylepis quinquetaenita, and the Sinai acts as a bridge to the Middle East, allowing 
numerous species to extend at least as far as the Nile. Tunisia and Algeria share the largest num¬ 
ber of taxa with Libya, with 71% and 77% of the Libyan fauna. Indeed, the vast majority of species 
in Tripolitania, the richest region of Libya, also occur in Tunisia and/or Algeria. Further, species 
limited to the Ghat area of Fezzan are mostly also found in the Tassili n’Ajjer of southeastern Alge¬ 
ria (e.g., Uromastyx alfredschmidti, Ptyodactylus togoensis). 
Although sampling is highly inconsistent across Libya and actual distributions may, in some 
cases, be masked by over generalization of older records or their incorrect attribution to “Tripoli” 
or “Benghazi, the Libyan reptile fauna nonetheless clearly exhibits several major biogeographic 
patterns. Tripolitania has the richest reptile fauna, with 48 native non-marine species, whereas 
Cyrenaica, at more than three times the area, has only 45, and Fezzan has only 39. There is a clear 
distinction between Mediterranean and Saharan forms. Ophisops occidentalis, Stenodactylus mau- 
ritanicus and Eryx jaculus are all limited to near coastal localities, whereas Agama tassiliensis. 
