Mesalina bernoullii Jiří Šmíd &amp; Jiří Moravec &amp; Václav Gvoždík &amp; Jan Štundl &amp; Daniel Frynta &amp; Petros Lymberakis &amp; Paschalia Kapli &amp; Thomas Wilms &amp; Andreas Schmitz &amp; Mohammed Shobrak &amp; Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani &amp; Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani &amp; Aurora M. Castilla &amp; Johannes Els &amp; Werner Mayer 2017, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Jiří Šmíd
name: Jiří Moravec
name: Gvoždík, Václav
name: Štundl, Jan
name: Frynta, Daniel
name: Lymberakis, Petros
name: Paschalia Kapli
name: Wilms, Thomas
name: Schmitz, Andreas
name: Shobrak, Mohammed
name: Yousefkhani, Saeed Hosseinian
name: Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani
name: Castilla, Aurora M.
name: Els, Johannes
name: Mayer, Werner
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Lacertidae
Mesalina
Mesalina bernoullii

description: <i>Mesalina bernoullii</i> (Schenkel, 1901) comb. nov. <i>Eremias bernoullii</i> – Schenkel (1901) <i>Eremias brevirostris</i> – Boulenger (1887) <i>Eremias brevirostris</i> forma <i>typica</i> – Angel (1936) <i>Eremias brevirostris fieldi</i> – Haas &amp; Werner (1969). Holotype MCZ 56617. Type locality Mahor Birinji, Khuzestan Province, Iran. MorphoBank pictures: M407313–M407317. <i>Mesalina brevirostris</i> – Szczerbak (1989) <i>Mesalina brevirostris brevirostris</i> – Szczerbak (1989) Holotype. NMB 4396. Type locality: ‘ Palmyra’ (Syria). MorphoBank pictures: M407230– M407235. Distribution. Sinai, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, south­western Iran, Kuwait, north­eastern Saudi Arabia (Fig. 1). Notes. <i>Mesalina bernoullii</i> represents a morphologically very variable species (Table S5). Several geographically isolated morphotypes that differ considerably in body size and scalation can be found within its large range. For example, Haas and Werner (1969) assigned a subspecific status (<i>Eremias brevirostris fieldi</i>) to the population from south­western Iran characterized by low numbers of dorsal and gular scales and subdigital lamellae and Moravec (2004) described a morphotype from Jabal al Arab, southern Syria, that has unusually high numbers of scales of the same characters. Nevertheless, our results did not show any correlation between this morphological and phylogenetic clustering. The material analyzed in this study included specimens from the type locality of <i>Eremias bernoullii</i> Schenkel, 1901 corresponding morphologically to the holotype of this taxon. It also included a specimen from ca. 40 km of the type locality of <i>E. brevirostris fieldi</i> Haas and Werner, 1969 corresponding morphologically to this form, as well as individuals representing the Jabal al Arab morphotype. Based on the results of the phylogenetic and morphological analyses we conclude that the name <i>Eremias brevirostris fieldi</i> Haas and Werner, 1969 is a junior subjective synonym of <i>Eremias bernoullii</i> Schenkel, 1901.
description: Published as part of <i>Jiří Šmíd, Jiří Moravec, Václav Gvoždík, Jan Štundl, Daniel Frynta, Petros Lymberakis, Paschalia Kapli, Thomas Wilms, Andreas Schmitz, Mohammed Shobrak, Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani, Aurora M. Castilla, Johannes Els &amp; Werner Mayer, 2017, Cutting the Gordian Knot: Phylogenetic and ecological diversification of the Mesalina brevirostris species complex (Squamata, Lacertidae), pp. 1-30 in Zoologica Scripta 46 (6)</i> on pages 17-18, DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12254, http://zenodo.org/record/1037920