Acanthodactylus
{{Short description|Genus of lizards}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2014}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Bosc's fringe-toed lizards (Acanthodactylus boskianus asper) love bite.jpg
| image_caption = A. boskianus asper in Jordan
| taxon = Acanthodactylus
| authority = Wiegmann, 1834"Acanthodactylus ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = ca. 40. See text.
}}
Acanthodactylus is a genus of lacertid lizards, commonly referred to as fringe-fingered lizards, fringe-toed lizards (though the latter common name is also used for the New World lizard genus Uma), and spiny-toed lizards.
Geographic range
The approximately 40 species in the genus Acanthodactylus are native to a wide area in North Africa, southern Europe and Western Asia; across the Sahara Desert, to the Iberian Peninsula, and east through the Arabian Peninsula, to Afghanistan and western India.Salvador A (1982). [http://vipersgarden.at/PDF_files/PDF-3441.pdf "A revision of the lizards of the genus Acanthodactylus (Sauria: Lacertidae)".] Bonn. Zool. Monogr. (16): 1–167.
Habitat
Though lizards of the genus Acanthodactylus prefer dry and sparsely vegetated regions, they are not strictly tied to an arid terrain; so it is not uncommon to come across them in various environments.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}
Description
Members of the genus Acanthodactylus possess the following combination of traits:
- Lacking occipital scales,
- Flat ventral scales,
- Fingers with three or four series of scales,
- Toes with comb-like projections,
- Femoral pores present,
- Parietal foramen present.
The coloration and pattern of spots of Acanthodactylus is extremely variable, so it is unsurprising that zoologists have, at one time or another, classified every variety as a separate species.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}
Behavior
Every saurian of the genus Acanthodactylus is very aggressive and gets continuously involved in skirmishes with other members of its species.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}} The males strenuously defend the borders of their territories.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}
Reproduction
Acanthodactylus are oviparous. The number of eggs in a clutch ranges from 3 to 7. The total length of a sexually mature adult of the genus is, on average, {{convert|18|to|20|cm|in|abbr=on}}.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}
Classification
Genus Acanthodactylus{{cite web|title=Acanthodactylus |url=http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?genus=Acanthodactylus&submit=Search|work=The Reptile Database|access-date=13 January 2014}}
{{Columns-list|colwidth=45em|
- Acanthodactylus aegyptius {{small|S. Baha El Din, 2007}}
- Acanthodactylus ahmaddisii {{small|Y. Werner, 2004}}
- Acanthodactylus arabicus {{small|Boulenger, 1918}} - Arabian fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus aureus {{small|Günther, 1903}} - golden fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus bedriagai {{small|Lataste, 1881}} – Bedriaga's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus beershebensis {{small|Moravec et al., 1999}} – Be'er Sheva fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus blanci {{small|Doumergue, 1901}} – Blanc's fringe-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus blanfordii {{small|Boulenger, 1918}} – Blanford's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus boskianus {{small|(Daudin, 1802)}} – Bosc's fringe-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus boueti {{small|Chabanaud, 1917}} – Chabanaud's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus busacki {{small|Salvador, 1982}} – Busack's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus cantoris {{small|Günther, 1864}} – Indian fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus dumerilii {{small|(Milne-Edwards, 1829)}} – Duméril’s fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus erythrurus {{small|(Schinz, 1833)}} – spiny-footed lizard
- Acanthodactylus felicis {{small|Arnold, 1980}} – cat fringe-fingered lizard, South Arabian fringe-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus gongrorhynchatus {{small|Leviton & S.C. Anderson, 1967}} – Saudi fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus grandis {{small|Boulenger, 1909}} – giant fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus guineensis {{small|(Boulenger, 1887)}} – Guinea fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus haasi {{small|Leviton & S.C. Anderson, 1967}} – Haas's fringe-fingered lizard, Haas's fringe-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus hardyi {{small|Haas, 1957}} – Hardy’s fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus harranensis {{small|Baran et al., 2005}} – Harran fringe-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus ilgazi {{small|Kurnaz & Şahin, 2021}}
- Acanthodactylus khamirensis {{small|Heidari et al., 2013}}
- Acanthodactylus lacrymae {{small|Miralles et al., 2020}}
- Acanthodactylus longipes {{small|Boulenger, 1918}} - Miralleslong fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus maculatus {{small|(Gray, 1838)}} – spotted fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus margaritae {{small|Tamar, Geniez, Brito, & Crochet, 2017}}
- Acanthodactylus masirae {{small|Arnold, 1980}} - Masira fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus micropholis {{small|Blanford, 1874}} - yellowtail fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus montanus {{small|Miralles et al., 2020}}
- Acanthodactylus nilsoni {{small|Rastegar-Pouyani, 1998}} - Nilson's spiny-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus opheodurus {{small|Arnold, 1980}} - Arnold's fringe-fingered lizard, snake-tailed fringe-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus orientalis {{small|Angel, 1936}}
- Acanthodactylus pardalis {{small|(Lichtenstein, 1823)}} – leopard fringe-fingered lizard, Egyptian fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus robustus {{small|F. Werner, 1929}} - robust fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus savignyi {{small|(Audouin, 1809)}} – Savigny's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus schmidti {{small|Haas, 1957}} - Schmidt's fringe-fingered lizard, Schmidt's fringe-toed lizard
- Acanthodactylus schreiberi {{small|Boulenger, 1878}} – Schreiber's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus scutellatus {{small|(Audouin, 1827)}} -Nidua fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus spinicauda {{small|Doumergue, 1901}} – Doumergue's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus taghitensis {{small|Geniez & Foucart, 1995}}
- Acanthodactylus tilburyi {{small|Arnold, 1986}} - Tilbury's fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus tristrami {{small|(Günther, 1864)}} - Lebanon fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus yemenicus {{small|Salvador, 1982}} - Yemen fringe-fingered lizard
- Acanthodactylus zagrosicus {{small|Mozaffari, Mohammadi, Saberi-Pirooz & Ahmadzadeh, 2021}} - Zagrosian fringe-fingered lizard
}}
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Acanthodactylus.
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Boulenger GA (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. Lacertidæ, ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Genus Acanthodactylus, p. 58).
- Wiegmann AFA (1834). Herpetologia Mexicana, ... Pars Prima, Saurorum Species, ... Berlin: C.G. Lüderitz. vi + 54 pp. + Plates I-X. (Acanthodactylus, new genus, p. 10). (in Latin).
External links
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131019141423/http://www.cyberlizard.plus.com/lacertids_acanthodactylus.htm Acanthodactylus: Fringe-Fingered Lizards]
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