A new Tarentola subspecies (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) endemic to Tunisia

摘要

Mitochondrial DNA sequences as well as morphological characters reveal that geckos of the genus Tarentola from Libya and central Tunisia are a monophyletic group which is different from both T. mauritanica and T. deserti. Consequently, we elevate theformer subspecies T. mauritanica fascicularis to species rank. Together with T. neglecta and T. mindiae, T. fascicularis constitutes the sister group of T. deserti. Tarentola fascicularis comprises several evolutionary units, one of which we describe here as a subspecies endemic to south-central Tunisia.