Systematics of the Genus Trachylepis Fitzinger, 1843 (Sauria: Scincidae) with special reference to the Middle East: A review

There are several papers related to the split of the Mabuya group (sensu lato) into four different subfamilies (Chinoniniinae, Mabuyinae, Dasiinae, and Trachylepidinae). The genus has undergone drastic taxonomic changes. In the history of this genus various names such as, Lacerta, Euprepis ,Mabuya and Trachylepis have been applied. The Iranian species of Mabuya and totally the Middle East species of this old genus come under Afro-Malagasy clade. Also septemtaeniata and transcaucasica are more related to Euprepis branch in Afro-Malagasy clade. Further, transcaucasica should be treated as a subspecies of Euprepis and with septemtaeniata as a good species. The Turkish species of Mabuya not only belong to any of the four aforementioned genera, but also diversified from Mabuya and the rest of Trachylepis species. There is no record of T.aurata from Iran, but Turkish populations belong to T.aurata. The populations from central and northern Iran belong to T. aurata transcaucasiaca and southern populations belonging to Trachylepis septemtaeniata. According to Morphological and molecular data, the Turkish T.vittata, T.aurata, T. septemtaeniata are separate species and T. vittata is branched off first. Based on morphological characters the Iranian T.vittata is a distinct species. The aim of this study is to provide a detailed account on current taxonomic and distributional status of the genus Trachylepis with special reference to the Middel East and Iranian Plateau species.