On the identity of west Saharan geckos of the Tarentola ephippiata complex (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae), with comments on an extreme case of syntopy with their close relative T. annularis

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article and, Thore Koppetsch, Böhme, Wolfgang (2022): On the identity of west Saharan geckos of the Tarentola ephippiata complex (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae), with comments on an extreme case of syntopy with their close relative T. annularis. African Journal of Herpetology 71 (2): 139-159, DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2022.2055652, URL: doi.org/10.1080/21564574.2022.2055652 ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Tarentola geckos have a widespread geographic distribution and occur both in the Palearctic and Afrotropical realms, as well as the Neotropical region.

Particularly, across North Africa phenotypically similar and cryptic species can be found, like the west Saharan members of the T. ephippiata complex. However, the taxonomic relationships and phylogeographic patterns of these geckos are not fully understood. Here we show that some specimens of Tarentola geckos from Mauritania and southern Morocco previously identified as T. hoggarensis can actually be assigned to T. panousei, a taxon treated as a synonym until now.