Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomy & Inventories
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Corresponding author: Rachid Rouag (rachid_rouag@yahoo.fr)
Academic editor: Chelmala Srinivasulu
Received: 07 Feb 2024 | Accepted: 15 Apr 2024 | Published: 29 Apr 2024
© 2024 Rachid Rouag, Nadia Ziane, Marcos De Sousa
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Rouag R, Ziane N, De Sousa M (2024) A tentative list of reptilian fauna of Algeria and their conservation status. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e120471. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e120471
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Algeria is situated at the crossroads between Europe and Africa. The northern part of the country is listed as an area of high biodiversity. Currently, the ecosystems (rivers, lakes, deserts, forests etc.) and the species are under more pressure than ever. The impact of humans is significant and many factors constitute a strong threat to this fauna, especially reptiles, which are the most vulnerable because of their low mobility. Thus, pollution, the drying up of wetlands and their conversion to agriculture have clearly affected the existence of many species. The herpetofauna of Algeria is one of the most diversified in the Mediterranean Basin, consisting of 104 species of which 16.98% are endemic. We suppose that the present list of reptilian fauna provided in this paper is not exhaustive and it is expected to include more species given the lack of research on reptiles in Algeria and its large area.
Our dataset contains information on reptile occurrences in Algeria. The dataset is based on original research by the staff of the Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Agroecology of Chadli Bendjedid University in Algeria. The conservation status of all recorded species is given.
checklist, reptiles, conservation, Algeria, Chelonia, Sauria, Ophidia
The documentation of herpetofauna of Algeria began a century and a half ago with the publication of the first notes by
Situated in North Africa, Algeria comprises 2,381,740 km2 of land, more than 80% of which is desert. Algeria’s climatic regions and landscapes can be divided into four sections that run parallel to each other down the length of the country. The northernmost division, the Tell, is a coastal chain of mountains that extends from the northwest to the northeast over a distance of 1500 km. This chain contains the most important mountains (Ouarsenis, Atlas Blidéen, Djurdjura, Babors and Kroumerie). The altitudes of some summits are over two thousand metres (2308 m for Djurdjura). The diversity of relief and exposure allows the presence of a wide variety of bioclimates ranging from semi-arid in the highlands to humid in the coastal mountainous chains, always characterised by mild and humid winters and hot and dry summers (
The extensive size of Algeria, coupled with uncharted regions, challenging accessibility and a scarcity of field herpetologists, contribute to the limited availability of information on reptiles in the country. The aim of this study is to summarise all possible sources of occurrence records for reptiles in Algeria, including our data, published literature records, verified reports on social networks and records published in online databases.
The present checklist is based on the available taxonomic and faunistic literature concerning the Algerian and North African herpetofaunas (
Description: Our database included all reptile species present in Algeria.
Coordinates: 28.033886 N; 1.659626 E.
The aim of this work is to provide a checklist of Algerian reptiles, based on all studies published by researchers to date. The species were identified by comparison with the bibliography and with material from collections previously identified by specialists. All assessments were made at the taxonomic level of the species. We based our analysis on the lists of Scleich et al. (1996) and Beddek (2017) and a combination with data available on databases, such as the Reptile Database (Uetz 2021), the IUCN Red List (IUCN 2023), as well as the Inaturalist platforms and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) where species identification has been confirmed by renowned specialists. We also consulted the websites of the Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Paris (MNHN) and the Musuem of Vertebrate Zoology (California Academy of Science). Recently-cited species were only added if they appeared in publications in specialised and indexed journals. Recent studies in molecular biology allowing the description of new species were also used to update the checklist.
Data range: 1835-1-01 - 2024-1-03.
Reptiles constitute a major component of vertebrates in Algeria, as is the case in all hot and arid countries. This class includes 104 species belonging to four orders of reptiles: Amphisbaenia (amphisbaenians); Ophidia (snakes); Sauria (lizards); and Chelonia (turtles and tortoises). However, the majority of species are lizards (67.62%) and snakes (25.71%) (Table 1). The most important reptile families in the region are Lacertidae (24 species), Gekkonidae (Geckos: 18 species), Scincidae (Skinks: 15 species) and Colubridae (Colubridae: 12 species).
The desert crocodile species Crocodylus suchus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1807), which once inhabited the Algerian Sahara, is now considered extinct. This species ceased to exist in the Immidir and Ahaggar Regions of Algeria since the early 20th century, as noted by
Table
The north of the country up to the limit of the Saharan Atlas (El Kala, Oum El Bouaghi, Alger, Oran, Laghouat).
NT
Coastal strip in the east of the country (El Kala, Annaba, Jijel, Skikda, Béjaia).
The north of the country up to the limit of the Saharan Atlas.
Rarest species (Ain Temouchent).
The north of the country up to the limit of the Saharan Atlas (Oran, Aîn sefra, Mechria, El Kala, Annaba).
the Saharan Atlas and the High Plateaus.
Relictual species in the Sahara near Tindouf.
LC
Ahaggar and Tassili n’Ajjer. Isolated populations exist near Tindouf.
Aurès, Biskra, Touggourt, Ouargla.
The south (Ahaggar, Tassili).
Aurès, Bou saada, Beni Ouenif, Ghardaïa, Laghouat, El Goléa, Biskra, Béni Abbès, Aïn Sefra.
El Kala, Oran, Algiers, Annaba, Oum El Bouaghi.
Aguelmane Assar (Tassili n'Ajjer), M'sila.
Oran; Tindouf, Aïn Séfra, Biskra, Ghardaïa, Bou Saada, Ouargla.
Tindouf, Touggourt, M'raier, Aïn Séfra, Biskra, Ghardaïa, Zelfana, Bou Saada, El Goléa, Ouargla.
Tindouf, Ahaggar, Biskra, Figuig and Kenadsa.
LC
Southern Algeria (Tassili n’Ajjer and Ahaggar).
North-eastern Algeria (the Aurès Mountains).
Southern Algeria (Tassili n’Ajjer and Ahaggar).
North-eastern Sahara (El Oued). South-eastern Algeria (El Menea and Ouargla Province)
Théniet El Had National Park.
Oum El Bouaghi, Oran, El Oued, El Kala, Constantine.
North-western Algeria (occurring mainly along a narrow coastal strip).
Coastal districts of north-western Provinces (Oran).
Only one observation in the El Kala National Park.
Forest areas in northern Algeria.
Southern Algeria (Tassili n'Ajjer and Ahaggar).
Southern Algeria (Tassilli n'Ajjer et Ahaggar).
Oued Souf; Biskra.
LC
Oued Souf, Touggourt, Ouargla.
The northwest (Oran; Aïn-Temouchent).
North-eastern Algéria.
Relictual species in Touggourt and Biskra.
Tassili n'Ajjer, d’El-Meniaa (El-Goléa).
Only one observation in El Hamdania (50 km au sud d’Alger).
Northern Algeria (El Kala, Oran, Algiers, Bordj-Bou-Arrerij, Tebessa, M'sila).
Arid and Saharan areas (Ghardaia, Berrian, Laghouat, Bou-Saada).
Covers the north of the country in the High Plateaus.
LC
Ergs of the north of the Sahara (Biskra, Tougourt, Laghouat and Bou Saada).
LC
Ergs of the Sahara (Oued Souf, Ouargla).
The Oriental Plateaux of Algeria (Constantine, Setif; Batna, Oum El Bouaghi).
Dune beaches of Mostaganem, Oran and Ain T’émouchent.
El Abiod Sidi Cheikh.
Tindouf and Taghit.
Eastern Algeria extending from Tebessa to Algiers.
Northern Algeria (Annaba, El Kala, Oum El Bouaghi, M'sila, Oran).
The Aurès and the steppes of the High Plateaus.
LC
The Saharan Atlas (Batna, Oum El Bouaghi, Tebessa).
The Saharan Atlas (Aurès).
Steppes and arid regions (Oran, Oum El Bouaghi).
LC
Tlemcen, Bou Saada; Mecheria, Saïda, Béni Abbès, Erg Occidental, Erg Chech, Laghouat, Ahaggar.
The dunes of ergs (Beni Abbès, Amguid, Ahaggar).
In the Sahara, in arid areas with stony or rocky soil, rarely sandy.
LC
North of Algeria (Khroumirie, High Plateaus, Aures, Kabylie).
North-west of Algeria (Senalba in Djelfa, Stiten, El Bayad).
Tlemcen, Constantine, Setif, Beni Mansour, Tebessa, Oran, El Kala, Oum El Bouaghi.
Northwest of Algeria (Oran).
Tamanrasset (on the road to Adriane and in the Municipality of Tagmart-East
The north (Oum El Bouaghi, M'sila, Oran).
Occupies the entire Sahara.
Northwest of Algeria (Tlemcen Mountains).
Central and eastern Algeria (Tlemcen, Bou-Saada and the Mzab; Mecheria, Saïda).
South-eastern Algeria and bordering regions of Libya (Tassili n' Ajjer).
Uromastyx dispar maliensis Joger and Lambert, 1996 in south-western Algeria (Taoudrart en Tanezrouft). Uromastyx dispar flavifasciata Mertens, 1962 in Tindouf.
Southern Algeria (Ahaggar and Tassili n’Ajjer).
Western Algeria (du Mzab au Guir).
Central Algeria in ‘Erg Oriental’ (Touggourt, Ouargla), ‘Erg Occidental’ (El Goléa, Béni Abès) and ‘Erg er Raoui’.
Southern Algeria (Tassili n'Ajjer).
LC
Sahara (Bechar).
Nortwestern Algeria (Tlemcen, Bou Saada and the Mzab; Mecheria, Saïda)
Mostaganem, Algiers, Oran, Biskra, Oum El Bouaghi.
North-western Algeria (Mecheria, Saida, M'sila).
The north-eastern and the centreof Algeria (Oum El Buaghi, El Kala).
Wide distribution throughout the Algerian Sahara (Bou Saada, Biskra, El-Abiod-Sidi-Cheikh).
La Chiffa, El Kala.
Algiers, El Kala, Oum El Bouaghi.
Northern Algeria (El Kala, Sebdou, Oum El Bouaghi, M'sila).
In the North, the steppe environments (Oran, Nâama, Ain Ain Sefra, Oum El Bouaghi). In the South in Tassili.
LC
Bénis Abbès, El Oued, Mraïer, Sud Oranais, Souf, Ahaggar, Tassili n'Ajjer.
Ouargla, Biskra.
M'sila, Beni Abbès, Ouargla, Ghardaïa, Ahaggar, Aïn Sefra, Biskra, Oued Rhir.
Mertoutek (Ahaggar) and In-Sebuk Oua Mellen (Immidir).
Tindouf.
Northern Algeria (Djelfa).
North-western Algeria (Oran, Habibas Islands).
North-eastern Algeria (Oum El Bouaghi).
Northern Sahara from the Moroccan border to the Tunisian border. Isolated population also exists in the Ahaggar in southern Algeria.
Southern Algeria (Immdir Massif).
Aïn-Sefra; Béni Ounif, Reggane, Beni-Abbès, Oum El Bouaghi, Ahggar, Djbel Aissa.
Tassili, Ahaggar.
Beni Abbès, Biskra, Tassili n'Ajjer.
Biskra, Beni Ounif, Chott Melghir, Beni Abbès, Bir El Ater.
Wide distribution throughout the Algerian Sahara (Ahaggar, Tassili n'Ajjer, Beni Ounif, Biskra, Saïda; M'sila).
Wide distribution throughout the Algerian Sahara (Béni Abbès Ahaggar, Tassili n'Ajjer).
Between the Tellian Atlas and the Saharan Atlas (Oum El Bouaghi, Nâama, M'sila, Oran).
Biskra, Constantine, isolated populations in the Ahaggar and Tassili n’ajjer.
Restricted to the Tell Atlas in the mountain ranges of the north of Algeria (Annaba, Jijel, Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia, Tlemcen, Skikda).
The north especially the High Plateaus and semi-arid zones (Oran, Oued Magra, Biskra, Batna, M'sila).
In this study, all the reptile species were evaluated for their global conservation status according to the IUCN system. This status represents an important tool with regard to identifying priorities for species conservation. All reptile species in Algeria are included in the IUCN Red List. As very few works cover the distribution of reptiles in Algeria, this evaluation is only approximate and requires a continuous update of the data. The number of species in the different IUCN Red List Categories is shown in Table
Least Concern (LC) |
Near Threatened (NT) |
Vulnerable (VU) |
Endangered (EN) |
Critically Endangered (CR) |
Data Deficient (DD) |
Not Evaluated (NE) |
73 |
06 |
05 |
04 |
01 |
15 |
0 |
To summarise, 30.19% of Algerian reptile species are globally threatened, with 0.96% Critically Endangered, 3.85% Endangered, 4.81% Vulnerable and 5.77% Near Threatened. A total of 70.19% (73 species) were assessed as Least Concern and 15 (14.42%) species were considered to be Data Deficient. It should be mentioned that all species of Testudines are threatened (Fig.
The richness of the Algerian herpetofauna is a result of various factors, including geographical, climatic and topographical conditions. These factors have further contributed to the isolation and diversification of many taxa which has allowed the presence of several species that are endemic to Algeria or that are shared with Tunisia, Morocco or Libya. A total of 16.98% of the Reptiles in Algeria (18 species) are endemic species to the Maghreb, of which 22.22% are endemic to Algeria and are represented by four species of lizards (Table
Species |
Endemic |
Population trend |
Geographic range |
Acanthodactylus bedriagai |
Algeria |
Unknown |
Northeast (Aurès) |
Acanthodactylus savigny |
Algeria |
Unknown |
Northeast (Coastal regions) |
Tropiocolotes chirioi |
Algeria |
Unknown |
Northeast (Aurès) |
Tropiocolotes tassiliensis |
Algeria |
Unknown |
Tassili n’Ajjer |
Chalcides mertensi |
Algeria-Tunisia |
Unknown |
Northern |
Timon pater |
Algeria-Tunisia |
Decreasing |
Northeast |
Tarentola neglecta |
Algeria-Tunisia |
Stable |
Saharan |
Timon tangitanus |
Algeria - Morocco |
Decreasing |
Northwest |
Scelarcis perspicillata |
Algeria - Morocco |
Stable |
Northwest |
Hyalosaurus koellikeri |
Algeria – Morocco |
Unknown |
Northwest |
Trapelus tournevillei |
Algeria - Morocco |
Stable |
Saharan |
Chalcides minutus |
Algeria - Morocco |
Decreasing |
Tlemcen Mountains |
Chalcides parallelus |
Algeria - Morocco |
Decreasing |
Northwest |
Chalcides mauritanicus |
Algeria - Morocco |
Decreasing |
Oran-Algiers (Coastal regions) |
Eumeces algeriensis |
Algeria - Morocco |
Stable |
Northwest |
Vipera monticola |
Algeria - Morocco |
Decreasing |
Tellian Atlas |
Saurodactylus mauritanicus |
Algeria - Morocco |
Decreasing |
Northwest |
Uromastyx alfredschmidti |
Algeria - Libya |
Stable |
Southern (Tassili n’Ajjer) |
To highlight the most important areas for reptile diversity, information related to the status of the different species was compiled. Thus, the different criteria, namely endemism, rarity, IUCN conservation status and species richness by region were combined. Four main regions have been identified through the distribution analysis of vulnerable reptile species:
1. A large region in the north of the country extends over the large coastal mountain ranges and contains the Edough Massif, the Babors and Djurdjura. These regions include threatened and vulnerable species.
2. The Mountains of Aures represent the region in Algeria with the highest reptile diversity. It includes threatened, rare and endemic species:
3. Northwest Region (Oranie)
4. A fourth zone in the middle of the Sahara represented by the Massifs of Tassili n’Ajjer and Ahaggar harbouring a particular herpetofauna with rare and threatened species:
Fig.
Some species of Reptiles of Algeria:
The distribution of reptiles is related to several factors, mainly habitat diversity and also climatic factors. With an average of 45 species, the Aurès Mountains are the most diversified region of northern Algeria. The topography and the mountainous character of the region, as well as the diversity of its plant cover and the Mediterranean and Saharan climatic influences, have allowed a diversity of reptilian fauna to exist here. Indeed, this area is a real junction where desert and Mediterranean species co-exist.
The presence of sea turtles along the Algerian coast is regularly reported, with many beachings, of which 70% are the loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) and 30% of the leatherback Sea turtle, Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761) (
The Spur-thighed tortoises (Testudo graeca) represent the most widely distributed species of tortoise in the Western Palaearctic (
Acanthodactylus Fitzinger, 1834 constitutes the most species-rich genus in the family Lacertidae, with over 40 recognised species inhabiting a wide variety of dry habitats. The genus has seldom undergone taxonomic revisions and, although there are a number of described species and species-groups, their boundaries, as well as their interspecific relationships, remain largely unresolved (
In North Africa, Acanthodactylus species are divided within three clades: the erythrurus and pardalis groups occupying the Sub-Saharan Region and the coastal areas of North Africa; the scutellatus group, occurring mainly in the sandy areas of North Africa (
Acanthodactylus erythrurus species complex
Acanthodactylus erythrurus (Schinz, 1833), A. lineomaculatus Duméril & Bibron, 1839 and A. blanci Doumergue, 1901 are part of a group called «A. erythrurus species complex» whose taxonomy is complex and unstable because of their wide distribution and also their great genetic variation (
The Spiny-footed Lizard, Acanthodactylus erythrurus is widespread in the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, from Morocco to Tunisia (
Acanthodactylus pardalis group
In northern Africa, with the exception of Acanthodactylus spinicauda Doumergue, 1901, the systematics of this group is not clear and there is profound disagreement amongst authors (
Acanthodactylus scutellatus group
The Acanthodactylus scutellatus species group comprises seven recognised species (A. aegyptius Baha El Dine, 2007, A. aureus Gûnther, 1903, A. dumerilii Miline-Edwards, 1829, A. longipes Boulenger, 1918, A. scutellatus Audouin, 1827, A. senegalensis Chabanaud, 1918 and A. taghitensis Geniez and Foucart, 1995) which are abundant and conspicuous across xeric environments of North Africa and the Middle East (
Acanthodactylus boskianus group
The boskianus group is represented by two paraphyletic species, Acanthodactylus boskianus in North Africa and Acanthodactylus schreiberi Boulenger, 1878 in the Middle East (
Mesalina species are small, fast, ground-dwelling, diurnal lizards, well-adapted to desert and xeric shrublands. All Mesalina taxa can be divided according to their phylogenetic relationships into the following seven assemblages: M. watsonana (Stoliczka, 1872), M. martini (Boulenger, 1897), M. rubropunctata (Lichtenstein, 1823), the M. adramitana group, the M. brevirostris group, the M. guttulata group and M. olivieri (
Algeria harbours five different species of Tarentola, namely: T. mauritanica (Linnaeus, 1758), T. deserti Boulenger, 1891, T. neglecta Strauch, 1887, T. annularis (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827) and T. hoggarensis Werner, 1937, recently elevated to the rank of species based on molecular and morphological data (
This new genus for Algerian herpetofauna, considered invasive, is represented by Cyrtopodion scabrum (Heyden, 1827). This species is widely distributed in Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen) (
A total of 12 species are recognised within the genus Tropiocolotes, covering a distribution range from Atlantic Sahara, Maghreb, Levant, Arabian Peninsula and Iran (
-Tropiocolotes tripolitanus Peters, 1880, in the Algerian Sahara and reported in Tindouf, Ahaggar, Biskra, Figuig and Kenadsa (
-Tropiocolotes algericus Loveridge, 1947, in the westernmost portion of the Saharan Atlas Mountain Range, with a disjunct population in the northern portion of the Tademaît Rocky Plateau (
-Tropiocolotes nubicus Baha El Din, 1999, in southern Algeria (Tassili n’Ajjer and Ahaggar). Phylogenetic results of
Recently, two new species were reported for Algerian Tropiocolotes by
-Tropiocolotes chirioi Ribeiro-Júnior, Koch, Flecks, Calv & Meiri, 2022; Described on specimens collected by Laurent Chirio. The type-locality is situated in the Aurès Mountains (north-eastern Algeria).
-Tropiocolotes tassiliensis Ribeiro-Júnior, Koch, Flecks, Calv & Meiri, 2022, in southern Algeria (Tassili n’Ajjer and Ahaggar). The type-locality is situated 3 km east of Tamanrasset on the road to Adriane in the Tassili n’Ajjer mountain (south-eastern Algeria).
On molecular biology arguments,
Agama bibronii A. Duméril in Duméril & Duméril, 1851 is the valid name for the North African rock agama (
Chalcides minutus Caputo, 1993, is a little-known species found in northern Morocco. In 2014, Montero-Mendieta et al. discovered a skink belonging to the Chalcides genus in Théniet El Had National Park (Algeria). Initially classified as Chalcides mertensi Klausewitz, 1954 due to its morphological similarity and distribution, this skink was surprisingly found to be genetically closely related to specimens of Chalcides minutus (Caputo, 1993). Genetic analysis can help to understand the phylogeny of the Chalcides minutus-mertensi species complex (
Macroprotodon are colubrines that are found in mainly Mediterranean areas of North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula (Iberia) and on some western Mediterranean islands (
Algerian Daboia vipers include two species, Daboia mauritanica Gray, 1849 and Daboia deserti (Anderson, 1892) with controversial range delimitations where Daboia mauritanica is distributed between the Tellian Atlas and the Saharan Atlas and Daboia deserti occupies a narrow strip of the Saharan Atlas, from western Algeria, towards Tunisia. Based on a molecular study on North African Daboia vipers,
The genus Echis Merrem, 1820 is one of the most complex genera of snakes in Africa, its being found throughout the semi-arid/xeric regions of Western Africa, thence eastwards to southern Asia (
Some of species cited for the Algerian herpetofauna are classified in the Data Defficient category, while others should be noted as "unconfirmed", such as the Puff Adder Bitis arietans (Merrem, 1820), which is mentioned by some authors, but for which we have found no bibliographical reference confirming its presence in Algeria. Identification difficulties also occur between taxonomically related species, this being the case of Stenodactylus sthenodactylus (Lichtenstein, 1823), which is indistinguishable from Stenodactylus mauritanicus Guichenot, 1850. Its presence in Algeria has only been reported in the south by
Many reptiles are facing threats due to habitat degradation, but the current conservation measures are insufficient to address the critical concerns for their survival. The studies and reports on biodiversity in Algeria are focused on the fauna as a whole, without carrying out specific studies on the state of conservation of the herpetological communities and their habitats. Additionally, Algerian legislation does not offer total protection to those species and their habitat. Incentives and legislative measures must be established. Thus, the protection of Algerian reptiles requires a better knowledge of their ecology and distribution. The deficiencies of knowledge of their taxonomy, biology, dynamics and rate of evolution are significant. The status of several species remains to be defined. This lack of data limits the conservation of these species and makes their management quite difficult. Therefore, it is fundamental to establish a national strategy for better knowledge and thus better conservation of this fauna.
The research was carried out within the framework of the research topic (Host-parasite interactions in reptiles and amphibians and their roles in the emergence of vector-borne diseases - PRFU: D01N01UN360120220004) of the Laboratory of Biodiversity and Pollution of Ecosystems of Chadli Bendjedid University in Algeria. We also thank Slim Benyacoub and Salim Sidali for the loan of photographs illustrating this article.
R. Rouag - species identification, data preparation, manuscript editing.
N. Ziane - data preparation.
M. De Sousa - Software, data preparation, manuscript editing.