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The microornamentation of the scales (oberhautchen) has been studied by means of enamel casts (in negative), or with detached skin pieces (positive cast in the upper face or negative in their lower face of the scales) and its observation by transparency with optical microscopy at 40x, 400x and 1000x. In this study we have found a remarkable uniformity in all genera of Lacertini studied (already known, although significantly expanding the number of species previously studied). In light of the results obtained, it seems that the use of the microornamentation of the scales in taxonomy is limited. There is a remarkable degree of variation and probably of homoplasy, as it happens in so many characters of Lacertini. Nor is it clearly linked to certain conditions of the environment, although it may have a certain importance in mechanisms such as evapotranspiration and perhaps in the crypsis through its influence on the reflectance of the scales. These scales can present protuberances (like small tubercles) on their surface (derived character) in Algyroides (the four species), and in the case of Algyroides marchi also seems to present small pits on its scale surface. In most lacertids the cells of the “oberhautchen” are usually narrow (or short anteroposteriorly, if preferred), between 1 and 4 μm, having the appearance of ribbons or transverse straps. Smaller sizes (derivated) appear more or less marked in Algyroides spp, Darevskia praticola complex, Parvilacerta spp and in Dinarolacerta mosorensis (although not in D. montenegrina) and is difficult to interpret. Except in Dinarolacerta, in the other species it coincides that they are ground or ground-rock interface species, and the coarser stripes could have to do with reflectance (imitating the vegetation or the medium between which they move, according to the hypothesis of Allam et al.). In the case of Dinarolacerta, very saxicolous, it is probably the sister group of Algyroides and the common morphology could have a phylogenetic origin linked to its relationship with Algyroides. There is also no relationship with moisture since some come from dry places and others are from very wet areas. The posterior flange of the cells may be slightly mounted in the next cell (primitive character) but appears quite raised (derived character) in Algyroides nigropunctatus (much less in A. moreoticus and A. marchi, and apparently little or nothing in A. fitzingeri). The rear flange of the cells can be smooth, corrugated or notched. In our samples, irregular (and even dentate) posterior ridges appear in numerous Darevskia such as D. derjugini, D. parvula, D. raddei complex [D. raddei raddei, D. r. vanensis and D. nairensis], in part of the group of D. rudis [D. rudis sspp. and D. bithynica sspp.], several Iberolacerta (I. bonnali, I. horvathi and I. monticola astur), as well as in Teira dugesii. The character appears, although less marked in Algyroides (more in A. moreoticus, but less marked or barely visible in the others), in Hellenolacerta graeca, and other Iberolacerta (I. aurelioi, I. martinezricai, and scarcely marked in I. cyreni). Very little marked in Darevskia mixta, somewhat more in D. dryada and none in D. clarkorum, and also appears in the group of D. saxicola (D. saxicola, D. brauneri brauneri, D. b. darevskii, D. lindholdmi, D. szczerbaki), Dalmatolacerta oxycephala, Dinarolacerta mosorensis (only in the Biokovo sample, and not in Durmitor or D. montenegrina), Apathya cappadocica, in some places of the scales of Parvilacerta fraasii (but not in P. parva) and very little in D. (p) hungarica; also in the remaining group of D. rudis (D. valentini valentini, D. v. lantzicyreni, D. rudis bolkardaghica, D. portschinskii), and some parthenogenetic species (D. armeniaca, D. dahli, D. rostombekowi) but not in D. unisexualis, D. uzzelli, D. sapphirina, D. bendimahiensis or in the triploid hybrid between D. unisexualis and D. nairensis. In these parthenogenetic species it seems a general rule that the character of the crenulation or irregularity of the posterior flange of the cells resembles that of the paternal rather than the maternal species. The exception is the triploid hybrid [arisen from the hybridization of D. unisexualis (parthenogenetic female, without the character) and a male of D. nairensis (with fairly developed character)] that lacks character, and in this case is more similar to the maternal species of which has two genetic sets compared to only one of the paternal one.

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Iberolacerta populations from the Northern Montes de León (NML) were studied by means of external morphology (scalation and biometry), osteology and genetics (mtDNA and microsatellites), searching for their homogeneity (“intrazonal analysis”) and, once verified, comparing them with Iberolacerta monticola s. str. (from Central Cantabrian Mountains) and I. galani (from Southern Montes de León) (“extrazonal analysis”) from neighboring areas. Our “intrazonal analysis” revealed discordances between the different approaches, especially the patterns of variation of nuclear microsatellites (congruent with external morphology) and mtDNA, namely a very low nuclear differentiation between relatively highly differentiated mtDNA lineages. The morphological approach was unable to discriminate any of the populations as significantly different from the others in the NML. Mitochondrial DNA revealed a haplotype lineage closely related to I. galani (MNL-II in our text) in some specimens of Sierra de Villabandín and Suspirón, but these populations are morphologically indistinguishable from the main part of the other populations that belong to lineage NML-I, phylogenetically closer to I. monticola. After a separation from I. monticola ca. 1.8 Mya, the populations in this geographic region must have suffered at least two different waves of gene flow from I. galani, the second one not much later than 0.5 Mya. Microsatellite results indicate that all the NML populations are genetically similar in terms of their nuclear genomes, independently of their mitochondrial differentiation (NML-I vs. NML-II haplotype groups). Since all the morphological and microsatellite evidences point towards the fact that, independently of the mitochondrial haplotypes that they bear (NML-I or NML-II), there is only one taxon in the area, we describe it as: Iberolacerta monticola astur ssp. nov. Concerning the relationships of I. m. astur ssp. nov. with I. monticola s. str. and I. galani (“extrazonal analysis”), in the female analyses the new taxon centroid is closer to I. monticola s. str. than to I. galani (more similarity with I. monticola s. str.), whereas in the male analyses the relationship is just the contrary (closer to I. galani, paralleling the direction of the hypothesized past hybridization). Moreover, in both sexes’ ANOVA, I. m. astur ssp. nov. results more similar (less P<0.05 differences) to I. galani than to I. monticola s. str. Osteologically, I. m. astur ssp. nov. is slightly more similar to I. monticola s. str. than to I. galani, especially in the squamosal bone, which is regularly arched (primitive shape). Genetically, as indicated above, the NML populations can be subdivided in two groups according to their mitochondrial DNA, namely NML-I (bearing clearly differentiated haplotypes, phylogenetically closer to I. monticola) and NML-II (whose haplotypes could have been mistaken for those of an I. galani population). This mitochondrial subdivision has at most a subtle nuclear correlate, however. According to the nuclear microsatellite markers, all the NML populations belong to a single group (I. m. astur ssp. nov.), which would be more similar to I. galani than to I monticola, with NML-II populations lying closer to I. galani than those from the NML-I group and, correspondingly, more distant from I. monticola. The discordant phylogenetic signal of mitochondrial and nuclear markers is discussed in terms of past introgression events and sex-biases in phylopatry and dispersion in these species. Iberolacerta monticola astur ssp. nov., inhabits the Northern Montes de León (Sierra de Gistreo sensu latissimo): Gistredo, Catoute, Tambarón, Nevadín, Villabandín (or Macizo del Alto de la Cañada), Arcos del Agua (or Fernán Pérez), Tiendas and Suspirón, mainly in quartzite and slate rock substrates. Its current distribution, cornered in the NW of the Northern part of the Montes de León, suggests a possible competitive exclusion between this taxon and I. galani, as the galani haplotypes (NML-II) appear cornered in the most harsh and continental areas, speaking also about a, even in the past, very limited presence of this species in the area that probably was soon absorbed by I. m. astur ssp. nov. (with NML-Concluding, it seems that the current main distribution area of I. m. astur ssp. nov. (especially the typical NML-I) gravitates around what was the divisory between watersheds in the past, later shifted to the East during the Quaternary. Eastern known limits of I. m. astur ssp. nov. do not pass away from Collado de Campo Lamoso (1500 m), which today is perfectly suitable for the species, but during the Pliocene and the main part of the Pleistocene, constituted a barrier across which the two northern immediate valleys drained to the southern slopes. The West-East continuity of this massif during the end of the Miocene was broken by changes in the drainage across this pass in the Pliocene (geological datation uncertain). Although nowadays the pass to the East (to the Filera Massif, 1879 m) is possible for Iberolacerta, the prospections in these drier limestone areas had been unfruitful. In the north of these Sierras, the species can reach up to Cascaros peak (1854 m), but this extreme has to be confirmed.

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Amphibians and reptiles preserved in the scientific collections of the of Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN), For the first time, we provide a complete catalogue of all the type specimens of amphibians and reptiles preserved in the MNCN. We provided information about 660 type specimens (313 amphibians and 347 reptiles). These belonging to 101 taxa (73 amphibians and 28 reptiles) which currently 81 are accepted as valid species, 17 are considered synonyms and 2 are considered nomen dubium. 64 taxa are represented by primary types (46 holotypes, 9 lectotypes, 2 neotypes and 7 taxa are represented by 64 syntypes). In addition 37 taxa are represented only by secondary types (paratypes). Among all these types, are preserved specimens belonging to 7 type species of its corresponding genus. Their geographical origin is varied: those who do not have a Spanish origin are primarily from the American continent; also have Asiatic and African origin to a lesser extent. The oldest specimens were collected by Jiménez de la Espada during trip carried to American countries by the Scientific Commission of the Pacific (CCP), between 1862 and 1865. The most recent was added on the year 2014 and correspond to several species of the genus Proctoporus (reptiles) and Centrolene charapita and Cochranella guayasamini (amphibians). We confirmed that 12 type specimens, representatives of their corresponding species, formerly housed, in the collections of the MNCN, currently are missing.

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Parts of the mitochondrial genes coding for 12SrRNA and 16SrRNA (together about 960 bp) were sequenced for all Mediterranean species of `Mountain lizards` of the genera Archaeolacerta (sensu lato) and Iberolacerta. All subspecies of the Iberian species Iberolacerta cyreni and I. monticola were included in this study. In addition, samples of Apathya cappadocica and Darevskia rudis were analysed to elucidate the relationships of the European `Mountain lizards` to their possible relatives in the Near East. Maximum parsimony and neighbour joining analyses lead to the following major conclusions: (i) the monophyly of the genus Iberolacerta is very well supported; (ii) Archaeolacerta bedriagae (the type species of the genus) is most basal with respect to the ingroup taxa. If we accept Iberolacerta as a genus, Archaeolacerta becames paraphyletic. Therefore, we propose to restrict Archaeolacerta to the type species and to treat A. mosorensis and A. oxycephala provisionally as members of the collective genus Lacerta; (iii) within the genus Iberolacerta three groups were found: a Pyrenean group, an Iberian group and I. horvathi. The relationships among these groups remain unresolved; and (iv) the Peña de Francia lizards, described originally as a subspecies of I. cyreni, are in fact more closely related to I. monticola.