Taxonomic notes: On examination of the lectotype of Ascalabotes sthenodactylus, Metallinou and Crochet (2013) determined that this specimen belongs to S. mauritanicus, now generally regarded as a valid species. S. sthenodactylus is a widely-used name for a well-known taxon distributed south and east of the range of S. mauretanicus, and in order to preserve the prevailing usage of both names Metallinou and Crochet (2013) indicate an intent to apply to the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature to permit a neotype designation. Pending a decision on any application, this account retains the prevailing usage for this species.
While it has been proposed that S. sthenodactylus as presently defined represents a species complex (S. Baha El Din pers. comm., Metallinou et al. 2012), in a review of the status of names proposed for North African Stenodactylus Metallinou and Crochet (2013) explicitly refrain from recognizing species within this complex pending further research. These authors do note that the name S. zavattari is available for a lineage identified by Metallinou et al. (2012) as ranging from Kenya to Egypt, should future work determine that this lineage warrants specific or subspecific recognition.

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