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Southern Spain’s semi-arid habitats are a Mediterranean ecosystem modelled mainly by historic factors which make them unique in comparison with North African deserts. Southern Spanish vertebrates have adapted to the recent emergence of semi-arid habitats in varying degrees of success. This paper reviews the current status of these terrestrial vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), their origins and their main features in relation to this biogeographic area. The vertebrate fauna of the semi-arid southeast of the Iberian peninsula differs widely from the one in the semi-arid Maghreb mainly because the former is composed by generalist vertebrates and much less so by species adapted to arid conditions. Moreover, a large fraction of the vertebrates in the semi-arid Iberia does not exploit the semi-arid areas but depends on riparian and human-managed habitats. The species diversity is rather low since only a small fraction of Palaearctic, European or Mediterranean species can adapt to the ecological limitations imposed by aridity and dwell in these semi-arid habitats. Such adaptations comprehend features like trophic plasticity, low morphological specialization, high dispersal ability, shortened life cycles and behavioural mechanisms to exploit the limited resources available. This paper identifies major conservation issues and proposes specific courses of action. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.