| Kürzlich erschienen zwei unabhängige genetische Analysen (CANDAN et al. 2016, BELLATI et al. 2015) zu Eidechsen dieser Gattung. Leider decken beide Studien nur Teile des Areals ab und es wurden überwiegend verschiedene DNA-Abschnitte untersucht. BELLATI et al. (2015) versteigen sich zu erheblichen taxonomischen Änderungen gegenüber der bisherigen Systematik der Gattung von EISELT & SCHMIDTLER (1986). Der Großteil davon scheint nicht ausreichernd begründet. Deshalb wird das Konzept von EISELT & SCHMIDTLER (1986) grundsätzlich beibehalten, doch werden, wie von BELLATI et al. (2015) vorgeschlagen, die Eidechsen der Insel Ikaria als Unterart oertzeni zu A. anatolica gestellt und die Formen SW-Anatoliens als A. pelasgiana (zuvor A. oertzeni) gelistet.
Werner Mayer, 2015 |
Eiselt, J. & Schmidtler, J.F. (1986) - Der Lacerta danfordi-Komplex (Reptilia: Lacertidae). - Spixiana, München, 9 (3): 289-328.  Bellati, A. & Carranza, S. & Garcia-Porta, J. & Fasola, M. & Sindaco, R. (2015) - Cryptic diversity within the Anatololacerta species complex (Squamata: Lacertidae) in the Anatolian Peninsula: Evidence from a multi-locus approach. - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 82 (Part A): 219-233.  × The rapid development of innovative molecular tools for characterizing biodiversity is leading to an extensive and sometimes unexpected renovation of taxonomic classifications. Particularly, for species having allopatric or parapatric distributions or resulting from recent speciation processes, the absence of clear phenotypic differentiation may hinder the recognition of closely related taxa, while intraspecific polymorphism may be confused with the presence of more than one single species. In the present work, we apply different phylogenetic methods in order to infer relationships within the genus Anatololacerta, and to assess the taxonomy of this morphologically diversified group of lizards endemic to western and southern Anatolia and some neighboring Aegean islands. According to morphology, three species have been recognized (Anatololacerta anatolica, A. oertzeni and A. danfordi) as well as several subspecies, but small variation at immunological markers led some authors to join all the populations into one single taxon, A. danfordi. By selecting both mitochondrial and nuclear informative markers, we tested the effectiveness of classical “gene tree” (i.e. Bayesian Inference) vs. innovative (i.e. coalescent-based) “species tree” methods in resolving the Anatololacerta taxonomic enigma, as a case in point for similar studies on species complexes resulting from non-obvious and cryptic diversification patterns. According to our results, the “gene tree” method failed in resolving phylogenetic relationships among clades, whereas the multi-locus “species tree” approach, coupled with species delimitation methods, allowed the identification of four well distinct species. These species probably diversified in different allopatric refugia located in southern and western Anatolia, where isolated populations may have persisted during Pleistocene glacial cycles. Candan, K. & Kankilic, T. & Güclü, Ö. & Kumlutaş, Y. & Durmus, S.H. & Lymberakis, P. & Poulakakis, N. & Ilgar, C. (2016) - First assessment on the molecular phylogeny of Anatololacerta (Squamata, Lacertidae) distributed in Southern Anatolia: insights from mtDNA and nDNA markers. - Mitochondrial DNA Part A, 27 (3): 2285-9222.  × The genus Anatololacerta (Lacertidae) occurs mainly in Anatolia (western and southern Turkey) and on the Aegean islands Samos, Ikaria, and Rhodos. Although its taxonomy has long been debated and is currently nascent, three morphological species have been attributed to this genus: Anatololacerta anatolica, Anatololacerta oertzeni, and Anatololacerta danfordi. Here, we investigated the evolutionary history of A. oertzeni and Anatololacerta danfordi based on both mitochondrial and nuclear markers (16S rRNA and cmos). In total, 34 Anatololacerta specimens were analyzed using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. Our results supported the presence of four well-supported lineages: two belongs to A. oertzeni and two to A. danfordi. The temporal diversification of these lineages probably started with the divergence of the first A. oertzeni lineage from western Antalya at 7.9 Mya. The other two major splits may have occurred in early Pliocene (4.4 Mya: the divergence of the second A. oertzeni from A. danfordi) and in late Pliocene (2.7 Mya: the divergence of the two lineages of A. danfordi). The phylogeographical scenario suggests that the major diversification events (from late Miocene to late Pliocene) could be related with climatic oscillations (such as the late Miocene aridification and the Messinian Salinity Crisis) and tectonic movements (such as the uplift of the central Taurus mountain).
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