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The ability to shed (autotomize) all or part of the tail, usually in response to predator attack, and often to subsequently regenerate it is widespread in lizards and amphisbaenians and also occurs in a few snakes and in the tuatara. Most species possess a sophisticated intravertebral autotomy mechanism which seems to be primitive in the Squamata. This appears to have been independently lost in members of many groups, but some agamids and snakes have regained the ability to shed their tails by a simpler intervertebral means and a -number of agamids have also redeveloped tail regeneration as well. Breakable tails are used to evade capture in two main ways: by enabling reptiles to break away from predators that have grasped them by the tail and by providing a distraction which deflects the attention of the attacker away from the vulnerable head and body. It is argued that loss of caudal autotomy has occurred when the costs of tail shedding outweigh its benefits. Likely costs include the expense of regrowing the tail and the loss of a variety of possible tail functions that may cause partial incapacitation, at least until the tail regenerates. Benefits of autotomy are liable to be low if predation is rare, if the animal is able to protect itself effectively in other ways, if it is too slow to evade further pursuit after the tail is shed, or if the tail is small or unpalatable and consequently not likely to distract a predator. Benefit variation may well be greater than cost variation and therefore more important in initiating the loss of autotomy mechanisms. Many taxa that do not shed the tail appear to conform to the above interpretation, but in some cases, such as the Platynota, Agamidae and Chamaeleonidae, lack of intravertebral autotomy may reflect the history of these groups rather than being a direct result of present ecological pressures. The distribution of intervertebral autotomy in the Agamidae suggests that it may have evolved only in rather special circumstances where tail fragility is advantageous even in the absence of the ability to regenerate. Restriction ot autotomy planes to the tail-base, so that the whole organ is lost, a condition found in a number of relatively slow-moving geckoes, is interpreted as a means of ensuring that enough of the tail is shed to distract a predator from further pursuit. The stimulus necessary to induce autotomy can vary rapidly in individual lizards and at least some of these changes probably maximize the effectiveness of the tail-shedding mechanism. Differences in the readiness with which all or part of the tail is shed exist between species and are likely to reflect the balance of costs and benefits in particular cases. Variations in incidence of broken tails between species and populations may be due to such differences in fragility but many other factors may play a part, including the age structure of samples, incidence of unsuccessful attacks by predators and ability to evade predators after autotomy. There is a clear tendency for climbing lizards, especially those living on rock surfaces, to have higher incidences of broken tails than ground-dwelling species, perhaps because the tail is usually less important in locomotion in the first group. Many lizards possess conspicuously coloured tails and tail movements that seem likely to help distract attention from the head and body. Conspicuous tail colouring is more frequent and often better developed in young animals, which tend to be more vulnerable than adults, and in active species from open habitats where crypsis may not always be very effective. Conspicuous tails usually have contrasting light and dark areas in nocturnal forms but are often a single bright colour in diurnal ones, probably reflecting the visual capacities of their respective predators. The predominance of blue tails in day-active species may be because this colour is striking close to but not very arresting at a distance, so it may not attract predators from far away while still drawing their attention at close quarters.

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Twenty-four species of lacertid lizards were examined at 31 sites in western Yogoslavia, Greece and Iberia. Comparative observations were made on over 4500 individual lizards, noting such features as times of activitiy, hunting methods, diet, micro- and macrohabitat, refuges used and body temperature. These data are used as a basis for assessing resource partition in related sympatric species, for find out whether different systematic groups have characteristic types of niche, and for comparing cumminity structures in the peninsulas of southern Europa. Acanthodactylus erythrurus, Algyroides marchi, Algyroides moreoticus, Algyroides nigropunctatus, Lacerta agilis, Lacerta graeca, Lacerta horvathi, Lacerta lepida, Lacerta monticola, Lacerta oxycephala, Lacerta mosorensis, Lacerta schreiberi, Lacerta trilineata, Lacerta viridis, Lacerta vivipara, Podarcis bocagei, Podarcis erhardii, Podarcis hispanica, Podarcis melisellensis, Podarcis milensis, Podarcis muralis, Podarcis peloponnesiaca, Podarcis sicula, Podarcis taurica, Psammodromus algirus, Psammodromus hispanicus.

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Differences in surface structure (ober- hautchen) of body scales of lacertid lizards involve cell size, shape and surface profile, presence or absence of fine pitting, form of cell margins, and the occurrence of longitudinal ridges and pustular projections. Phylogenetic information indicates that the primitive pattern involved narrow strap-shaped cells, with low posteriorly overlapping edges and relatively smooth surfaces. Deviations from this condition produce a more sculptured surface and have developed many times, although subsequent overt reversals are uncommon. Like variations in scale shape, different patterns of dorsal body microornamentation appear to confer different and conflicting performance advantages. The primitive pattern may reduce friction during locomotion and also enhances dirt shedding, especially in ground-dwelling forms from moist habitats. However, this smooth microornamentation generates shine that may compromise cryptic coloration, especially when scales are large. Many derived features show correlation with such large scales and appear to suppress shine. They occur most frequently in forms from dry habitats or forms that climb in vegetation away from the ground, situations where dirt adhesion is less of a problem. Microornamentation differences involving other parts of the body and other squamate groups tend to corroborate this functional interpretation. Microornamentation features can develop on lineages in different orders and appear to act additively in reducing shine. In some cases different combinations may be optimal solutions in particular environments, but lineage effects, such as limited reversibility and different developmental proclivities, may also be important in their genesis. The fine pits often found on cell surfaces are unconnected with shine reduction, as they are smaller than the wavelengths of most visible light.

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DNA sequence indicates the Lacertidae contain two subfamilies, Gallotiinae and Lacertinae, the latter comprising two monophyletic tribes, the Eremiadini of Africa and arid southwest and central Asia, and the Lacertini of Europe, northwest Africa and southwest and east Asia. Relationships within the 108 species of Lacertini are explored using mtDNA (291 bp cytochrome b; 329 bp 12S rRNA for 59 nominal species, and reanalysis of the data of Harris et al. 1998, and Fu 2000). The morphology of the tribe is reviewed and 64 of its characters (equivalent to 83 binary ones) also used to assess relationships. The Lacertini are assigned to 19 monophyletic units of 1 to 27 species, recognised here as the following genera (contents are indicated in brackets): Algyroides, Anatololacerta gen. nov. (L. danfordi group), Apathya (L. cappadocica group), Archaeolacerta (L. bedriagae), Dalmatolacerta gen. nov. (L. oxycephala), Darevskia (L. saxicola group), Dinarolacerta gen. nov. (L. mosorensis), Hellenolacerta gen. nov. (L. graeca), Iberolacerta (L. monticola group), Iranolacerta gen. nov. (L. brandtii and L. zagrosica), Lacerta s. str. (sand and green lizards, L. agilis group), Parvilacerta gen. nov. (L. parva and L. fraasii), Phoenicolacerta gen. nov. (L. laevis group), Podarcis (wall lizards), Scelarcis (L. perspicillata), Takydromus (Asian grass lizards), Teira (L. dugesii), Timon (ocellated lizards, L. lepida group) and Zootoca (L. vivipara). Both mtDNA and morphology indicate that Lacerta and Timon are sister taxa, and DNA suggests further possible relationships among genera (Fig. 1, p. 6). Neither DNA nor morphology indicates that the archaeolacertas (sometimes formalised as Archaeolacerta sens. lat.) form a clade. Instead, they are representatives of an ecomorph associated with living on rock exposures and using the narrow crevices that these contain. The Lacertidae probably arose in the European area, with the Gallotiinae later reaching Northwest Africa and the Canary Islands, and the ancestor of the Eremiadini invading Africa in the mid-Miocene. The Lacertini spread through much of their present European range and diversified, perhaps largely by repeated vicariance, around 12–16 My ago, producing the ancestors of the present mainly small-bodied genera, which then underwent often modest speciation. Three units spread more widely: the Lacerta-Timon clade of large-bodied lizards probably dispersed earliest, followed by Algyroides and then Podarcis. Overall, European Lacertidae show a pattern of repeated spread, often accompanied by restriction of previous groups. Expansion of Lacertini may have displaced earlier lacertid lineages from all or much of Europe; while spread of Podarcis may have restricted many other genera of Lacertini. The earlier expansion of the Lacerta-Timon clade probably did not have this effect, as difference in adult body size restricted competitive interaction with other forms. Several invasions of more distant areas also occurred: of East Asia by Takydromus over 10 My ago, and more recently of northwest Africa by Podarcis, Scelarcis and Timon, and Madeira by Teira. Relationships within the Eremiadini estimated from both mtDNA, and nDNA differ considerably from those based on morphology. They indicate relatively mesic forms may have diversified widely across Africa and given rise to at least three independent invasions of arid habitats. MtDNA also indicates that Lacerta andreanskyi belongs in the Eremiadini and may occupy a basal position there. It is assigned to a further new genus, Atlantolacerta gen. nov.

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In this paper we deal on the ultraviolet color (invisible to us): where we can find it, the capability of animals to see it and the advantages that this color perception offers to them. As the simplest way to detect it is the photography, we describe and review how to photograph the UV, as a result of 15 years of amateur experience, searching and testing nearly in complete blindness due to the lack of practical information about “how to do it”. We describe the different kinds of photography (chemical and digital); the cameras and objectives suitable (both astronomically expensive ones and cheap options); what are the best characteristics that the objectives should have for this purpose; the films suitable for their use in chemical photography; the different filters (current or discontinued) manufactured along the years; and the subtle combinations among the different materials to obtain pure UV photographs. This kind of scientific photography is mainly used in forensics, forgery detection, art dermatology and less in Natural History, despite the fact that a great part of animals see this color and use it in important questions of their biology as the social behavior, mate choice or the food search.

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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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Animals communicate via a variety of sensory channels and signals. Studies on acoustic and visual communication systems suggest that differences in the physical environment contribute to the variety of signalling behaviour, with species investing in those signals that are transmitted best under the local conditions. Whether or not environmental tuning also occurs in chemical communication systems has received much less attention. In the present study, we examined the effect of several aspects of the physical environment on the chemical communication system of lacertid lizards (family Lacertidae). The numbers of femoral pores are used as a proxy reflecting how much a particular species invests in and relies upon chemical signalling. Femoral pores are specialized epidermal structures that function as a secretion channel for the waxy substance produced by glands. In some lacertid species, the secretion carries infochemicals that play an important role in social communication. The number of femoral pores varies considerably among species. We have compiled data on femoral pore numbers for 162 species and tested for the effects of climate and substrate use. After correcting for body size and taking the phylogenetic relationships among the species into account, we found no effect of climate conditions or latitude on species pore numbers. Substrate use did affect pore numbers: shrub-climbing species tended to have fewer femoral pores than species inhabiting other substrates.

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Courtship of Lacerta mosorensis, after the usual preliminaries with a short `chase` and tail-biting, consists of a flank-hold of the female and a copu- lation of abQut 15 minutes. Three minutes after intromission 35 (on average) lumbal pushing motions by the male were recorded: one about every two seconds, in a somewhat decreasing frequency. At 25 oc the eggs need just 31 days to hatch. At the moment of oviposition the embryos have at least reached stage 30 in their develop- ment, i.e. one week ahead of many other Euro- pean lizard species. Egg sizes and measurements on one juvenile are reported. But for the dark turquoise tail, which colour disappeared within a month, the young resembled its parents.

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The interspecific relationships among female size, clutch size, egg size, and hatchling size were examined for 64 European lacertids. The eggs of all species increased linearly in both linear dimensions and mass during incubation. Across species initial egg mass was positively correlated with juvenile mass, with an allometric relationship exponent of 0.87. Initial egg mass across species increased proportionally with female mass to the power of 0.57. Moreover, an increase in maternal mass was also accompanied by an increase in clutch size. The number of eggs per clutch across species scaled with female mass to the power of 0.39. Removing the effect of female mass resulted in a negative correlation between egg mass and clutch size. Species for which the average egg size was lower than expected on the basis of female mass, tended to have larger relative clutch size. The total egg mass per clutch was about one third of female mass (exponent 0.94).

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The Herpetological Collection of the Trieste Natural History Museum has almost 700 specimens of European Sauria belonging to about 33 taxa, including all the lacertids of northern Adriatic re- gions. The origin of the collection dates back to the foundation of the Museum of Trieste in 1846, but it was increased mainly between 1871 and 1939. The Herpetological Collection of the Trieste Natural History Museum has a great scientific and historical importance; it documents the varia- tion of the composition and distribution of northern Adriatic Sauria fauna during this century, in- cluding endemic varieties typical of little islands.

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Marking individuals is often needed in field and behaviour studies that required repeated identification of individual animals. With the development of technology, older methods like scale or toe clipping, branding, painting, tagging, banding are slowly being replaced by technology facilitated identifications. In last decade non-intrusive and inexpensive digital identification of individual animals become popular and with these method large sets of individuals can be re-identified. I3S Software is originally developed for identification of sharks but has successfully been already used for identification of Lacertidae lizard species. Mosor rock lizard is an endemic species of western Balkans. It’s area of occurrence is approximated to be less than 2000 km2. It is also a Natura 2000 species. In 2017, an extensive study of ist population parameters and biology has started on Mt. Biokovo, Croatia. To facilitate the correct identification of each individual, we used the program Interactive Individual Identification System. Photographs of first four rows of ventral scales of the lizard body were used for identification and comparison. Preliminary results based on 30 individuals were satisfactory, and all the individuals could be distinguished successfully by the program. With larger datasets, it is possible that the identification could be more time consuming, but in that case, additional parameters like sex or colorations may be used for correct identification.

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We discuss three aspects of the thermal biology of lacertid lizards. First, we provide an overview of the available data on field body temperatures (Tb), the thermal sensitivity of various performance functions and selected body temperatures in different species of lacertid lizards. We also briefly summarise information on the mechanisms of thermoregulation. Second, we discuss recent developments to estimate the »precision« of thermoregulation, and the contribution of distinct behavioural mechanisms. Finally, we revise available evidence for the existence of evolutionary adjustments of thermal characteristics in lacertid lizards. Existing studies have mainly dealt with within- and among-species differences in thermoregulatory behaviour (selected temperatures) and thermal physiology of adults (optimal temperatures, heating rates). Available data provide only limited evidence for clear-cut evolutionary shifts in thermal physiology characteristics along climatic gradients.

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The basin of Lake Skadar with its drainage area represents one of the Balkan Peninsula’s hotspots regarding amphibian and reptile fauna. The value of the batracho- and herpetofauna of the Lake Skadar region is reflected in a rich and diverse composition of species. This is undoubtedly the result of the basin’s specific geographic position and complex geological history. Recent studies revealed that Lake Skadar’s watershed is inhabited by 15 amphibian and 36 reptile species. Among these, one amphibian (Pelophylax shqipericus – EN) and two reptile species (Dinarolacerta mosorensis and Vipera ursinii, both VU) are considered to be globally threatened according to IUCN criteria. An additional three reptile species (Emys orbicularis, Testudo hermanni, and Elaphe quatuorlineata) could become threatened in the future. As an attractive tourist area, a significant part of the Lake Skadar region could be impacted by fast and intense anthropogenic changes. Therefore, preserving the network of suitable habitats, maintaining continuous monitoring, and investing in additional research are essential for maintaining this rich local amphibian and reptile diversity.

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This paper presents an updated checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Montenegro. The checklist contains 52 species (including two species complexes), compiled from published literature and personal field surveys. Species complexes are the Anguis fragilis complex and the Lacerta viridis complex. Trachemys scripta is introduced, while Podarcis siculus is potentially introduced species. Migratory species include three sea turtles (Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas and Dermochelys coriacea). Additionally, there are four potentially present species (Proteus anguinus, Mediodactylus kotschyi, Tarentola mauritanica and Podarcis tauricus), which presence is doubtful or still not confirmed with certainty in Montenegro. National and international protection as well as conservation status of Amphibians and Reptiles is given.

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The evolutionary diversification of many terrestrial vertebrate groups is strongly linked to climatic events in the Cenozoic, the period from 65 Million years ago to today when modern animals first appeared. I investigated the effects of Cenozoic climate change on the taxonomic and morphological diversification of the Old World lizard family Lacertidae, with particular emphasis on the African radiation. African lacertids exhibit an unusual pattern of diversification, in which their highest species richness occurs in deserts north and south of the equator, despite being spread throughout the continent. This disparity is particularly surprising given that desert lacertids are thought to be evolutionarily younger than their mesic-dwelling relatives, suggesting increased diversification rates in arid habitats. To identify the evolutionary factors underlying this pattern, I use a combination of phylogenetic, morphological and ecological techniques. In Chapter 1, I apply Bayesian methods and fossil-based calibrations to molecular sequence data to construct a time-calibrated phylogeny for Lacertidae. I estimate that the family arose in the early Cenozoic, with the majority of their African radiation occurring in the Eocene and Oligocene. In Chapter 2, I describe changes in lacertid body shape across biomes and substrates, and find widespread morphological convergence in similar habitat types. I suggest that in addition to foraging demands, fluctuating and extreme climatic conditions, largely driven by precipitation and temperature, contribute to morphological convergence across independent arid-dwelling clades. Finally, I test if ancestral transitions in ecology, morphology, and rates of diversification temporally coincide with paleoclimatic events in the Cenozoic. I use High Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography to characterize changes in the skull related to life in arid habitats, and apply maximum likelihood methods to test if the origins of those traits temporally coincide with significant shifts in habitat, diversification rates and climatic changes. My results show that African lacertids experienced three major peaks in diversification, accompanied by the evolution of suites of arid-adapted morphological traits. These changes coincide with climatic shifts in Africa, including the transition from closed forests to open grasslands and savanna in the late Oligocene, prior to the peak temperatures of the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum, and following the formation of the Benguela current leading to hyper-aridity in southern Africa. I conclude that deserts are important centers for reptile evolution, but that expected changes in climate due to global warming may outpace the ability of arid-dwelling species to adapt and persist in the future.

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Background: Although current molecular clock methods offer greater flexibility in modelling evolutionary events, calibration of the clock with dates from the fossil record is still problematic for many groups. Here we implement several new approaches in molecular dating to estimate the evolutionary ages of Lacertidae, an Old World family of lizards with a poor fossil record and uncertain phylogeny. Four different models of rate variation are tested in a new program for Bayesian phylogenetic analysis called TreeTime, based on a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences. We incorporate paleontological uncertainty into divergence estimates by expressing multiple calibration dates as a range of probabilistic distributions. We also test the reliability of our proposed calibrations by exploring effects of individual priors on posterior estimates. Results: According to the most reliable model, as indicated by Bayes factor comparison, modern lacertids arose shortly after the K/T transition and entered Africa about 45 million years ago, with the majority of their African radiation occurring in the Eocene and Oligocene. Our findings indicate much earlier origins for these clades than previously reported, and we discuss our results in light of paleogeographic trends during the Cenozoic. Conclusion: This study represents the first attempt to estimate evolutionary ages of a specific group of reptiles exhibiting uncertain phylogenetic relationships, molecular rate variation and a poor fossil record. Our results emphasize the sensitivity of molecular divergence dates to fossil calibrations, and support the use of combined molecular data sets and multiple, well-spaced dates from the fossil record as minimum node constraints. The bioinformatics program used here, TreeTime, is publicly available, and we recommend its use for molecular dating of taxa faced with similar challenges.

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While global variation in taxonomic diversity is strongly linked to latitude, the extent to which morphological disparity follows geographical gradients is less well known. We estimated patterns of lineage diversification, morphological disparity and rates of phenotypic evolution in the Old World lizard family Lacertidae, which displays a nearly inverse latitudinal diversity gradient with decreasing species richness towards the tropics. We found that lacertids exhibit relatively constant rates of lineage accumulation over time, although the majority of morphological variation appears to have originated during recent divergence events, resulting in increased partitioning of disparity within subclades. Among subclades, tropical arboreal taxa exhibited the fastest rates of shape change while temperate European taxa were the slowest, resulting in an inverse relationship between latitudinal diversity and rates of phenotypic evolution. This pattern demonstrates a compelling counterexample to the ecological opportunity theory of diversification, suggesting an uncoupling of the processes generating species diversity and morphological differentiation across spatial scales.

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We present the distribution of amphibians and reptiles in the Bjelopavlici region (central Montenegro) based on our field work records and of literature data. Twelve species of amphibians and 25 species of reptiles were recorded at 49 localities of which 57 % records has not been previously published. The greatest diversity of batracho- and herpetofauna was recorded at sites in the river Zeta plain. Our study provides the important information for assessments of diversity of batracho- and herpetofauna of Montenegro and their conservation.

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An updated checklist is presented for the amphibian and reptile fauna of Croatia. According to historical and recent literature sources, 20 amphibian and 41 reptile species have been recorded so far. Two reptile species, Blanus strauchi and Typhlops vermicularis, are considered doubtful, although there are individual museum vouchers for the country. Presence of a total of 59 species can be considered valid, with two additional considered doubtful. This paper summarizes data from 700 scientific and popular publications, which is the first attempt to publish a complete Croatian herpetological bibliography. Full bibliography is also given for all occurring species and constitutes a basis for future publications.

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the Lacertidae is one of the most diverse and widespread lizard families throughout Eurasia and Africa. Several studies so far have attempted to unravel the phylogeny of Lacertidae using morphological and mole- cular data. However, the intra-family relationships remain unclear. in an effort to explore the phylogenetic relationships within the family Lacertidae, a concatenated dataset of 5727 bp from six genes (two nuclear and four mitochondrial) and 40 genera was assembled based on GenBank database. Phylogenetic inference analy- ses were conducted using Maximum Parsimony (MP), Bayesian inference (Bi) and Maximum Likelihood (ML), revealing that even a combined dataset of both mitochondrial and nuclear genes is not able to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of the Lacertidae family under the tribe level.

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The Mosor rock lizard (Dinarolacerta mosorensis) is a distinctly flattened endemic species that occupies discontinuously distributed rocky areas at high elevations in the Dinaric Mountains of the Balkans. The body size, age structure, longevity, survival rates and growth patterns of this species were studied using skeletochronology and back-calculation methods. The modal age was found to be 5 years for males and 6 years for females, while the maximal longevity was found to be 9 years in both sexes. The age and body length were positively correlated in both sexes. Both sexes reached maturity at 3 years, with a snout-vent length of 53.3 and 56.5 mm for males and females, respectively. The growth coefficient had significantly higher values in females (0.54) than in males (0.40). The asymptotic size of females was lower (66.01 mm) than that of males (70.82 mm). The growth rate of females decreased soon after maturation whereas males continued to grow for a longer time. Juveniles had lower survival rates than adults (0.5 vs 0.7). The effective age at maturity (13.5 months) was significantly greater than that for the small lacertid lizards living at the low altitudes of a Mediterranean climate, greater than but within the range of values predicted for those living at low altitudes of a temperate climate, and lower than but within the range of values predicted for montane small lacertids.

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The dangers of helminth infestations for lizards, particularly infestations with nematodes und cestodes, are reported. Infection routes, diagnoses, und treatments are described.

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Sexual differences in size and shape of the Mosor rock lizard, Dinarolacerta mosorensis (Kolombatović, 1886), from Lovćen Mountain (Montenegro) were examined on the basis of the intersex variation pattern of nine morphomet- ric, eight pholidotic, and four qualitative traits. Sexual dimorphism was apparent for all morphometric characters except snout-vent length, while scalation and dorsal pattern exhibited small differences between sexes. The value of the sexual size difference (SSD) index based on snout-vent length was 1.028. The sex-specific allometric slopes for head dimensions and interlimb distance significantly diverged. Head dimensions, especially head height, showed strong positive allometry in males, while interlimb distance was the only character which showed positive allometry in females. Generally, males had significantly greater body size than females. This was true of all body measurements except interlimb distance. The influence of sexual and natural selection on the examined traits is discussed.

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A new species of lacertid lizard of the genus Dinarolacerta is described from the Prokletije Mountain Massif, Montenegro. This new species, Dinarolacerta montenegrina sp. nov., is characterized by its relatively small size, by usually having only one postnasal scale on one or on both sides of the head, a relatively lower number of temporal and postocular scales and a relatively high number of ventral scales. Osteologically, it is mainly characterized by the complete absence of the anteromedial process in the postocular bone, and more reduced supraocular osteoderms. The phylogenetic analysis using partial sequences of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene supports the specific status of D. montenegrina sp. nov. and shows that it represents an old independent lineage that separated from its sister species, D. mosorensis, in the late Miocene. The Morača river canyon may have acted as a geomorphological and climatic barrier causing the speciation between the two species of Dinarolacerta. The discovery of this new species endemic to the Balkan Peninsula highlights the importance of the Dinarides as one of the main European hotspots of biodiversity. This high level of endemicity in the Dinaric region is probably the result of both its geographic situation and its complex geological history and morphology.

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Dinarolacerta mosorensis and D. montenegrina are allopatric and closely related rock lizards endemic to the Dinaric Mountains of the Balkan Peninsula. We analysed their habitat characteristics and relative abundances in the mountains of Montenegro. We found significant differences in structural features of the microhabitat used both between populations of D. mosorensis and the two species. Dinarolacerta mosorensis was associated with relatively more shaded and damper spots on rocks closer to vegetation and leaf litter, while D. montenegrina was found in more open, rocky situations. There were significant differences in relative abundance between the sampling sites. Generally, the studied lizards were more abundant at sites with greater percentage of leaf litter and lower percentages of bare ground and small rocks, despite the lower frequency of available refuges in these places. Our results provide basic information that could assist in the adoption of adequate management practices for protection or restoration of habitat attributes relevant to these vulnerable (D. mosorensis) and endemic species.

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nalysis of the female life history of the poorly studied endemic Balkan lizard species Dinarolacerta mosorensis was conducted on three population samples from Montenegro. One clutch is produced annually. Females mature at body sizes of 56-57 mm snout-vent length (SVL), attained at age 3-4 years. SVL increases with age. The average clutch size ranged from 4.3 to 5.2 eggs, and was significantly positively correlated with maternal SVL in two population samples. There were no trade-offs between egg size/offspring size and clutch size, nor between variation in egg size/offspring size and maternal SVL. The incubation period averaged 26.5 days, while hatching success in captivity was 72%. Significant positive correlations were found between the hatchling mass and egg mass and size, and also between the hatchling total length and egg width and volume. There was a significant negative relationship between the hatchling mass and incubation duration.

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The southern part of Montenegro has been identified as an area with high diversity of herpetofauna. However, comprehensive studies of distribution and diversity patterns of reptiles on the country level are still missing. Such studies are essential in designating areas of special conservation importance and nature protection planning in a milieu of increased habitat loss and degradation due to rapid urbanization and tourism development in this small Mediterranean country. To make progress on this problem, we analyzed distribution and diversity patterns of the lizards in Montenegro using a large database consisting of literature data and our unpublished records. We found that fifteen lizard species inhabit Montenegro, and two additional species may be present. The lizards were most diverse in the Maritime biogeographic region of Montenegro, while low diversity was found predominantly along the state borders in the Mountain-valley region. The identified pattern of lizard diversity is at least partly influenced by sampling bias. The eastern mountainous subregion had a distinct species composition compared to all other parts of the country. The East-Mediterranean chorotype was the most dominant, represented by seven species. The great diversity of the lizard fauna of Montenegro can be attributed to its specific topographic position with great influence of Mediterranean climate, heterogeneity of biomes, complex geological history and diverse physiogeographic features. High lizard species richness in the Maritime region and a unique species composition in the eastern subregion of Montenegro indicate that these areas are of high conservation interest.

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Geometric morphometric techniques were used to examine allometric and non-allometric influences on sexual shape dimorphism (SShD) in the ventral cranium (skull base, palate and upper jaw) of four species of lacertid lizards (Podarcis muralis, Podarcis melisellensis, Dalmatolacerta oxycephala, Dinarolacerta mosorensis). These species differ in body shape, ecology and degree of phylogenetic relatedness. The structures of the ventral cranium that were studied are directly involved in the mechanics of feeding and are connected to the jaw musculature; these structures are potentially subject to both sexual and natural selection. Allometry accounted for a considerable degree of cranial shape variation between the sexes. Allometric shape changes between individuals with smaller cranium size and individuals with larger cranium size are mostly related to changes in the skull base showing pronounced negative allometry. The rostral part, however, either scaled isometrically or showed less pronounced negative allometry than the skull base. Non-allometric intersexual shape variation predominantly involved changes related to the jaw adductor muscle chamber, i.e., changes that are associated with biomechanically relevant traits of the jaw system in females and males. Both allometric and non-allometric shape changes appeared to be species-specific. Our results indicate that natural and sexual selection may be involved in the evolution of SShD.

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We kept Lacerta mosorensis in vivaria. Each female produced one clutch per year. Within two years we got 19 eggs in 5 clutches. The eggs are yolked mainly from substance of fat body before the end of hibernation. The females retained the eggs after fertilization for about 35 days. At the time of laying the embryos are far developed. The incubation period is short, the minimum is 17 days at a temperature of 27 °C. The reproduction mode of L. mosorensis is discussed as adap- tation to a short activity period from June to October in the mountains of Durmitor in 1700 m NN. The time saving by yolk support deposition to eggs in winter can be found in L. vivipara and L. agilis too. The prolongated carrying of eggs is similar to some spanish populations of L. vivipara.

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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.

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The family Lacertidae encompasses more than 250 species distributed in the Palearctis, Ethiopis and Orientalis. Lacertids have been subjected in the past to several morphological and molecular studies to establish their phylogeny. However, the problems of convergent adaptation in morphology and of excessively variable molecular markers have hampered the establishment of well supported deeper phylogenetic relationships. Particularly the adaptations to xeric environments have often been used to establish a scenario for the origin and radiation of major lineages within lacertids. Here we present a molecular phylogenetic study based on two nuclear marker genes and representatives of 37 lacertid genera and distinct species groups (as in the case of the collective genus Lacerta). Roughly 1600 bp of the nuclear rag1 and c-mos genes were sequenced and analyzed. While the results provide good support to the hitherto suggested main subfamilies of Gallotiinae (Gallotia and Psammodromus), Eremiainae and Lacertinae [Harris, D.J., Arnold, E.N., Thomas, R.H., 1998. Relationships of lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae) estimated from mitochondrial DNA sequences and morphology. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265, 1939–1948], they also suggest unexpected relationships. In particular, the oriental genus Takydromus, previously considered the sister-group to the three subfamilies, is nested within Lacertinae. Moreover, the genera within the Eremiainae are further divided into two groups, roughly corresponding to their respective geographical distributions in the Ethiopian and the Saharo-Eurasian ranges. The results support an independent origin of adaptations to xeric conditions in different subfamilies. The relationships within the subfamily Lacertinae could not be resolved with the markers used. The species groups of the collective genus Lacerta show a bush-like topology in the inferred Bayesian tree, suggesting rapid radiation. The composition of the subfamilies Eremiainae and Lacertinae as well as their phylogeography are discussed.

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Aim Body size is instrumental in influencing animal physiology, morphology, ecology and evolution, as well as extinction risk. I examine several hypotheses regarding the influence of body size on lizard evolution and extinction risk, assessing whether body size influences, or is influenced by, species richness, herbivory, island dwelling and extinction risk. Location World-wide. Methods I used literature data and measurements of museum and live specimens to estimate lizard body size distributions. Results I obtained body size data for 99% of the world`s lizard species. The body size–frequency distribution is highly modal and right skewed and similar distributions characterize most lizard families and lizard assemblages across biogeographical realms. There is a strong negative correlation between mean body size within families and species richness. Herbivorous lizards are larger than omnivorous and carnivorous ones, and aquatic lizards are larger than non-aquatic species. Diurnal activity is associated with small body size. Insular lizards tend towards both extremes of the size spectrum. Extinction risk increases with body size of species for which risk has been assessed. Main conclusions Small size seems to promote fast diversification of disparate body plans. The absence of mammalian predators allows insular lizards to attain larger body sizes by means of release from predation and allows them to evolve into the top predator niche. Island living also promotes a high frequency of herbivory, which is also associated with large size. Aquatic and nocturnal lizards probably evolve large size because of thermal constraints. The association between large size and high extinction risk, however, probably reflects a bias in the species in which risk has been studied.

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Aim Temperature influences most components of animal ecology and life history – but what kind of temperature? Physiologists usually examine the influence of body temperatures, while biogeographers and macroecologists tend to focus on environmental temperatures. We aim to examine the relationship between these two measures, to determine the factors that affect lizard body temperatures and to test the effect of both temperature measures on lizard life history. Location World-wide. Methods We used a large (861 species) global dataset of lizard body temperatures, and the mean annual temperatures across their geographic ranges to examine the relationships between body and mean annual temperatures.We then examined factors influencing body temperatures, and tested for the influence of both on ecological and life-history traits while accounting for the influence of shared ancestry. Results Body temperatures and mean annual temperatures are uncorrelated. However, accounting for activity time (nocturnal species have low body temperatures), use of space (fossorial and semi-aquatic species are ‘colder’), insularity (mainland species are ‘hotter’) and phylogeny, the two temperatures are positively correlated. High body temperatures are only associated with larger hatchlings and increased rates of biomass production. Annual temperatures are positively correlated with clutch frequency and annual longevity, and negatively correlated with clutch size, age at first reproduction and longevity. Main conclusions Lizards with low body temperatures do not seem to have ‘slower’ life-history attributes than species with high body temperatures. The longer seasons prevalent in warm regions, and physiological processes that operate while lizards are inactive (but warm enough), make environmental temperatures better predictors of lizard life-history variation than body temperatures. This surprisingly greater effect of environmental temperatures on lizard life histories hints that global warming may have a profound influence on lizard ecology and evolution.

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Aim We provide a new quantitative analysis of lizard reproductive ecology. Comparative studies of lizard reproduction to date have usually considered life-history components separately. Instead, we examine the rate of production (productivity hereafter) calculated as the total mass of offspring produced in a year. We test whether productivity is influenced by proxies of adult mortality rates such as insularity and fossorial habits, by measures of temperature such as environmental and body temperatures, mode of reproduction and activity times, and by environmental productivity and diet. We further examine whether low productivity is linked to high extinction risk. Location World-wide. Methods We assembled a database containing 551 lizard species, their phylogenetic relationships and multiple life history and ecological variables from the literature. We use phylogenetically informed statistical models to estimate the factors related to lizard productivity. Results Some, but not all, predictions of metabolic and life-history theories are supported. When analysed separately, clutch size, relative clutch mass and brood frequency are poorly correlated with body mass, but their product – productivity – is well correlated with mass. The allometry of productivity scales similarly to metabolic rate, suggesting that a constant fraction of assimilated energy is allocated to production irrespective of body size. Island species were less productive than continental species.Mass-specific productivity was positively correlated with environmental temperature, but not with body temperature. Viviparous lizards were less productive than egg-laying species. Diet and primary productivity were not associated with productivity in any model. Other effects, including lower productivity of fossorial, nocturnal and active foraging species were confounded with phylogeny. Productivity was not lower in species at risk of extinction. Main conclusions Our analyses show the value of focusing on the rate of annual biomass production (productivity), and generally supported associations between productivity and environmental temperature, factors that affect mortality and the number of broods a lizard can produce in a year, but not with measures of body temperature, environmental productivity or diet.

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Although Albania has a rich reptile fauna, efforts to reveal its diversity have so far been limited. To fill this gap, we collected available published and unpublished (museum collections, online sources) records of reptile occurrences and conducted several expeditions to search for reptiles in areas with few or no previous records. Our georeferenced database contains 3731 records of 40 species from between 1918 and 2015. Based on this comprehensive dataset, we prepared distribution maps for each reptile species of the country. Applying spatial statistics, we revealed that overall sampling effort was clustered, with hotspots associated with easily accessible areas and natural heritage sites. The maximum number of species per cell was 26 with an average of seven. Cells harbouring large reptile diversity were located along the Adriatic and Ionian coasts, on the western slopes of south Albanian mountains, i.e. in areas generally considered as Balkans biodiversity hotspots or potential historical refugia. We found that species presence and diversity is strongly influenced by landscape features. Diversity of land cover, altitudinal variation, temperature and precipitation variation explained the observed pattern in our models. Our study presents the largest database of reptile occurrences to date and is the first to analyse reptile diversity patterns in Albania. The database and the diversity patterns can provide a basis for future macroecological studies and conservation planning.

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The results are presented of a chromosomal study performed by means standard and banding staining methods in the Mosor rock lizard, `Lacerta` mosorensis, the last European mountain lizard to be karyotyped. It had a karyotype of 2n = 38 elements, 36 telocentric macrochromosomes + 2 microchromosomes, and NORs on peritelomeric regions of a medium-small chromosome pair. C-banding staining disclosed the presence of heteromorphic Z and W sex chromosomes. The W chromosome appeared to be completely heterochromatic and smaller than the Z one, which, instead, was mostly euchromatic. The results obtained show that `L.` mosorensis is karyologically unrelated to other European mountain lizards, whose karyotypes display a different chromosome number and/or localization of NORs.

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Lacertinae is one of the three lacertid lizard subfamilies with a geographical distribution confined to the Palaearctic. Several past attempts to reconstruct its phylogeny resulted in unresolved bush-like topologies. We address the question of whether the lack of resolution is due to insufficient data or whether this lack reflects a rapid succession of speciation events. We analyzed four partial and one complete gene sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, totalling roughly 3600 bp. We included 29 species representing all 19 genera suggested in recent revision of Lacertinae [Arnold, E.N., Arribas, O., Carranza, S., 2007. Systematics of the palaearctic and oriental lizard tribe Lacertini (Squamata: Lacertidae: Lacertinae), with descriptions of eight new genera. Zootaxa 1430, 1–86]. The resulting phylogeny, first, corroborates monophyly at the genus level for the suggested genera, as well as the finding that Atlantolacerta andreanskyi, until recently part of Lacertinae, belongs to the subfamily Eremiadinae. Second, we find that increasing the sequence length and combining multiple nuclear and mitochondrial sequences did not resolve the polytomy, suggesting that the inferred topology indicates a multiple cladogenesis within a short geological period, rather than a methodical artefact. Divergence time estimates, based on previous estimates of several node ages, range from 13.9 to 14.9 million years for the radiation event, however with very broad confidence interval. To associate the radiation with a narrower geological time we consider palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic data, assuming that the Lacertinae probably evolved in Central Europe andWAsia after the collision of Africa and Eurasia. We suggest that this radiation may date to the late Langhian (ca. 14–13.5 million years) when geological events caused abrupt changes in regional water–land distribution and climate, offering a window of distinct conditions.

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Many animals display complex colour patterns that comprise several adjacent, often contrasting colour patches. Combining patches of complementary colours increases the overall conspicuousness of the complex pattern, enhancing signal detection. Therefore, selection for conspicuousness may act not only on the design of single colour patches, but also on their combination. Contrasting long- and short-wavelength colour patches are located on the ventral and lateral surfaces of many lacertid lizards. As the combination of long- and short-wavelength-based colours generates local chromatic contrast, we hypothesized that selection may favour the co-occurrence of lateral and ventral contrasting patches, resulting in complex colour patterns that maximize the overall conspicuousness of the signal. To test this hypothesis we performed a comparative phylogenetic study using a categorical colour classification based on spectral data and descriptive information on lacertid coloration collected from the literature. Our results demonstrate that conspicuous ventral (long wavelength-based) and lateral (short wavelength-based) colour patches co-occur throughout the lacertid phylogeny more often than expected by chance, especially in the subfamily Lacertini. These results suggest that selection promotes the evolution of the complex pattern rather than the acquisition of a single conspicuous colour patch, possibly due to the increased conspicuousness caused by the combination of colours with contrasting spectral properties.

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The Balkan Peninsula is a hot spot for European herpetofaunal biodiversity and endemism. The rock climbing lizards Dalmatolacerta oxycephala and Dinarolacerta mosorensis and the ground-dwelling Dalmatian wall lizard Podarcis melisellensis are endemic to the Western Balkans, and their ranges largely overlap. Here, we present a comparative phylogeographical study of these three species in the area of their codistribution in order to determine the level of concordance in their evolutionary patterns. Phylogenetic analyses were performed based on two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b and 16S rRNA), and a molecular clock approach was used to date the most important events in their evolutionary histories. We also tested for correlations regarding genetic differentiation among populations and their geographical distances. For all three species, a significant correlation between genetic and geographical distances was found. Within D. oxycephala, two deeply separated clades (‘island’ and ‘mainland clade’), with further subdivision of the ‘mainland clade’ into two subclades (‘south-eastern’ and ‘north-western’), were found. High sequence divergences were observed between these groups. From our data, the time of separation of the two main clades of D. oxycephala can be estimated at about 5 mya and at about 0.8 mya for the two subclades of the mainland clade. Within D. mosorensis, coalescence time may be dated at about 1 mya, while D. mosorensis and D. montenegrina separated around 5 mya. The results imply the existence of complex palaeo-biogeographical and geological factors that probably influenced the observed phylogeographical patterns in these lacertid species, and point to the presence of numerous glacial/interglacial refugia. Furthermore, the observed cryptic genetic diversity within the presently monotypic species D. oxycephala prompts for a revision of its taxonomic and conservation status.

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At the western side of Dinarides-Hellenides mountain chain 12 species of lacertid lizards occur. All hitherto investigated species appeared to be phylogeographically highly structured. Their present phylogeographic patterns are the result of the complex topography and the geotectonic history of the region, multiple events of range retractions and subsequent expansions during Pleistocene climatic oscillations but also distinct ecological preferences of the species, interspecific competition, overwater dispersals and unintentional anthropogenic introductions. The phylogeography of Podarcis siculus, P. melisellensis, P. tauricus, Algyroides nigropunctatus, Dalmatolacerta oxycephala and Dinarolacerta mosorensis will be discussed in details.

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This paper presents the data on specimens of genera Algyroides, Dalmatolacerta and Dinarolacerta (Lacertidae) stored in the Herpetological Collection of the Natural History Museum of Montenegro. This part of Herpetological Collection includes 185 specimens belonging to 3 species: Algyroides nigropunctatus (40 specimens), Dalmatolacerta oxycephala (17 specimens) and Dinarolacerta mosorensis (128 specimens). All specimens were collected in Montenegro. The paper provides all relevant data on collected specimens.

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In Krnovo area we recorded 3 species of amphibians (Mesotriton alpestris, Bombina variegata, Bufo bufo) and 9 species of reptiles (Lacerta agilis, Lacerta viridis, Podarcis muralis, Dinarolacerta mosorensis, Natrix natrix, Natrix tessellata, Coronella austriaca, Zamenis longissimus, Vipera ammodytes) in 8 localities.

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External morphological traits of the Mosor rock lizard, Dinarolacerta mosorensis (Kolombatovic, 1886) from Lovcen mountain (Montenegro) were examined. The results of Descriptive statistics for 14 morphometric, 21 meristic and percentages of states for eight qualitative traits were presented. Results are discussed in comparison with the literature data for other populations.

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While the stability of sex chromosomes is widely accepted in viviparous mammals and birds, ectothermic vertebrates are still largely viewed as having frequent turnovers in sex determining systems. Frequent changes in sex determining systems in ectotherms could be problematic for field ecological studies as well as for breeding programs, as molecular sexing across a phylogenetically widespread spectrum of ectothermic vertebrates would not be possible. However, we recently documented that sex determining systems in three important reptile lineages (caenophidian snakes, iguanas, and lacertid lizards) are in fact highly conserved. 2.We applied a new molecular procedure to identify sex within each of these three lineages (encompassing altogether around 4,000 species, i.e. nearly 50% of the recent species of reptiles). This technique uses quantitative PCR (qPCR) to compare copy numbers of genes specific for their respective Z (in caenophidian snakes and lacertids) and X (in iguanas) chromosomes between male and female genomes. The DNA samples required can be collected relatively non-invasively. Unlike molecular sexing based on repetitive elements, this technique can be easily applied to previously unstudied species of these lineages, as the number of copies of protein coding genes linked to the differentiated sex chromosomes is evolutionary highly conserved in each. 3.We suggest that qPCR-based molecular sexing using the comparison of gene copy number is a practical choice for non-model species of caenophidian snakes, iguanas and lacertids. Morever, it should also soon be available for other reptile lineages with differentiated sex chromosomes.

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During nine stays on Mount Biokovo (1762 m) / Central Dalmatia (Croatia), and the adjacent parts of the Cetina valley in the years 1979–1990, 16 reptile species were observed. Together with previous data from literature the list now comprises 21 species. New or more detailed data are given, particularly on the following lizard species: Lacerta trilineata, L. viridis, L. mosorensis, L. oxycephala, Podarcis muralis and P. sicula.

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The order Squamata is a species-rich group of reptiles including the groups Sauria, Serpentes and Amphisbaenia. Several members of these groups have been extensively used as model organisms for a great variety of studies of different fields including ecology, behaviour and medicine. Such studies require a well-established phylogenetic framework to trace the evolution and diversity of the studied traits in the squamate tree of life. However, the accuracy of phylogenetic inference in Squamata is unbalanced: while the position of the main squamate groups and high level relationships have been successfully and consistently estimated across phylogenetic studies, the phylogenetic relationships of some groups have provided inconsistent results over the years. The accurate estimation of relationships between these groups might have been hindered by methodological artefacts of the phylogenetic inference due to limited data and analytical tools. For the last couple of decades, and even presently, phylogenetic inference has relied heavily on mitochondrial DNA as the main molecular marker as a result of its advantages, such as the lack of recombination, easy amplification and high evolutionary rate. While its use is based on sound reasons, some drawbacks and limitations have been highlighted, such as the overall small size, and the fact that all genes are linked thus it represents a single locus. To overcome this, the addition of nuclear DNA complements the use of mitochondrial DNA in phylogenetic inference. Within the nuclear DNA, some markers may present so little variation that it is insufficient to recover phylogenetic relationships, yet slow-evolving nuclear genes have been the most widely used markers in phylogenetic studies. On the other hand, it has been shown that the use of highly informative fast evolving nuclear genes, in combination with mitochondrial DNA, can provide resolution at different parts and depths of the evolutionary history of the species. Phylogenetic analyses of multiple loci have historically been based on the concatenation approach, .i.e. the combination of the sequences into a single alignment that is then analysed to represent the species tree. This method, however, relies on the assumption that the most commonly occurring gene tree is equivalent to the true species tree of any taxa, which may not be true in all cases. Another limitation of the concatenation approach is the elevated percentage of missing data that it sometimes entails, especially in large taxon sets, meaning that the sequence representation is The order Squamata is a species-rich group of reptiles including the groups Sauria, Serpentes and Amphisbaenia. Several members of these groups have been extensively used as model organisms for a great variety of studies of different fields including ecology, behaviour and medicine. Such studies require a well-established phylogenetic framework to trace the evolution and diversity of the studied traits in the squamate tree of life. However, the accuracy of phylogenetic inference in Squamata is unbalanced: while the position of the main squamate groups and high level relationships have been successfully and consistently estimated across phylogenetic studies, the phylogenetic relationships of some groups have provided inconsistent results over the years. The accurate estimation of relationships between these groups might have been hindered by methodological artefacts of the phylogenetic inference due to limited data and analytical tools. For the last couple of decades, and even presently, phylogenetic inference has relied heavily on mitochondrial DNA as the main molecular marker as a result of its advantages, such as the lack of recombination, easy amplification and high evolutionary rate. While its use is based on sound reasons, some drawbacks and limitations have been highlighted, such as the overall small size, and the fact that all genes are linked thus it represents a single locus. To overcome this, the addition of nuclear DNA complements the use of mitochondrial DNA in phylogenetic inference. Within the nuclear DNA, some markers may present so little variation that it is insufficient to recover phylogenetic relationships, yet slow-evolving nuclear genes have been the most widely used markers in phylogenetic studies. On the other hand, it has been shown that the use of highly informative fast evolving nuclear genes, in combination with mitochondrial DNA, can provide resolution at different parts and depths of the evolutionary history of the species. Phylogenetic analyses of multiple loci have historically been based on the concatenation approach, .i.e. the combination of the sequences into a single alignment that is then analysed to represent the species tree. This method, however, relies on the assumption that the most commonly occurring gene tree is equivalent to the true species tree of any taxa, which may not be true in all cases. Another limitation of the concatenation approach is the elevated percentage of missing data that it sometimes entails, especially in large taxon sets, meaning that the sequence representation is Miocene and supported a scenario of east-to-west diversification. The little morphological and phylogenetic evidence for the distinctiveness between Rhinechis and Zamenis supports a classification lumping which better reflects their evolutionary history and, based on the priority rule, R. scalaris is moved into the genus Zamenis and designated as Zamenis scalaris comb. nov. Within the Gallotiinae subfamily, the combined use of fast nuclear markers and the species tree was fruitful for the inference of a robust phylogeny of the genus Psammodromus, distributed in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. In this study we analysed for the first time the six Psammodromus species to infer the association between the main cladogenetic events within this genus and the complex biogeographic dynamics across the Strait of Gibraltar. The inferred phylogeographical history suggests that Psammodromus probably originated in Iberia. The African species and the African lineage of P. algirus were a result of two over-sea dispersal events towards Africa that occurred 10 Ma and 1.5 Ma, while continental vicariance events might have shaped the diversification of the species within Iberia and Africa. These results, combined with previous literature, provide compelling evidence that major biotic exchanges occurred across the Strait of Gibraltar well before or long after the land connection during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.9 – 5.33 Ma). These findings suggest caution in the application of the relatively short event of the opening of the Strait of Gibraltar at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis as a cause for divergence in molecular clock calibrations, which is a common approach in literature. At the species level, the use of fast evolving nuclear markers proved to be fruitful to understand the geographical pattern of phyletic diversification within the Omanosaura lizards belonging to the Eremiadini tribe, endemic to the Hajar Mountains in the Arabian Peninsula. Multilocus phylogenetic analyses recovered two highly divergent lineages within O. cyanura which are geographically associated to the northernmost and to the south and eastern regions of the Hajar Mountains. These lineages are reciprocally monophyletic at both mitochondrial and nuclear loci suggesting a long history of independent evolution and the need of a comprehensive taxonomic assessment. Omanosaura cyanura represents an additional case of cryptic diversity in the north Hajar Mountains, an area that has been demonstrated to hide high levels of genetic diversity in other reptile groups. Overall, the work developed in this dissertation has demonstrated that the inclusion of fast evolving nuclear genes and the coalescent species tree approach was relevant for resolving challenging phylogenetic questions on selected squamate groups. This approach allowed the recovery of new clades and provided support for old and recent relationships. These methods have further allowed the comparison between contrasting phylogenetic hypotheses on the Lacertini and Colubrinae, demonstrating that the inference based on the supermatrix approach used by many recent studies may provide high support for incorrect nodes. Future research directions include (i) the application of the phylogenomic approach based on Next Generation Sequence data to further resolve basal polytomy within the Lacertini and Colubrinae radiations; (ii) a taxonomical assessment of Omanosaura; (iii) a re-evaluation of molecular clock calibrations based on the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis as general cause for divergence, in order to account for biotic exchanges by over-sea dispersal across the Mediterranean well before or long after the land connection during this period, as suggested by emerging literature and the study case on Psammodromus.

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Research on the taxonomy of European amphibians and reptiles has increased noticeably over the last few decades, indicating the need for recognition of new species and the cancellation of others. This paper provides a critical review of recent changes and draws up a tentative species list.

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The last species list of the European herpetofauna was published by Speybroeck, Beukema and Crochet (2010). In the meantime, ongoing research led to numerous taxonomic changes, including the discovery of new species-level lineages as well as reclassifications at genus level, requiring significant changes to this list. As of 2019, a new Taxonomic Committee was established as an official entity within the European Herpetological Society, Societas Europaea Herpetologica (SEH). Twelve members from nine European countries reviewed, discussed and voted on recent taxonomic research on a case-by-case basis. Accepted changes led to critical compilation of a new species list, which is hereby presented and discussed. According to our list, 301 species (95 amphibians, 15 chelonians, including six species of sea turtles, and 191 squamates) occur within our expanded geographical definition of Europe. The list includes 14 non-native species (three amphibians, one chelonian, and ten squamates).

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The area of the south-western Balkans hosts a remarkably high species richness and has been considered a biodiversity hotspot. The significance of the Balkan Peninsula as a biodiversity refugium during the Quaternary climatic fluctuations has been repeatedly pointed out in literature, yet the area remains quite understudied in terms of phylogeography. Contributing to the biogeography and phylogeography of the Balkan area, we herein present the phylogeographic relationships within the lizards of the genus Algyroides, focusing on the two species that occur in the Balkans (namely, A. nigropunctatus and A. moreoticus), including representatives of Dinarolacerta and Lacerta lizards as outgroups. We combined phylogenetic, phylogeographic and species distribution modelling analyses, using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data, in order to uncover the phylogeographic history of the genus and evaluate the validity of the extant taxonomy. Our results reveal three major clades within Algyroides in southern Balkans; one corresponds to A. moreoticus, having sister group relationships with the genus Dinarolacerta, and the other two to A. nigropunctatus, each corresponding to one of the morphological subspecies, which seem to be monophyletic, allopatric and reproductively isolated. These results expose an unprecedented phylogeographic pattern in the area of western Greece where the two major clades of A. nigropunctatus meet, and can contribute to a taxonomic re-evaluation of the species. Moreover, questions are raised on the validity of Dinarolacerta as a genus due to it clustering within the genus Algyroides.

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We explored the ontogenetic dynamics of the morphological and allometric disparity in the cranium shapes of twelve lacertid lizard species. The analysed species (Darevskia praticola, Dinarolacerta mosorensis, Iberolacerta horvathi, Lacerta agilis, L. trilineata, L. viridis, Podarcis erhardii, P. melisellensis, P. muralis, P. sicula, P. taurica and Zootoca vivipara) can be classified into different ecomorphs: terrestrial lizards that inhabit vegetated habitats (habitats with lush or sparse vegetation), saxicolous and shrub-climbing lizards. We observed that there was an overall increase in the morphological disparity (MD) during the ontogeny of the lacertid lizards. The ventral cranium, which is involved in the mechanics of jaw movement and feeding, showed higher levels of MD, an ontogenetic shift in the morphospace planes and more variable allometric patterns than more conserved dorsal crania. With respect to ecology, the allometric trajectories of the shrub-climbing species tended to cluster together, whereas the allometric trajectories of the saxicolous species were highly dispersed. Our results indicate that the ontogenetic patterns of morphological and allometric disparity in the lacertid lizards are modified by ecology and functional constraints and that the identical mechanisms that lead to intraspecific morphological variation also produce morphological divergence at higher taxonomic levels.

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We used Procrustes-based geometric morphometrics to explore morphological variability in dorsal and ventral cranium shape of twelve lacertid lizard species from the Balkan Peninsula (), at the juvenile (neonatal) and at the adult stage (females and males separately). These species differed in phylogenetic relatedness, overall size and habitat preference (terrestrial in overgrown habitats, terrestrial in sparsely vegetated habitats, saxicolous and semiarboreal). General pattern of shape variation appeared to be preserved throughout ontogeny, especially for the dorsal cranium - adult female and male morphospaces corresponded to the neonate morphospace. The inspection of morphospaces showed that the general pattern of shape variability was along the gradient from the smaller to the species with larger body size. Along this gradient, species clustered according to habitat preference. The main difference between neonates and adults was the position of semiarboreal species, which completely separated from the rest of the species at the adult stage. The overall morphological disparity (MD) increased during the course of ontogeny (from neonates to adult females and males). Ventral cranium, with its structures involved in mechanics of jaw movement and feeding, showed greater increase in MD, as well as the shift in the morphospace hyperplanes. On the generic level, Lacerta spp. showed significantly higher MD than Podarcis spp. In contrast to other ecological groups (terrestrial and semiarboreal) saxicolous lizards showed a tendency of decreasing shape disparity during ontogeny. The species from saxicolous group were phylogenetically heterogeneous but morphologically convergent due to the specific habitat constraints, and their distinctive MD pattern could be achieved by different allometric paths. The patterns of shape variation and MD were modified by ecology, functional constraints and different ontogenetic trajectories. Further studies on the ecomorphology, allometric diversity and morphological integration, as well as the reassessment of the problematic lacertid phylogeny are needed in order to shed more light on the complex relationships among morphology, ecology and phylogeny in lacertid lizards.

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Different factors and processes that produce phenotypic variation at the individual, population, or interspecific level can influence or alter the covariance structure among morphological traits. Therefore, studies of the patterns of integration and modularity at multiple levels—static, ontogenetic, and evolutionary, can provide invaluable data on underlying factors and processes that structured morphological variation, directed, or constrained evolutionary changes. Our dataset, consisting of cranium shape data for 14 lizard species from the family Lacertidae, with substantial samples of hatchlings and adults along with their inferred evolutionary relationships, enabled us to assess modularity and morphological integration at all three levels. Five, not mutually exclusive modularity hypotheses of lizard cranium, were tested, and the effects of allometry on intensity and the pattern of integration and modularity were estimated. We used geometric morphometrics to extract symmetric and asymmetric, as well as allometric and nonallometric, components of shape variation. At the static level, firm confirmation of cranial modularity was found for hypotheses which separate anterior and posterior functional compartments of the skull. At the ontogenetic level, two alternative hypotheses (the “anteroposterior” and “neurodermatocranial” hypotheses) of ventral cranial modularity were confirmed. At the evolutionary level, the “neurodermatocranial” hypothesis was confirmed for the ventral cranium, which is in accordance with the pattern observed at the ontogenetic level. The observed pattern of static modularity could be driven by functional demands and can be regarded as adaptive. Ontogenetic modularity and evolutionary modularity show the same developmental origin, indicating conservatism of modularity patterns driven by developmental constraints.

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The fossil record provides evidence of a long evolutionary history of European lizards. Since fossil lizards are regularly represented by bone remains, the knowledge of the origins of extant taxa and their distribution in time and space is hindered by the fact that their comparative osteology is not yet completely and adequately known. In spite of a rising interest in this topic since the end of the 20th century, a gap in our knowledge is still evident. We here report the first broad-scale comparative osteological analysis of the skulls of extant European lizards, highlighting significant differences that can be used in identification. This comparative study, including as many European species as possible, leads to the creation of a detailed diagnostic key for each single bone. Also, our data significantly improve the recognizability of extant European non-snake squamates, with 54% of the current diversity to be recognized based on the new results contra the previously estimated 31%. This recognizability is expected to further increase in the future, with new studies focusing on species that are either missing or poorly represented here, or applying promising advanced methodologies.