| Lacerta danfordi bileki EISELT & SCHMIDTLER, 1986 Lacerta oertzeni ibrahimi EISELT & SCHMIDTLER, 1986 Anatololacerta danfordi ibrahimi MAYER, 2015 Anatololacerta danfordi BELLATI et al., 2015 Anatololacerta ibrahimi KARAKASI et al., 2021 |
Eiselt, J. & Schmidtler, F.J. (1986) - Der Lacerta danfordi-Komplex - Spixiana 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. Mayer, W. (2015) - Die Taxa der Familie Lacertidae – eine kommentierte Liste. (Zuletzt aktualisiert am 04.07.2015). - lacerta.de. 62 pp. Karakasi, D. & Ilgaz, Ç. & Kumlutas, Y. & Candan, K. & Güçlü, Ö. & Kankılıç, T. & Beser, N. & Sindaco, R. & Lymberakis, P. & Poulakakis, N. (2021) - More evidence of cryptic diversity in Anatololacerta species complex Arnold, Arribas and Carranza, 2007 (Squamata: Lacertidae) and re-evaluation of its current taxonomy. - Amphibia-Reptilia (2021) DOI:10.1163/15685381-bja10045 × Genetic diversity is not always congruent with phenotypic heterogeneity, resulting in cryptic species complexes which cause a great struggle for scientists trying to define ‘species’ and describe relationships among taxa. Anatololacerta is a lizard genus distributed in southern and western Anatolia and some neighboring Aegean islands. Three morphospecies were recognized in Anatololacerta but a recent molecular study revealed the presence of cryptic diversity within the genus which led to the raise of a subspecies to species level. Currently the genus includes the species A. anatolica, A. danfordi, A. budaki and A. pelasgiana. Using a comprehensive sampling concerning both the number of specimens (218 specimens) and the genetic markers (3 nuclear and 3 mitochondrial), we performed phylogenetic analyses including tree reconstruction, species delimitation and divergence times estimation. The results revealed the occurrence of one more cryptic lineage which should be regarded as a separate species for which the name A. ibrahimi stat. nov. has priority. The existence of five well differentiated species with parapatric distributions in Anatololacerta is strongly supported. There is also evidence of recent and rapid radiation of the genus which probably causes phylogenetic relationships between these species to remain largely unresolved. At last, we proceeded to some nomenclatorial changes: The current name A. budaki was synonymized with A. pelasgiana because specimens of the type-locality of A. budaki are assigned genetically to A. pelasgiana. The genetic lineage including specimens currently assigned to A. budaki was named A. finikensis stat. nov., raising the subspecies A. b. finikensis to species level.
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