| Isla de Port d’Addaia population PÉREZ-MELLADO, 1989 Ses Mones population extinct PÉREZ-MELLADO, 2005 Illa de Ses Mones population VAN DEN BERG & ZAWADZKI, 2010 Podarcis lilfordi addayae ZAWADZKI & VAN DEN BERG, 2015 Illa de Ses Mones ESU PÉREZ-CEMBRANOS et al., 2020 |
Pérez-Mellado, V. (1989) - Estudio ecológico de la lagartija balear Podarcis lilfordi (Günter, 1874) en Menorca - Revista de Menorca, 1989: 455-511  Pérez-Mellado, V. (2005) - Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874) - Podarcis pityusensis (Boscá, 1883). - Libro rojo de los Vertebrados de las Baleares (3a ed.), 2005: 50-56. Berg, M.P. van den & Zawadzki, M. (2010) - Wiederentdeckung einer für ausgestorben geglaubten Population der Baleareneidechse, Podarcis lilfordi (GÜNTHER, 1874) auf Illa de Ses Mones (Menorca, Balearen, Spanien) in Sympatrie mit der Ruineneidechse, Podarcis siculus (RAFINESQUE-SCHMALTZ, 1810). - Die Eidechse, 21 (3): 65-74.   × It is reported about the rediscovery of a population of the Balearic Lizard (Podarcis lilfordi) on the Illa de Ses Mones in the harbour of Port d´Addaia. This population has been considered to have become extinct during the 1990s due to the introduction of the Italian Wall Lizard (Podarcis siculus). Descriptions of the island and the lizards are given and for the first time it is reported about the sympatric occurrence of Podarcis lilfordi and P. siculus. Because in quite a lot of publications the nearby Illot d´en Carbó has been confused with the Illa de Ses Mones the taxonomic status of the rediscovered Podarcis lilfordi population from the Illa de Ses Mones is discussed in this paper. Zawadzki, M. & Berg, M.P. van den (2015) - Lizards in the mist - and a shot in the dark. The search for the terra typica of Podarcis lilfordi carbonerae PÉREZ-MELLADO & SALVADOR, 1988. - L@CERTIDAE, 2015 [8]: 160-191. × As a result of their taxonomical study of the populations of the Balearic lizard of Menorca Pérez-Mellado & Salvador (1988) described three new subspecies of Podarcis lilfordi. The type series of one of them, Podarcis lilfordi carbonerae, had been collected on an island called “Isla Carbonera” in 1933. The fact that their describers could not find this islet on any map, but did not hesitate to describe these lizards as a new subspecies, was not very reasonable and surely contributed to the mystery that should surround this subspecies from now on. But it was not this fact alone that casted a bad light on this taxonomic revision, because in-depth analyses revealed more awkward mistakes. Even the rediscovery of Podarcis lilfordi carbonerae by Pérez-Mellado et al. (2002) was only based on assumptions but did not contain any scientific proof. In this paper we give new information on the possible terra typica of Podarcis lilfordi carbonerae by introducing the Illa de Ses Mones. Because neither the En Carbó nor the Ses Mones lizards can be separated from the populations of the two nearby islands Illa Gran d’Addaia and Illa Petit d’Addaia by means of coloration or meristic and metric characters, we consider Podarcis lilfordi carbonerae Pérez-Mellado & Salvador, 1988 as a synonym of Podarcis lilfordi addayae (Eisentraut, 1928). Pérez-Cembranos, A. & Pérez-Mellado, V. & Alemany, I. & Bassitta, M. & Terrasa, B. & Picornell, A. & Castro, J.A. & Brown, R.P. & Ramon, C. (2020) - Morphological and genetic diversity of the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874): Is it relevant to its conservation? - Diversity and Distributions. https://doi. org/10.1111/ddi.13107 × Aims: To characterize the genetic and morphological diversification of the endan- gered Balearic lizard Podarcis lilfordi and to assess the relevance of this diversity, and how it is described, to conservation measures.
Location: This study covers all the populations of the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, present in its range of distribution at coastal islets of Menorca, Mallorca and Cabrera Archipelago.
Methods: We analysed genetic and morphological variation across the 43 known extant populations of the Balearic lizard, using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. We examined morphometric and scalation characters using, in some cases, phyloge- netically independent contrasts. We also incorporated the study of dorsal coloration and dorsal colour pattern including the analysis of melanism in several populations. Results: We detected clear genetic divergence between Menorcan populations and populations from Mallorca and Cabrera, in both nuclear and mtDNA markers, but genetic divergence is relatively low among different insular populations within these groups. In contrast, morphological divergence was substantial both between Menorcan and remaining populations and within these groups. Morphological traits, such as dorsal coloration, body size and the number and size of scales, seemed to be linked with differences in climatic conditions between populations. In addition, some traits, as melanism, showed a strong phylogenetic signal.
Main conclusions: The morphological and genetic diversity of the Balearic lizard is incongruent with the subspecies described in the classical taxonomic literature. Moreover, current populations differ not only in some genetic and morphological features, but also in several ecological and ethological characteristics, in many cases unique to one population. Based on our results, we propose abandoning the use of subspecies to describe the extraordinary morphological diversity of the Balearic liz- ard and its replacement with the concept of evolutionary significant units (ESUs). ESUs are particularly suitable to describe and recognize such diversity and, especially, to ensure the continuity of the evolutionary process.
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