| Lacerta andreanskyi WERNER, 1929 Teira andreanskyi MAYER & BISCHOFF, 1996 Atlantolacerta andreanskyi ARNOLD et al, 2007 |
Werner, F. (1929) - Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einer zoologischen Forschungsreise nach Algerien. - Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Wien, Abteilung 1, 138 (1/2): 1-34.  Barata, M. & Carranza, S. & Harris, D.J. (2012) - Extreme genetic diversity in the lizard Atlantolacerta andreanskyi (Werner, 1929): A montane cryptic species complex. - BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12: 167. 19 pp.  × Background: Atlantolacerta andreanskyi is an enigmatic lacertid lizard that, according to the most recent molecular analyses, belongs to the tribe Eremiadini, family Lacertidae. It is a mountain specialist, restricted to areas above 2400 m of the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco with apparently no connection between the different populations. In order to investigate its phylogeography, 92 specimens of A. andreanskyi were analyzed from eight different populations across the distribution range of the species for up to 1108 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA (12S, ND4 and flanking tRNA-His) and 2585 base pairs of nuclear DNA including five loci (PDC, ACM4, C-MOS, RAG1, MC1R).
Results: The results obtained with both concatenated and coalescent approaches and clustering methods, clearly show that all the populations analyzed present a very high level of genetic differentiation for the mitochondrial markers used and are also generally differentiated at the nuclear level.
Conclusions: These results indicate that A. andreanskyi is an additional example of a montane species complex. Barata, M. & Perera, A. & Harris, D.J. (2015) - Cryptic variation in the Moroccan high altitude lizard Atlantolacerta andreanskyi (Squamata: Lacertidae). - African Journal of Herpetology, Johannesburg, South Africa, 64 (1): 1-17. × Atlantolacerta andreanskyi is a mountain specialist lacertid lizard, restricted to areas above 2400 m of the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, with apparently no geographic connection between different populations. In a recent molecular study, populations from A. andreanskyi collected across its distribution area were analysed, showing unprecedented levels of genetic differentiation for mitochondrial markers, which were also partially differentiated for nuclear markers. Here we aim to investigate, for the first time, the phenotypic variability of this species, using univariate and multivariate analyses on linear measurements, pholidotic and coloration characters in six populations of A. andreanskyi previously analysed genetically and covering most of its distribution range. The results show that despite the high genetic divergence previously detected, morphological variation among populations was low. Thus, although some genetic lineages could be partially discriminated morphologically at a multivariate level, single diagnostic traits could not be identified, and thus, they can be considered as cryptic lineages. Although the extreme genetic diversity observed supports the existence of six independent entities, more prospecting and analysis of additional populations will be needed to confirm the evolutionary independence of the lineages before their formal description.
|
