Morphological and genetic differentiation in the anguid lizard Pseudopus apodus supports the existence of an endemic subspecies in the Levant

Jablonski D. Ribeiro-Júnior M.A. Meiri S. Maza E. Kukushkin O.V. Chirikova M. Pirosová A. Jelic D. Mikulícek P. Jandzik D.
2021 Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft

Vertebrate Zoology
2021 #71 175 - 200 pp.

The Levant represents one of the most important reptile diversity hotspots and centers of endemism in the Western Palearctic. The region harbored numerous taxa in glacial refugia during the Pleistocene climatic oscillations. Due to the hostile arid conditions in the warmer periods they were not always able to spread or come into contact with populations from more distant regions. One large and conspicuous member of the Levantine herpetofauna is the legless anguid lizard Pseudopus apodus. This species is distributed from the Balkans to Central Asia with a portion of its range running along the eastern Mediterranean coast. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, microsatellite genotypes, and morphology show that populations in this region differ from the two named subspecies and presumably had a long independent evolutionary history during the Quaternary. Here we describe the Levantine population as a new subspecies and present biogeographic scenarios for its origin and diversification. The new subspecies is genetically highly diverse, and it forms a sister lineage to Pseudopus from the remaining parts of the range according to mtDNA. It is the largest-bodied of the three subspecies, but occupies the smallest range.

Microsatellites , Middle East , Mitochondrial DNA , Ophisaurus , Phenotype , Reptiles , Sheltopusik , Squamata

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Department of Zoology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Ilkovicova 6, Mlynská dolina, Bratislava, 842 15, Slovakia
School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Department of Biodiversity Studies and Ecological Monitoring, T. I. Vyazemsky Karadag Scientific Station-Nature Reserve-Branch of Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nauki Street 24, Theodosia, Crimea, 298188, Ukraine
Department of Herpetology, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Embankment 1, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
Institute of Zoology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Croatian Institute for Biodiversity, Zagreb, Croatia

Department of Zoology
School of Zoology
The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History
Department of Biodiversity Studies and Ecological Monitoring
Department of Herpetology
Institute of Zoology of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Croatian Institute for Biodiversity

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