Genetic and Morphological Differentiation Among Caucasian Rock Lizards of the Lacerta caucasica Complex

Jinzhong Fu, Ilya S. Darevsky, Ross D. MacCulloch, Larissa A. Kupriyanova, Evgeny S. Roytberg, T. M. Sokolova, Robert W. Murphy

Abstract


The genetic diversity of 34 loci was surveyed from among five populations of the supposed conspecific taxa Lacerta c. caucasica, L. c. alpina, and L. c. daghestanica. Twelve loci exhibited variation. Fixed or nearly fixed allelic differences between L. c. caucasica and L. c. daghestanica were found at two loci, mannose-6-phosphate isomerase-A and creatine kinase-C. These two taxa differed from L. c. alpina at eight loci. Nei’s (1978) genetic distance values among populations of L. c. daghestanica ranged from 0.000 – 0.029, between L. c. caucasica and L. c. daghestanica from 0.076 – 0.087 and between L. c. alpina and the other taxa from 0.472 – 0.501. Fixed allelic differences and consistent morphological character states support the recognition of these three taxa as separate species. Therefore, we recommend use of the names L. alpina, L. caucasica, and L. daghestanica for these taxa.

Keywords


Reptilia; Lacertidae; Lacerta; genetics; systematics

Full Text:

PDF

References


Baverstock P. R. and Moritz C. (1990), «Sampling design», in: Molecular Systematics, D. M. Hillis and C. Moritz (eds.), Sinauer.

Buth D. G., Murphy R. W., Miyamoto M. M., and Lieb C. S. (1985), «Creatine kinases of amphibians and reptiles: evolutionary and systematic aspects of gene expression», Copeia, 1985, 279 – 284.

Darevsky I. S. (1967), Rock Lizards of the Caucasus: Systematics, Ecology and Phylogenesis of the Polymorphic Groups of Caucasian Rock Lizards of the Subgenus Archaeolacerta, Nauka, Leningrad [in Russian].

Darevsky I. S. (1984), «Lacerta caucasica Méhely, 1909 — Kaukasische Feldeidechse», in: Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas, W. Böhme (ed.), Band 2/1, Echsen II, AULA – Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 225 – 238.

Darevsky I. S. and Danielyan F. D. (1968), «Diploid and triploid progeny arising from natural mating of parthenogenetic Lacerta armeniaca and L. unisexualis with bisexual L. saxicola valentini», J. Herpetol., 2, 65 – 69.

Darevsky I. S., Kupriyanova L. A., and Bakradze M. A. (1978), «Occasional males and intersexes in parthenogenetic species of Caucasian rock lizards (genus Lacerta)», Copeia, 1978(2), 201 – 207.

Darevsky I. S., Kupriyanova L. A., and Uzzell T. (1985), «Parthenogenesis in reptiles», in: Biology of the Reptilia, Vol. 15, Gans C. and Billett F. (eds.), Wiley, pp. 411 – 526.

Farris J. S. (1972), «Estimating phylogenetic trees from distance matrices», Am. Nat., 106, 645 – 668.

Gorman G. C., Soulé M., Yang S. Y., and Nevo E. (1975), «Evolutionary genetics of insular Adriatic lizards», Evolution, 29, 52 – 71.

Gorman G. C., Kim Y. J., and Taylor C. E. (1977), «Genetic variation in irradiated and control populations of Cnemidophorus tigris (Sauria, Teiidae) from Mercury, Nevada, with a discussion of genetic variability in lizards», Theor. Appl. Genet., 49, 9 – 14.

Levene H. (1949), «On a matching problem arising in genetics», Ann. Math. Stat., 20, 91 – 94.

Méhely L. (1909), «Materialen zu einer Systematik und Phylogenie der Muralis-ahnlichen Lacerten», Ann. Hist. Nat., Nat. Mus. Hungary, 7,409 – 621.

Murphy R. W., McCollum F. C., Gorman G. C., and Thomas R. (1984), «Genetics of hybridizing populations of Puerto Rican Sphaerodactylus», J. Herpetol., 18, 93 – 105.

Murphy R. W., Sites J. W., Jr., Buth D. G., and Haufler C. H. (in press), «Proteins I: Isozyme electrophoresis», in: Molecular Systematics, 2nd ed., D. M. Hillis and C. Moritz (eds.), Sinauer.

Nei M. (1978), «Estimation of average genetic heterozygosity and genetic distance from a small number of individuals», Genetics, 89, 583 – 590.

Rogers J. S. (1972), «Measures of genetic similarity and genetic distance. Studies in Genetics VII», Univ. Texas. Pub., No. 7213, 145 – 153.

Roitberg E. (1994), «A morphological analysis of the Caucasian rock lizards Lacerta caucasica caucasica and L. c. daghestanica from a contact zone», Rus. J. Herpetol., 1(2), 179 – 184.

Roytberg E. and Lotiev K. Yu. (1992), «Contribution to the study of intraspecific variation of the Caucasian lizard, Lacerta caucasica», in: Abstrs. of the I Int. Congr. on Lacertids of the Mediterranean Basin, Mytilini, April 13 – 17, 1992, p. 24.

Swofford D. L. and Selander R. B. (1989), BIOSYS-1. A Computer Program for the Analysis of Allelic Variation in Population Genetics and Biochemical Systematics, Release 1.7., Illinois Nat. Hist. Survey.

Wright S. (1978), Evolution and Genetics of Populations. Vol. 4. Variability Within and Among Natural Populations, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-1995-2-1-36-42

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


You can subscribe to the print or electronic version of the journal on the site of EastView Company. If you have any questions, please write to the email sales@ivis.ru