Cryptic diversity and unexpected evolutionary patterns in the meadow lizard,Darevskia praticola(Eversmann, 1834)

A phylogenetic assessment of the meadow lizard Darevskia praticola (Eversmann, 1834) from Iran

“…To obtain solid understanding of the evolutionary placement of the Iranian samples in the Darevskia phylogeny, we retrieved 94 sequences from GenBank (Appendix I), corresponding to 65 sequences (Accession numbers pending) from Freitas et al (2016a), and 29 sequences from Ahmadzadeh et al (2013). Also, Lacerta bilineata was considered as the outgroup.…”

“…Each analysis was run for 10 6 generations with five chains and sampling frequency of 100, which resulted in 10,000 samples, out of which 2,500 were discarded as burn-in. Since previous studies reported a nuclear copy within Cyt b in some species of lacertids including D. praticola (Podnar et al 2007;Freitas et al 2016a), we analyzed separately and carefully the evaluated inference from both markers. Our results showed that there is a nuclear copy within Cyt b in our samples too (see below).…”

“…However, the biogeographic knowledge of the genus in Iran is far from complete; for example, the occurrence and status of the meadow lizard, Darevskia praticola, remain poorly documented. Darevskia praticola sensu lato occurs in two highly disjunct subranges, the Balkans and the Caucasian Isthmus (Anderson 1999;Sos et al 2012;Tuniyev et al 2013;Šmíd et al 2014;Freitas et al 2016a). Contrary to many Darevskia species, it has ground dwelling habits and is usually associated with well-conserved deciduous forest and, hence, vulnerable to forest degradation (Doronin 2015;Ćorović et al 2018).…”

“…3a, Tuniyev et al 2011); 1) D. p. praticola is reported from Greater Caucasus and Transcaucasia; 2) D. p. pontica is considered to occur in the Greater Caucasus and Balkan Peninsula, making it sometimes to be considered as a separate species with imprecise boundaries in the Central Ciscaucasia (Tuniyev et al 2011;Uetz & Hošek 2017); 3) D. p. hyrcanica is described from the southwest of the Caspian Sea (Talysh Mountains and west of Alborz Mountains); and finally, 4) D. p. loriensis is described from Armenia. This purely morphological taxonomy has, however, been challenged by molecular evidence which only supports two main clades, one in the Balkans and the other in the Caucasus (Freitas et al 2016a).…”

“…Additionally, a paratype of Lacerta mostoufi Baloutch, 1977 described from Southeastern Iran of an unknown locality (Baloutch 1977), has been identified as a mislabeled D. praticola (Bosch 1999). In previous studies, samples from Talysh and southwestern parts of the species distribution, namely from Azerbaijan (Kidov et al 2009;Kidov 2010;Freitas et al 2016a). However, there is a complete lack of molecular evidence for the Iranian D. praticola and of its placement within the broader phylogeny of the species (Fu et al 1997;Arnold et al 2007;Freitas et al 2016a).…”