Does the Dzungarian racerunner (<i>Eremias dzungarica</i> Orlova, Poyarkov, Chirikova, Nazarov, Munkhbaatar, Munkhbayar & Terbish, 2017) occur in China? Species delimitation and identification with DNA barcoding and morphometric analyses

Abstract

The Eremias multiocellata-przewalskii species complex is a viviparous group in the genus Eremias , and a well-known representative of taxonomically complicated taxa. Within this complex, a new species – E. dzungarica ( Orlova et al., 2017 ) – has been described recently from western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan, with an apparent distribution gap in northwestern China. In this study, we used an integrative taxonomic framework to address whether E. dzungarica indeed occurs in China. Thirty specimens previously classified as E. multiocellata were collected in eastern Kazakhstan and the adjacent Altay region in China. The cytochrome c oxidase I ( COI ) barcodes were sequenced and compiled with those from Orlova et al. (2017) and analyzed with the standard and diverse barcoding techniques. We detected an absence of a barcoding gap in this complex, which indicates potential cryptic species in Eremias sp. 3 with high intraspecific diversity and multiple recently evolved species in Clade A. Both BIN and GMYC suggested an unrealistically large number of species (23 and 26, respectively), while ABGD, mPTP and BPP indicated a more conservative number of species (10, 12, and 15, respectively), largely concordant with the previously defined species-level lineages according to phylogenetic trees. Based on molecular phylogeny and morphological examination, all 30 individuals collected in this study were reliably identified as E. dzungarica – a distinct species – confirming the occurrence of this species in the Altay region, Xinjiang, China. Potentially owing to the larger sample size in this study, our morphological analyses revealed many inconsistencies with the original descriptions of E. dzungarica , which were primarily associated with sexual dimorphism and a broader range of values for various traits.

Integrative Taxonomy within Eremias multiocellata Complex (Sauria, Lacertidae) from the Western Part of Range: Evidence from Historical DNA

“…The central Asian racerunners of the Eremias multiocellata—E. przewalskii complex belong to the taxonomically most complicated group of the genus Eremias [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ], which includes 8–9 central Asian species: Tien Shan racerunner E. stummeri Wettstein, 1940 st. nov. Eremchenko et Panfilov, 1999; Szczerbak’s racerunner E. szczerbaki Eremchenko et Panfilov, 1999 status nov.; Yarkand racerunner E. yarkandensis Blanford, 1875; Kokshaal racerunner E. kokshaaliensis Eremchenko et Panfilov, 1999; Kashgar racerunner E . buechneri Bedriaga, 1907; Dzhungar racerunner E. dzhungarica Orlova et al, 2017; multi-ocellated racerunner E. multiocellata Günther, 1872; Przewalski’s racerunner E .…”

Complete mitochondrial genome of the Kyrghyz racerunner (Eremias nikolskii Bedriaga, 1905) from Kyrgyzstan

“… 2017 ; Liu et al. 2021 ). Eremias nikoskii was inferred as the sister taxon to the viviparous group with strong support (PP = 0.95); this challenged monophyly of the subgenus Pareremias (Arnold 1986 ; Guo et al.…”