Neogene climatic oscillations shape the biogeography and evolutionary history of the Eurasian blindsnake

Comparison of geographic variations in Typhlops vermicularis (Merrem, 1820) (Ophidia: Typhlopidae) from the Iranian plateau with Turkey and Turkmenistan

“…According to Kornilios et al (2012), the clade of T. vermicularis can be split into 2 distinct clades, 1 clade in Jordan/South Syria and 1 in other parts of its distribution (Greece, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran). According to the molecular data, populations from western Iran, northeastern Turkey, and Transcaucasia make up a monophyletic group (Kornilios et al, 2011(Kornilios et al, , 2012; the morphometric Table 1.…”

“…According to the molecular data, populations from western Iran, northeastern Turkey, and Transcaucasia make up a monophyletic group (Kornilios et al, 2011(Kornilios et al, , 2012; the morphometric Table 1. Descriptive analysis and one-way ANOVA (LSD test) for metric characters (ranges, mean ± standard deviation) of pooled samples of 12 studied populations of Typhlops vermicularis.…”

Climatic preferences and distribution of 6 evolutionary lineages ofTyphlops vermicularis Merrem, 1820 in Turkey using ecological niche modeling

“…The Aegean region, the west and middle portions of the Mediterranean region, the southwest portion of the Marmara region, the southeast Anatolian region, and the northeast portion of the eastern Anatolian region were identified as suitable, whereas the Black Sea region, the Thrace portion of the Marmara region, and a large part of central and eastern Anatolia region were unsuitable. A single locality in the central Anatolia region (between Polatlı and Haymana, Ankara; Kornilios et al, 2012) was also suitable. The distribution model of T. vermicularis had a high mean test AUC value (0.881 ± 1.117).…”

“…However, they did not include the specimens from eastern Anatolia. The next year, Kornilios et al (2012) did a phylogenetic study including both eastern Anatolia populations of T. vermicularis and Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Syria, Jordan, and Greece, using mitochondrial and nuclear genes. This study showed similar results to those of the previous study.…”

“…The first diversification and the split of lineages C and G happened between the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene at approximately 5.6 Mya (4.6-6.5 Mya) and 4.6 Mya (3.3-5.1 Mya), respectively (Kornilios et al, 2012). During this time, the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.6-5.3 Mya) produced land connections between North Africa and Europe and the drift of Africa toward Europe closed the western end of the Mediterranean (Hewitt, 2011).…”