Trade and stowaways: molecular evidence for human-mediated translocation of eastern skinks into the western Mediterranean

Abstract

Human movements in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea have caused a great impact in the composition of terrestrial fauna due to the introductions of several allochthonous species, intentionally or not. Reptiles are one of the groups where this anthropic impact is most evident, owing to the extensive intra-Mediterranean dispersals of recent chronologies. Chalcides ocellatus is a widespread skink with a natural distribution that covers almost the entire Mediterranean Basin. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain its origin: natural dispersions and human translocations. Previous molecular data suggest the occurrence of a recent dispersal phenomenon across the Mediterranean Sea. In this study we present the first record of this species in the Iberian Peninsula, in Serra del Molar (South-east Spain). We combined molecular analyses and archaeological records to study the origin of this population. The molecular results indicate that the population is phylogenetically closely related to specimens from north-eastern Egypt and southern Red Sea. We suggest that the species arrived at the Iberian Peninsula most likely through human-mediated dispersal by using the trade routes. Between the Iron to Middle Ages, even now, the region surrounding Serra del Molar has been the destination of human groups and commercial goods of Egyptian origins, in which Chalcides ocellatus could have arrived as stowaways. The regional geomorphological evolution would have restricted its expansion out of Serra del Molar. These findings provide new data about the impact of human movements on faunal introductions and present new information relating to mechanisms of long-distance translocations.

Amphibians and reptiles as palaeonvironmental proxies during the Late Pleistocene (MIS3): The case of Stratigraphic Unit V of El Salt, Alcoi, Spain

“…This stability in the association of amphibians and reptiles is common in numerous archaeo-palaeontological sites from MIS 3 to MIS 1 in the centre and south of the Iberian Peninsula (Bisbal-Chinesta and . The major changes in the communities of amphibians and reptiles in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula in the latest 40,000 years were the extirpation of Testudo (Chersine) hermanni (Morales Pérez and Sanchis Serra, 2009) and the anthropic introduction during historical times of species such as Chamaeleo chameleon (Paulo et al, 2002), Testudo graeca ( Álvarez et al, 2000), and Chalcides ocellatus (Bisbal-Chinesta et al, 2020b). Conversely, the record of small mammals from the SU V yielded species currently absent in the area, such as Arvicola sapidus, Microtus arvalis, Microtus (Iberomys) cabrerae, and Talpa occidentalis (Fagoaga et al, 2019), thus reflecting that amphibians, reptiles and at least some small mammals show different responses to environmental change scenarios.…”

First record of Anatololacerta pelasgiana (Mertens, 1959) in mainland Greece: another new species in Athens

“…MacKenzie-Krysko 2016;Santos et al 2018;Medina et al 2019;Bisbal-Chinesta et al 2020;Oskyrko et al 2020), a case particularly common in large metropolitan centers(Tiatragul et al 2020;Vaughn et al 2021). Settling in Athens makes A. pelasgiana the eighth lizard species reported to have established population in the Greek capital city during the last seven years (Podarcis siculus -Adamopoulou 2015; Chamaeleo chamaeleon -Dimaki et al 2015; Podarcis muralis -Karameta and Pafilis 2017; Podarcis peloponnesiacus -Hedman et al 2017; Podarcis vaucheri -Spilani et al 2018; Tarentola mauritanica -Strachinis and Pafilis 2018; Algyroides nigropunctatus -Deimezis-Tsikoutas et al 2020).…”