The enigmatic Crimean green lizard (Lacerta viridis magnifica) is extinct but not valid: Mitogenomics of a 120-year-old museum specimen reveals historical introduction

It has been proposed that Lacerta viridis magnifica Sobolevssky, 1930 represents an extinct species or subspecies of green lizard endemic to the southern Crimea. Using NGS protocols optimized for heavily degraded DNA, we sequenced the complete mitogenome of one of the originally formalin-preserved specimens collected in the late 19th century. A comparison with sequence data of other green lizards revealed that L. v. magnifica is a junior synonym of the northern subspecies of the western green lizard (L. b. bilineata Daudin, 1802), which occurs at least 1,500 km away, beyond the distribution ranges of other green lizards. In medieval times, a Genoese colony existed in the Crimean region where the extinct green lizards occurred. Until the early 20th century, close ties to Italy persisted, and locals of Genoese descent sent their children for education to Italy, where L. b. bilineata occurs. This suggests that the extinct Crimean green lizards have been introduced accidentally or intentionally from Italy. Our study exemplifies the value of historical formalin-preserved museum specimens for clarifying the status of questionable rare or extinct taxa.     

沙蜥属一有效种贵德沙蜥及红原沙蜥的分类研究(蜥蜴亚目:鬣蜥科)

形态,染色体特征聚类分析表明过去归入青海沙蜥的天祝,贵德居群被聚为一支,而青海沙蜥的其它居群和红原沙蜥 聚为另一支,证明贵,在祝居群与青海沙蜥有显著区别,应当恢复贵德沙蜥Phrynocephalus putjatia为有效种。贵德沙蜥与青海沙蜥的主要鉴别特重是前者的尾长大于吻肛长,后者的尾短,小于吻肛长,前者背鳞100枚以上,后者背鳞不到100枚。红原沙蜥Phrynocephalus hongyuanensis与青海沙蜥的染色体和形态特征相似,应归隶青海沙蜥。     

Vicariant Patterns of Fragmentation among Gekkonid Lizards of the Genus Teratoscincus Produced by the Indian Collision: A Molecular Phylogenetic Perspective and an Area Cladogram for Central Asia

A well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis is presented for gekkonid lizards of the genus Teratoscincus. Phylogenetic relationships of four of the five species are investigated using 1733 aligned bases of mitochondrial DNA sequence from the genes encoding ND1 (subunit one of NADH dehydrogenase), tRNA(Ile), tRNA(Gln), tRNA(Met), ND2, tRNA(Trp), tRNA(Ala), tRNA(Asn), tRNA(Cys), tRNA(Tyr), and COI (subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase). A single most parsimonious tree depicts T. przewalskii and T. roborowskii as a monophyletic group, with T. scincus as their sister taxon and T. microlepis as the sister taxon to the clade containing the first three species. The aligned sequences contain 341 phylogenetically informative characters. Each node is supported by a bootstrap value of 100% and the shortest suboptimal tree requires 29 additional steps. Allozymic variation is presented for proteins encoded by 19 loci but these data are largely uninformative phylogenetically. Teratoscincus species occur on tectonic plates of Gondwanan origin that were compressed by the impinging Indian Subcontinent, resulting in massive montane uplifting along plate boundaries. Taxa occurring in China (Tarim Block) form a monophyletic group showing vicariant separation from taxa in former Soviet Central Asia and northern Afghanistan (Farah Block); alternative biogeographic hypotheses are statistically rejected. This vicariant event involved the rise of the Tien Shan-Pamir and is well dated to 10 million years before present. Using this date for separation of taxa occurring on opposite sides of the Tien Shan-Pamir, an evolutionary rate of 0.57% divergence per lineage per million years is calculated. This rate is similar to estimates derived from fish, bufonid frogs, and agamid lizards for the same region of the mitochondrial genome ( approximately 0.65% divergence per lineage per million years). Evolutionary divergence of the mitochondrial genome has a surprisingly stable rate across vertebrates.     

Molecular evidence for the phylogeny of Australian gekkonoid lizards

Partial sequences of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA and nuclear c-mos genes were determined for 12 species of gekkonoid lizards representing the four major taxa of the Australian region, the Diplodactyhni and Carphodactylini (forming the subfamily Diplodactylinae), the Pygopodidae and the Gekkoninae. One further species represented a non-Australian gekkonoid lineage, the Eublepharinae. The combined sequence data were used to reconstruct the underlying molecular phylogeny. We used the molecular phylogeny to test the monophyly of the diplodactyline tribes and conflicting hypotheses of relationships of die pygopods and of the genus Oedura. Monophyly of the Diplodactylinae is supported, while pygopods form a monophyletic sister lineage to all Diplodactylinae. The molecular data support the monophyly of the Diplodactyhni, with Oedura firmly placed as a diplodactylin. Monophyly of the Carphodactylini is not supported. The four carphodactylin genera form a paraphyletic cluster at the base of the Diplodactyhni. Pygopods are nested within the traditional Gekkonidae and pygopods plus diplodactylines form a well-supported monophyletic group with respect to the remaining gekkonoids, the gekkonines and eublepharines.     

Reptile phylogeny and the interrelationships of turtles

A comprehensive analysis of amniote interrelationships is presented in an attempt to test turtle interrelationships. The results refute earlier hypotheses that turtles are related to parareptiles, i.e. to procolophonids or pareiasaurs. Instead, turtles are shown to be the sister-group of Sauropterygia, the two clades being nested within Sauria as sister-group of Lepidosauriformes. This scenario is also supported by several developmental and soft tissue characters which are shown to be congruent with the current phylogeny. The analysis strongly supports a monophyletic Parareptilia, sister-group of a monophylctic Eurcptilia. The Diapsida, however, is paraphyletic unless it includes turtles and sauropterygians. Additionally, the position of turtles within Diapsida has major implications for the evolutionary history and/or significance of many characters, i.e. temporal fenestration.     

西藏岩蜥属一新种描述：（蜥蜴亚目：鬣蜥科）

９９５～１９９６年,作者撰写《中国动物志·蜥蜴亚目》卷鬣蜥科岩蜥属（Ｌａｕｄａｋｉａ）时,曾详细研究了中国科学院成都生物研究所两栖爬行动物研究室收藏的岩蜥属全部标本,发现其中采自西藏自治区扎达县的１号雄性标本是未经描述的新种,将其订名为西藏岩蜥（Ｌａｕｄａｋｉａｐａｐｅｎｆｕｓｉ）。其种名取自美国柏克利加州大学脊椎动物学博物馆ＴｈｅｏｄｏｒｅＪ．Ｐａｐｅｎｆｕｓ先生的姓氏。Ｐａｐｅｎｆｕｓｓ先生在本世纪８０年代与我所合作进行我国西部两栖爬行动物分类与生态的研究,曾数次到西藏野外工作。西藏岩蜥与南亚岩蜥（Ｌａｕｄａｋｉａｔｕｂｅｒｃｕｌａｔａ）相近,二者的主要区别在于：（１）前者鼻鳞椭圆形,鼻孔开口于其中央;后者鼻鳞梨形,鼻孔开口于其膨大部。（２）前者上鼻鳞１枚;后者上鼻鳞２枚。（３）前者上睫脊较不发达,脊缘钝且不上翘;后者上睫脊发达,脊缘锐利且向上翘。（４）前者体背及体侧分散有多数较小浅色点斑,点斑处为普通小鳞片,体背及体侧分散的若干较大锥鳞都不位于浅色点斑处;后者体背及体侧分散有若干橘黄色圆斑,圆斑所在或为１枚大的锥鳞,或为数枚较大刺鳞,或为中央１枚大的锥鳞围以一圈小鳞,圆斑之外无刺鳞或锥鳞。     

A molecular study of phylogenetic relationships and evolution of antipredator strategies in Australian Diplodactylus geckos, subgenus Strophurus

We present phylogenetic analyses of the lizard genus Diplodactylus subgenus Strophurus using 1646 aligned positions of mitochondrial DNA sequences containing 893 parsimony-informative characters for samples of 12 species of Strophurus and 19 additional Australian gecko species. Sequences from three protein-coding genes (ND1, ND2 and COI) and eight intervening transfer RNA genes were examined using parsimony, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses. Species of Strophurus appeared to form a monophyletic group with the possible exception of S. taenicauda . Strophurus has evolved two distinct defence/display characteristics: caudal glands, which expel an unpalatable substance, and striking mouth colours. Caudal glands appeared to have arisen once in a common ancestor of Strophurus , with dermal augmentation of caudal glands characterizing a subclade within the subgenus. Evolution of yellow and dark-blue mouth colours in Strophurus occurred in the context of diurnal activity and may be interpreted as an augmentation of defensive behavioural displays. Molecular divergence suggests that arboreality evolved in a common ancestor of Oedura and Strophurus approximately 29 Mya and that the caudal glands of Strophurus arose approximately 25 Mya.  © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2004, 82 , 123–138.     

Size evolution in island lizards

Aim  The island rule, small animal gigantism and large animal dwarfism on islands, is a topic of much recent debate. While size evolution of insular lizards has been widely studied, whether or not they follow the island rule has never been investigated. I examined whether lizards show patterns consistent with the island rule.
Location  Islands worldwide.
Methods  I used literature data on the sizes of island–mainland population pairs in 59 species of lizards, spanning the entire size range of the group, and tested whether small insular lizards are larger than their mainland conspecifics and large insular lizards are smaller. I examined the influence of island area, island isolation, and dietary preferences on lizard size evolution.
Results  Using mean snout–vent length as an index of body size, I found that small lizards on islands become smaller than their mainland conspecifics, while large ones become larger still, opposite to predictions of the island rule. This was especially strong in carnivorous lizards; omnivorous and herbivorous species showed a pattern consistent with the island rule but this result was not statistically significant. No trends consistent with the island rule were found when maximum snout–vent length was used. Island area had, at best, a weak effect on body size. Using maximum snout–vent length as an index of body size resulted in most lizard populations appearing to be dwarfed on islands, but no such pattern was revealed when mean snout–vent length was used as a size index.
Main conclusions  I suggest that lizard body size is mostly influenced by resource availability, with large size allowing some lizard populations to exploit resources that are unavailable on the mainland. Lizards do not follow the island rule. Maximum snout–vent length may be biased by sampling effort, which should be taken into account when one uses this size index.     

Homologies of the transversospinalis muscles in the anterior presacral region of Sauria (crown Diapsida)

Homologies of muscles of the m. transversospinalis group in the dorsal and cervical regions in Sauria are established based on detailed dissections and published accounts of lepidosaurs, crocodylians, and birds. Attachments and directions of tendons comprising this muscle group are fairly conserved among the saurian clades, enabling rather robust inferences on muscle homologies. The innervation pattern indicates that mm. ascendentes are the most lateral muscles of the m. transversospinalis group in Aves, and are inferred to be homologous with the crocodylian m. tendinoarticularis based on their topological similarities. It is suggested here that the lepidosaurian articulo-parietalis part of m. longissimus cervico-capitis actually belongs to the m. transversospinalis group because its tendons of origin are shared with those of m. semispinalis. The avian m. complexus and the lateral part of the crocodylian m. transversospinalis capitis have origins and insertions similar to this lepidosaurian muscle, and are proposed to be homologous with the latter. In some birds, m. longus colli dorsalis, pars profunda continues directly into the anterior cervical region as m. splenius accessorius, suggesting a serially homologous relationship. Similarly, m. splenius anticus continues anteriorly from m. longus colli dorsalis, pars cranialis, and both of these muscles lie dorsal to m. splenius accessorius. Therefore, the currently used nomenclature that regards m. splenius accessorius as a part of m. longus colli dorsalis, pars cranialis and that regards m. splenius anticus as a part of the former muscle does not accurately reflect the serial homologies among these muscles and may not be justified.