74 



Current Herpetol. 20(2) 2001 



are presented in Table 2. The D value 

 obtained between the lotorishima and 

 Tolcunoshima samples was very small 

 (0.043), whereas those of the former with 

 other E. marginatus samples were larger 

 (0.141-0.243). 



Figure 2 shows genetic grouping of 

 samples derived from the UPGMA cluster- 

 ing of pairwise D matrix. Populations 

 currently assigned to E. in. marginatus 

 were grouped together with high genetic 

 similarities. By contrast, a great genetic 

 heterogeneity was confirmed for E. m. 

 oshimensis in the current delimitation, indi- 



cating a relatively distinct differentiation 

 between the southern Amami and the 

 northern Amami-southern Tokara assem- 

 blages, as reported previously (Kato et al., 

 1994). In this analysis, the lotorishima 

 sample was located in the cluster otherwise 

 consisting of the northern Amami-southern 

 Tokara E. m. oshimensis . 



The four examined specimens from 

 lotorishima Island invariably had a medial 

 white line not exceeding the proximal one 

 third of the tail and 34 rows of midbody 

 scales, and lacked the postnasal scale 



