New localities and lineages of the Atlas dwarf lizard Atlantolacerta andreanskyi identified using mitochondrial DNA markers

By

Harris, D James
Varela-Pereira, A. Carolina
Faria, J. Filipe
S’khifa, Abderrahim
Vasconcelos, Diana
Marshall, Jonathon C.
Slimani, Tahar

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023-5-4

Original Publication

Herpetozoa

Volume

36

Pages

129--134

Subjects

12S rRNA , Atlas Mountains , evolutionary history , Lacertidae , Morocco , ND4 , Phylogeny

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.36.e103068

 

Abstract

Atlantolacerta andreanskyi (Werner, 1929) is an endemic lizard from the High Atlas Mountains region of Morocco. A previous molecular assessment of this species using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers uncovered extensive genetic diversity with seven lineages indicative of a species complex. A morphological assessment of six of these lineages did not establish simple diagnostic features, and proposed these should be considered as a cryptic species, while highlighting the need for greater sampling across the range. In this study, we sampled 8 individuals from 5 previously unsampled localities and carried out genetic analyses to compare these populations to the known variation. Phylogenetic reconstruction based on mitochondrial DNA markers (12S rRNA and ND4) corroborates the previously described lineages and identified a new one. Interestingly, the two samples that account for this newly identified lineage have been collected from distinct localities – M’goun and Toumliline – that form a sister taxon to the population of Jbel Azourki.