Phylogeography of Lacerta media Lantz et Cyrén, 1920 (Lacertidae: Sauria) Based on the Analysis of Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene

• Published in: Russian journal of genetics Vol. 58; no. 2; pp. 171 - 180
• Main Authors: Doronina, M. A., Doronin, I. V., Lukonina, S. A., Mazanaeva, L. F., Barabanov, A. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.02.2022
• Subjects: Animal Genetics; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Human Genetics; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; cytochrome; phylogeny; mitochondrial DNA; phylogeography
• ISSN: 1022-7954; 1608-3369
• DOI: 10.1134/S102279542202003X

The mitochondrial DNA cyt b sequences (1143 bp) were examined in the representatives of Lacerta media . A total of 34 lizards from 19 localities were analyzed. Special attention was paid to previously unexplored populations on the northern border of the range within the North Caucasus and Western Transcaucasia. Two types of dendrograms of phylogenetic relationships, Bayesian (BA) and maximum likelihood (ML), were reconstructed, showing identical topology. Phylogenetic reconstruction identifies four supported clades. Similarly, on the median-joining haplotype network, four haplogroups are distinguished. At earlier stages of the phylogeny of L. m. media , the populations of the eastern part of the Armenian Highlands and the Northern Zagros are isolated. Next, the populations of the central part of the Armenian Highlands and the Greater Caucasus become isolated. At the final stage, these are the populations of the Central Zagros and the eastern part of the Asia Minor Highlands. The data obtained do not support a scenario on the nominative subspecies dispersal from the west to the east and northeast, suggested previously by F. Ahmadzadeh et al. [4]. Instead, we consider the opposite direction, i.e., from the east to the north, south, and west. Two geographical regions, the Armenian Highlands and the Zagros Mountains, inhabited by the representatives of several clades/haplogroups are identified.