Italian slow worm (Anguis veronensis, not cinerea)
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:08 am
Going to have a thorough read, but seems rather convincing at first glance.
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An ancient lineage of slow worms, genus Anguis (Squamata: Anguidae),
survived in the Italian Peninsula
Václav Gvozˇdík a,b, Norbert Benkovsky´ c, Angelica Crottini d, Adriana Bellati e, Jirˇí Moravec a,
Antonio Romano f, Roberto Sacchi e, David Jandzik c,g,⇑
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (in press)
Four species of legless anguid lizard genus Anguis have been currently recognized: A. fragilis from western
and central Europe, A. colchica from eastern Europe and western Asia, A. graeca from southern Balkans,
and A. cephallonica from the Peloponnese. Slow worms from the Italian Peninsula have been considered
conspecific with A. fragilis, despite the fact that the region served as an important speciation center for
European flora and fauna, and included some Pleistocene glacial refugia. We used mitochondrial and
nuclear DNA sequences to investigate the systematic and phylogenetic position of the Italian slow-worm
populations and morphological analyses to test for phenotypic differentiation from A. fragilis from other
parts of Europe. Our phylogenetic analyses revealed that Italian slow worms form a distinct deeply differentiated
mtDNA clade, which presumably diverged during or shortly after the basal radiation within
the genus Anguis. In addition, the specimens assigned to this clade bear distinct haplotypes in nuclear
PRLR gene and show morphological differentiation from A. fragilis. Based on the differentiation in all three
independent markers, we propose to assign the Italian clade species level under the name Anguis cinerea
Risso, 1826. The newly recognized species is distributed throughout the Italian Peninsula to the Southern
Alps and south-eastern France. We hypothesize that the Tertiary Alpine orogeny with subsequent vicariance
might have played a role in differentiation of this species. The current genetic variability was later
presumably shaped in multiple glacial refugia within the Italian Peninsula, with the first splitting event
separating populations from the region of the Dolomite Mountains.
- - - - -
An ancient lineage of slow worms, genus Anguis (Squamata: Anguidae),
survived in the Italian Peninsula
Václav Gvozˇdík a,b, Norbert Benkovsky´ c, Angelica Crottini d, Adriana Bellati e, Jirˇí Moravec a,
Antonio Romano f, Roberto Sacchi e, David Jandzik c,g,⇑
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (in press)
Four species of legless anguid lizard genus Anguis have been currently recognized: A. fragilis from western
and central Europe, A. colchica from eastern Europe and western Asia, A. graeca from southern Balkans,
and A. cephallonica from the Peloponnese. Slow worms from the Italian Peninsula have been considered
conspecific with A. fragilis, despite the fact that the region served as an important speciation center for
European flora and fauna, and included some Pleistocene glacial refugia. We used mitochondrial and
nuclear DNA sequences to investigate the systematic and phylogenetic position of the Italian slow-worm
populations and morphological analyses to test for phenotypic differentiation from A. fragilis from other
parts of Europe. Our phylogenetic analyses revealed that Italian slow worms form a distinct deeply differentiated
mtDNA clade, which presumably diverged during or shortly after the basal radiation within
the genus Anguis. In addition, the specimens assigned to this clade bear distinct haplotypes in nuclear
PRLR gene and show morphological differentiation from A. fragilis. Based on the differentiation in all three
independent markers, we propose to assign the Italian clade species level under the name Anguis cinerea
Risso, 1826. The newly recognized species is distributed throughout the Italian Peninsula to the Southern
Alps and south-eastern France. We hypothesize that the Tertiary Alpine orogeny with subsequent vicariance
might have played a role in differentiation of this species. The current genetic variability was later
presumably shaped in multiple glacial refugia within the Italian Peninsula, with the first splitting event
separating populations from the region of the Dolomite Mountains.