Journal
AMPHIBIA-REPTILIA
Volume 33, Issue 1, Pages 1-10Publisher
BRILL
DOI: 10.1163/156853811X619718
Keywords
lacertid lizards; mtDNA; nDNA; phylogeny; Timon kurdistanicus; Timon princeps
Categories
Funding
- Iranian ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portugal)
- FCT [SFRH/BPD/26546/2006]
- [PTDC/BIA-BDE/67678/2006]
- [PTDC/BIA-BEC/101256/2008]
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [PTDC/BIA-BEC/101256/2008] Funding Source: FCT
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Timon, a small genus of lacertid lizards, includes four species distributed in two separate ranges in the western and eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin. Phylogenetic relationships between the two groups have not been resolved, and the taxonomic situation of the two subspecies of the eastern representative of the genus, Timon princeps, is not clear. To address these questions, partial DNA sequences of two nuclear (beta-fibrinogen intron 7 and C-mos) and three mitochondrial (cytochrome b, 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) genes were analyzed. Based on the high genetic distance between the two subspecies of T. princeps we promote their taxonomic status to full species, Timon princeps and Timon kurdistanicus. Divergence time estimates based on other lacertid species suggest that the separation of the green (Lacerta) and ocellated (Timon) lizards took place around 12 My ago, and that the Eastern group underwent speciation around 4-5 my ago, perhaps associated with the uplifting of the Zagros mountains. As expected given this ancient divergence and complex paleogeography, considerable levels of genetic diversity are recovered within both taxa, with geographically close individuals showing very divergent haplotypes.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available