Contrasting evolutionary histories of four slow-worm (Anguis) species in the Balkans

0454213 - ÚBO 2016 CZ eng A - Abstrakt
Jablonski, D. - Džukić, G. - Jandzik, D. - Jelić, D. - Kornilios, P. - Ljubisavljević, K. - Mikulíček, P. - Moravec, J. - Tzankov, N. - Gvoždík, Václav
Contrasting evolutionary histories of four slow-worm (Anguis) species in the Balkans.
Zoologické dny Brno 2015: sborník abstraktů z konference 12.-13. února 2015. Brno: Ústav biologie obratlovců AV ČR, 2015 - (Bryja, J.; Řehák, Z.; Zukal, J.). s. 98-99. ISBN 978-80-87189-18-4.
[Zoologické dny. 12.02.2015-13.02.2015, Brno]
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68081766
Kód oboru RIV: EG - Zoologie

Genus Anguis constitutes a species complex with the highest diversity found in the Balkan Peninsula where four out of five species occur in parapatry. Two species are widespread across the Western Palearctic with their distributions in the northern Balkans forming a south-eastern (A. fragilis) and south-western (A. colchica), respectively, limit of their range. Two species represent south-Balkan endemics (A. graeca, A. cephallonica). Mitochondrial DNA (ND2, 732 bp) of 231 individuals of all four species from 187 localities within the Balkans was analysed using the phylogeographic framework and demographic analyses. We uncovered contrasting
evolutionary histories of the four species and detected multiple potential refugia of each species. The highest genetic variation was found in the south-Balkan-endemic A. graeca, although without deep divergences. The Albanian Mountains showed up as an important region harbouring several haplogroups of A. graeca. The second endemic (A. cephallonica), also
demonstrates complex phylogeographic structure supplemented by a divergent lineage from the Mani Peninsula. Similarly, two deeply divergent clades were detected also within the Balkan populations of A. colchica. The first occurring on the Black Sea coast, while the second widespread and represented by several haplogroups distributed along the Stara Planina, Banat and the Carpathians. On the contrary, the Balkan populations of A. fragilis show relatively
shallow genetic structure (basal radiation located in Slovenia). A signature of population growth was detected in all populations, with exceptions in the Slovenian A. fragilis and the Carpathian A. colchica. These two northern areas (Slovenia, Carpathians) thus represent important refugia, which have harboured stable slow-worm populations within the Balkans and have served as source regions for spatial expansions out of the Balkans.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0254927