Articles
Unexpected phylogeographic affinities of <i>Psammodromus algirus</i> from Conigli islet (Lampedusa)
Published 2009-07-01
How to Cite
Carretero, M. A., Perera, A., Lo Cascio, P., Corti, C., & Harris, D. J. (2009). Unexpected phylogeographic affinities of <i>Psammodromus algirus</i> from Conigli islet (Lampedusa). Acta Herpetologica, 4(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-2949
Abstract
The only Italian population of the lacertid Psammodromus algirus is found in Conigli islet whereas the species is absent from the nearby island of Lampedusa. The phylogeographic relationships of this population were investigated. Mitochondrial DNA (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) fragment sequences were analysed and compared with already published sequences from the whole species range. In all the analyses, the sample from Conigli grouped with those from Morocco and not with the closer Tunisian ones. Such surprising result poses serious doubts to the traditional interpretation of the enigmatic distribution pattern of this species in Italy suggesting a recent colonisation of the islet from NW Africa, probably human-mediated, rather than a land crossing from Tunisia during the Pleistocene.Metrics
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