Evolutionary divergence of the smooth snake (Serpentes, Colubridae): The role of the Balkans and Anatolia
2022
Authors:
Stratakis, ManosKoutmanis, Iraklis
Ilgaz, Çetin
Jablonski, Daniel
Kukushkin, Oleg V.
Crnobrnja-Isailović, Jelka
Carretero, Miguel A.
Liuzzi, Cristiano
Kumlutaş, Yusuf
Lymberakis, Petros
Poulakakis, Nikos
Document Type:
Article (Published version)
,
© 2022 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract:
The smooth snake Coronella austriaca (Laurenti, 1768) is distributed across the western Palearctic throughout north-central, southern Europe and western Asia. So far, only few phylogenetic studies, based on mitochondrial DNA, have been carried out on this species focusing mainly on the Iberian Peninsula and northern Europe, leaving unstudied some of important areas of its distribution. This study aims to cover this gap and to explore the phylogenetic relationships between the populations of in the Eastern Mediterranean and to detect possible historical refugia. With this objective, total genomic DNA was extracted from samples originated from the Balkans, Anatolia and a large part of Europe. Two mitochondrial (cyt b, 16S) and six nuclear (BDNF, NKTR, RAG1, RAG2, MC1R and PRLR) markers were combined for phylogenetic and chronophylogenetic analyses. The different analyses confirmed previous phylogeographic hypothesis showing the presence of several well-supported clades distributed in Anatolia, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Balkans and the Iberian Peninsula and cryptic diversity within Anatolia and the Balkans. Moreover, dating analysis confirmed the diversification of the species during the Pleistocene, as well as the role of the Southern Balkans and Anatolia region as refugia during this period.
Keywords:
Black Sea region; Colubridae; Coronella; Mediterranean; Nuclear markers; RefugiaSource:
Zoologica Scripta, 2022Funding / projects:
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, institutional funding - 200007 (University of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research 'Siniša Stanković') (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200007)
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, institutional funding - 200124 (Univeristy of Niš, Faculty of Science) (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200124)
- Slovak Research and Development Agency
DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12533
ISSN: 0300-3256
WoS: 000766960000001
Scopus: 2-s2.0-85126035720
URI
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zsc.12533http://radar.ibiss.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4891