Genomic variation within Laudakia stellio (Linnaeus, 1758) (Sauria: Agamidae) in Turkey, based on analyses of mitochondrial 12S rRNA sequences

Abstract

The starred agama, Laudakia stellio (Linnaeus, 1758) has a wide distribution from Northern Africa to Southeast Europe and Southwest Asia and was thought to form two subspecies, Laudakia stellio-stellio (Linnaeus, 1758) and Laudakia stellio-daani in Turkey. Almog examined specimens from Greece, Aegean Islands and Anatolia for exploring the systematic status of L.s. daani relative to L.s. stellio. They recognized the whole Anatolian populations as L.s. daani indicating that the question of the eastern boundary of the subspecies remains open, Delos and Mykonos populations as L.s. stellio and emphasized the ambiguity of the taxonomic status of South-east Anatolia populations. So partial sequences (404 bp) of the mitochondrial 12S ribosomal RNA gene of six populations were sequenced to examine the genomic variation of the species in Anatolia. The analyses clearly suggest that two distinct mtDNA lineages exist in Turkey separated by 2.28 and 4.51 % for the 12S rRNA sequences and conclude that the South, Blacksea and Aegean regions may represent L. stellio-daani because morphologically they fit the subspecies L.s. daani, however the southeast region remains to be addressed. © Medwell Journals, 2011.