Natural History Museum of Crete, School of Sciences and Engineering, University of Crete, Knosos Avenue, Irakleio 71409, Greece; Department of Biology, School of Sciences and Engineering, University of Crete, Vassilika Vouton, Irakleio 70013, Greece.
Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Gournes Pediados, Irakleio, P.O. Box 2214, 71003 Crete, Greece.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2021 Jun;159:107121. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107121. Epub 2021 Feb 17.
Wall lizards of the genus Podarcis (Sauria, Lacertidae) are the predominant reptile group in southern Europe, including 24 recognized species. Mitochondrial DNA data have shown that, with the exception of P. muralis, the Podarcis species distributed in the Balkan peninsula form a species group that is further sub-divided into two subgroups: the one of "P. tauricus" consisting of P. tauricus, P. milensis, P. gaigeae, and P. melisellensis, and the other of "P. erhardii" comprising P. erhardii, P. levendis, P. cretensis, and P. peloponnesiacus. In an attempt to explore the Balkan Podarcis phylogenomic relationships, assess the levels of genetic structure and to re-evaluate the number of extant species, we employed phylogenomic and admixture approaches on ddRADseq (double digested Restriction site Associated DNA sequencing) genomic data. With this efficient Next Generation Sequencing approach, we were able to obtain a large number of genomic loci randomly distributed throughout the genome and use them to resolve the previously obscure phylogenetic relationships among the different Podarcis species distributed in the Balkans. The obtained phylogenomic relationships support the monophyly of both aforementioned subgroups and revealed several divergent lineages within each subgroup, stressing the need for taxonomic re-evaluation of Podarcis' species in Balkans. The phylogenomic trees and the species delimitation analyses confirmed all recently recognized species (P. levendis, P. cretensis, and P. ionicus) and showed the presence of at least two more species, one in P. erhardii and the other in P. peloponnesiacus.
壁蜥属（Sauria，Lacertidae）的壁蜥是欧洲南部主要的爬行动物群体，包括 24 种公认的物种。线粒体 DNA 数据表明，除了 P. muralis 之外，分布在巴尔干半岛的壁蜥物种形成了一个物种群，进一步细分为两个亚群：“P. tauricus”亚群由 P. tauricus、P. milensis、P. gaigeae 和 P. melisellensis 组成，而“P. erhardii”亚群则由 P. erhardii、P. levendis、P. cretensis 和 P. peloponnesiacus 组成。为了探索巴尔干半岛壁蜥的系统发育关系，评估遗传结构水平，并重新评估现存物种的数量，我们采用了系统基因组学和混合分析方法对 ddRADseq（双酶切限制位点相关 DNA 测序）基因组数据进行研究。通过这种高效的下一代测序方法，我们能够获得大量随机分布在整个基因组中的基因组位点，并利用这些位点来解决以前模糊的不同分布在巴尔干半岛的壁蜥物种之间的系统发育关系。获得的系统基因组关系支持上述两个亚群的单系性，并揭示了每个亚群内的几个分歧谱系，强调了对巴尔干半岛壁蜥物种进行分类学再评估的必要性。系统基因组树和物种划分分析证实了所有最近认可的物种（P. levendis、P. cretensis 和 P. ionicus）的存在，并显示至少还有两个物种存在，一个在 P. erhardii 中，另一个在 P. peloponnesiacus 中。
