Origin and haplotype diversity of the northernmost population of (Squamata, Lacertidae): Do lizards respond to climate change and go north?

The northernmost population of the Balkan wall lizards, (Pallas, 1814) was recently discovered in the Czech Republic. We studied genetic variability in a mitochondrial marker to shed light on the origin of this remote population. We detected three unique haplotypes, close to those occurring in the populations of from central/north Balkans and Hungary. Our data exclude the hypothesis of a single founder (a randomly or intentionally introduced pregnant female or her progeny) of the Czech population and indicate a native, autochthonous origin of the population or recent introduction/range expansion.