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Relict Populations and Endemic Clades in Palearctic Reptiles: Evolutionary History and Implications for Conservation

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Relict Species

Abstract

The phylogeographic history of eight species complexes of West Palearctic reptiles was reconstructed using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Cryptic endemic taxa were detected in the Southern European peninsulas (Iberia, Southern Italy/Sicily, and Greece) as well as in North Africa, Anatolia, Iran, and the Caucasus. These endemics are mainly of Tertiary or early Pleistocene age. Only part of them can be categorized as relicts of a former, more widely distributed taxon, having survived in ice age refugia; others have probably always remained in a restricted area, close to their origin.

Typical Pleistocene relict populations are phylogenetically related to larger conspecific populations elsewhere. They may be restricted to mountain habitats like Vipera berus in the Alps and in Greek mountains, or to islands like Lacerta bilineata on Cres and Natrix tessellata in Crete.

Holocene relict populations stem from a postPleistocene range expansion (usually in Southeast-Northwest direction). They reached their largest distribution during the Holocene climatic optimum and were later restricted to small areas in the climatically most favorable regions. Examples are N. tessellata, Zamenis longissimus, L. bilineata, L. viridis, and Emys orbicularis in Germany. These populations are only poorly differentiated genetically; hence the risk of losing genetic diversity is not an appropriate argument for their protection. They may react to global warming by a range expansion.

Southern European, North African, and Middle Eastern relicts may, on the contrary, be threatened by global warming. These populations are in need of more studies, and should be brought to the attention of national and international conservation agencies.

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Acknowledgments

We like to thank many colleagues - too numerous to mention individually - who provided tissues from different parts of Europe and non-European parts of distribution ranges. Robin Lawson helped with sequencing Natrix spp, Nik Stümpel and Alexander Zinenko sequenced additional Vipera samples and Toni Amann did initial work on the Lacerta viridis complex. Our work was financed with grants provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Jo-134/7, Jo-134/9 and Wi-319/18).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum, Pockelsstr. 10, D-38179, Braunschweig, Germany

    Ulrich Joger

  2. Museum für Tierkunde, Natural History State Collection, A.B. Meyer Building, D-01109, Dresden, Germany

    Uwe Fritz

  3. Universität Kassel, FB1, Systematik und Morphologie der Pflanzen, Heinrich-Plett Str. 40, D-34132, Kassel, Germany

    Daniela Guicking

  4. Institut für Pharmazie und molekulare Biotechnologie, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 364, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Svetlana Kalyabina-Hauf & Michael Wink

  5. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, JEMU, rue Vautier 29, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Zoltan T. Nagy

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  1. Ulrich Joger
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  2. Uwe Fritz
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  3. Daniela Guicking
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  4. Svetlana Kalyabina-Hauf
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  5. Zoltan T. Nagy
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  6. Michael Wink
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Correspondence to Ulrich Joger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Musée National d´Histoire Naturelle Luxembourg, 25, rue Münster, 2160, Luxembourg

    Jan Christian Habel

  2. Institute of Ecology and Environmental Chemistry, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, 21335, Lüneburg, Germany

    Thorsten Assmann

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We dedicate this chapter to the memory of Peter Lenk (1964–2005)

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Joger, U., Fritz, U., Guicking, D., Kalyabina-Hauf, S., Nagy, Z.T., Wink, M. (2010). Relict Populations and Endemic Clades in Palearctic Reptiles: Evolutionary History and Implications for Conservation. In: Habel, J.C., Assmann, T. (eds) Relict Species. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-92160-8_6

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