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| Pseudopus apodus levantinus Jablonski, Ribeiro-Júnior, Meiri, Maza, Mikulíček & Jandzik, in Jablonski, Ribeiro-Júnior, Meiri, ... et Jandzik, 2021. DOI: 10.3897/vz.71.e60800 |
Abstract
The Levant represents one of the most important reptile diversity hotspots and centers of endemism in the Western Palearctic. The region harbored numerous taxa in glacial refugia during the Pleistocene climatic oscillations. Due to the hostile arid conditions in the warmer periods they were not always able to spread or come into contact with populations from more distant regions. One large and conspicuous member of the Levantine herpetofauna is the legless anguid lizard Pseudopus apodus. This species is distributed from the Balkans to Central Asia with a portion of its range running along the eastern Mediterranean coast. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, microsatellite genotypes, and morphology show that populations in this region differ from the two named subspecies and presumably had a long independent evolutionary history during the Quaternary. Here we describe the Levantine population as a new subspecies and present biogeographic scenarios for its origin and diversification. The new subspecies is genetically highly diverse, and it forms a sister lineage to Pseudopus from the remaining parts of the range according to mtDNA. It is the largest-bodied of the three subspecies, but occupies the smallest range.
Keywords: Middle East, mitochondrial DNA, microsatellites, Ophisaurus, phenotype, Reptiles, sheltopusik, Squamata
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| Pseudopus apodus levantinus ssp. nov. E – adult female from Antakya, Turkey (photo by David Jandzik). F – juvenile individual from Ness Ziyona, Israel (photo by David David). |
Pseudopus apodus levantinus ssp. nov. Jablonski, Ribeiro-Júnior, Meiri, Maza, Mikulíček, Jandzik
The proposed common name in English, Hebrew, and Arabic:
Levantine Glass Lizard, الشرق ,קמטן חורש לבנטיני, respectively.
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| Figure 9. Color and pattern variation in the Pseudopus apodus subspecies: A – adult male of P. a. apodus in a typical steppe habitat from Samarkand, Uzbekistan (photo by Daniel Jablonski). B – juvenile individual of P. a. apodus from Kyz-Kermen, Bakhchisarayi, Crimea (photo by Oleg V. Kukushkin). C – adult female of P. a. thracius from Dadia, Greece (photo by D. Jablonski). D – juvenile individual of P. a. thracius from National Park Paklenica, Croatia (photo by D. Jablonski). E – adult female of P. a. levantinus ssp. nov. from Antakya, Turkey (photo by David Jandzik). F – juvenile individual of P. a. levantinus ssp. nov. from Ness Ziyona, Israel (photo by David David). |
Diagnosis: A large Pseudopus (up to 610 mm snout-vent length, 1,367 mm total length and a mass of 1,100 g) that can be distinguished from the other two subspecies by a combination of the following characters (means followed by standard deviations; Table 4): (1) preanal scales (PAN) 10; (2) long body (SVL; 490.22 mm ± 76.15); (3) long tail (TL; 600.70 mm ± 107.04); (4) long head (HL1; from the ear aperture to the tip of the snout, 47.6 mm ± 7.99); pileus length (PL; mean 41.98 mm ± 6.78); and distance from the frontal shield to the tip of the snout (FSL; 17.27 mm ± 2.96); (5) wide head (HW1; maximum width, 32.04 mm ± 6.34); and width at the level of the posterior edge of the eyes orbits (HW2; 28.21 mm ± 4.95); (6) relatively long limb rudiments (RL; 5.55 mm ± 1.53) (see and Tables 3 and 4 for comparisons to P. a. apodus and P. a. thracius).
Etymology: No name is available for the glass lizards from the Levantine region. We hence suggest a new name, Pseudopus apodus levantinus, as a reference to the isolated and allopatric distribution of this subspecies exclusively in the Levant region. This region covers present-day (western) Syria, Lebanon, (north-western) Jordan, Israel, West Bank, Cyprus, and most of Turkey south-east of the middle Euphrates, which is almost identical to the known distribution range of the new subspecies. The term “Levant” is derived from the Italian “Levante”, meaning “rising” and implying the rising of the Sun in the east as an equivalent to the Arabic “al-Mashriq” (المشـرق) and the Hebrew “Mizrāḥ” ((מִזְרָחboth meaning “east”.
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| Figure 7. Habitat of Pseudopus apodus levantinus ssp. nov. at the type locality Giv’at Ada (גבעת עדה) in Israel (photo by Ilana Rosenstein). |
Daniel Jablonski, Marco Antônio Ribeiro-Júnior, Shai Meiri, Erez Maza, Oleg V. Kukushkin, Marina Chirikova, Angelika Pirosová, Dušan Jelić, Peter Mikulíček and David Jandzik. 2021. Morphological and Genetic Differentiation in the Anguid Lizard Pseudopus apodus supports the Existence of An Endemic Subspecies in the Levant. Vertebrate Zoology. 71: 175-200. DOI: 10.3897/vz.71.e60800
We dedicate this article to Professor Fritz Jürgen Obst (1939–2018) acknowledging thus his precocious contribution to the taxonomy of Pseudopus (Ophisaurus) apodus published in Zoologische Abhandlungen (1978), today Vertebrate Zoology journal, 40 years before the information appeared about the possible existence of the subspecies described here.
Abstract in Hebrew: הלבאנט מהווה את אחד האזורים העשירים ביותר במינים בכלל, במינים אנדמיים ובמגוון פילוגנטי של זוחלים בממלכה הפליארקטית. מינים רבים התקיימו באזור במהלך תקופות הקרח, כשהוא שימש מפלט מהאקלים הקר בצפון. אחד ממיני הזוחלים הגדולים והבולטים בלבאנט הוא קמטן החורש, Pseudopus apodus מין זה נפוץ מהבלקן בצפון אל מרכז אסיה במזרח, ומגיע בחוף הים התיכון המזרחי לגבול תפוצתו הדרומי. לפי רצפי DNA מיטוכונדריאלי, DNA גרעיני ומיקרוסטליטים, כמו גם נתוני צורה, גודל ודגמי צבע, נראה כי אוכלוסיות הלבנט של מין זה שונות משמעותית משני תתי המינים המתוארים המצויים מצפון ללבאנט. הנתונים מצביעים על כך שאוכלוסיות הלבאנט נפרדו מתתי המינים האחרים ומראות היסטוריה פילוגנטית עצמאית לאורך הרביעון. אנו מתארים את אוכלוסיות הלבאנט כתת מין חדש. ומציגים תרחישים אפשריים להסבר מוצאו והיפרדותו מתתי המינים האחרים. תת המין החדש הוא קבוצה אחות לשני תתי המינים המתוארים על פי הניתוח הגנטי. הוא הגדול בין תתי המינים, אך מאכלס את תחום התפוצה הקטן מבין כל השלושה.
Abstract in Arabic: منطقة الشرق الاوسط تعتبر احدى اغنى المناطق بانواع الحيونات المختلفة بشكل عام, وبالعديد من الحيوانات المتوطنة ومجموعة متنوعة من الزواحف من مملكة Palearctic. كانت المنطقة تأوي العديد من الأنواع في الفترة الجليدية, اذ ان المنطقة كانت بمثابة ملجأ لها من برد المناطق الاكثر شمالاً. من احدى انواع الزواحف الكبيرة والبارزة في منطقة الشرق الاوسط هي السحلية Pseudopus apodus. هذا النوع من الزواحف ينتشر في الشمال من منطقة البلقان الى مركز آسيا في الشرق ويصل انتشاره حتى شواطئ البحر الابيض المتوسط الشمالية, والتي تعد اقصى منطقة جنوبية ينتشر بها.استنادا لتسلسل الحمض النووي الميتوكوندريالي والحمض الخلوي الصبغي, بالاضافة الى معلومات اخرى منها الشكل والحجم ونماذج من الالوان, نرى ان هذا النوع من السحلية التي تعيش في منطقة الشرق الاوسط يختلف كثيرا عن انواع اخرى المنتشرة في المناطق الاكثر شمالاً.تشير المعلومات الى ان مجموعات السحلية عديمة الارجل القاطنة بمنطقة الشرق الاوسط انفصلت من النُّويعات (انواع فرعية) الاخرى وتظهر تاريخ تطوري مستقل خلال العصر الرباعي. نصف هنا ان هذا النوع من السحالي يُصَنَّف كنُوَيع مختلف وجديد ونعرض احداث ممكنة لشرح اصلها وانفصالها من النويعات الاخرى .يبدو أن النوع الفرعي الجديد له علاقة قريبة (أُخت) مع النوعين الاخرين ,ورغم انه الاكبر حجما لكنه يحتل اصغر نطاق انتشار من بينها.
