BIOGEOGRAPHY OF LACERTA-(ZOOTOCA)-VIVIPARA - REPRODUCTIVE MODE AND ENZYME PHENOTYPES IN BULGARIA

Lacerta (Zooroca) vivipara, has allopatric oviparous and viviparous po pulations: viviparity is observed from central France and the British Isles to Scandinavia and Russia, while oviparity is restricted to nort hern Spain and southwestern France, i.e. the extreme southwestern part of the range. Recent observations in the Rila, Balkan, Vitocha, Pirin and Rhodopes mountains indicate that Bulgarian populations of Lacerta (Zootoca) vivipara are indeed viviparous. The electrophoretic study o f allozymes and the estimation of genetic distances indicate that vivi parous lizards from northwest and central France are more closely rela ted to those of Bulgaria, than to the oviparous lizards of southwest F rance and northwest Spain. Variations in reproductive mode and allozym es are not directly related to geographic distances between population s, nor to their latitude: populations located at the southwest limit o f distribution are oviparous and exhibit alleles ATA(-150) Or ATA(-200 ), whereas, at a comparable latitude, the Bulgarian populations are vi viparous and exhibit allele ATA(-100) characteristic of other distant viviparous populations. These findings underline the originality of th e oviparous southwestern populations. They do not contradict our previ ous biogeographic scenario.