Further evidence of the existence of oviparous populations of Lacerta (Zootoca) vivipara in the NW of the Balkan Peninsula

The lizard Lacerta (Zootoca) vivipara, which is viviparous in the greatest part of its distribution range, has however some oviparous populations on t he southern margin of its range. The present study aimed at determining the reproductive mode and the ATA (aspartate transaminase) enzyme characterist ics of four populations in Sloven ia and one population in Croatia. The Slo venian females studied here presented an oviparous reproductive mode which strongly resembled those observed in the oviparous populations of south-wes tern France and north-western Spain. Our electrophoresis analyses revealed the existence of two distinct alleles, ATA(-150) and ATA(-200), in the ovip arous populations of Slovenia. These alleles were identical to those observ ed in the French and Spanish oviparous group and were distinct from the all ele ATA(-100) characterizing the viviparous populations that we had previou sly studied. Although we did not study the reproductive mode of Croatian fe males, the allele ATA(-200) observed in one population of Croatia strongly suggested that this population might also be oviparous. (C) 2000 Academie d es sciences/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.