Contribution to the study of the genetic variability and taxonomic relationships among five lizard species of the family Lacertidae from Greece

The present study examines the genetic variability and the taxonomic relati onships among five lacertid species, i.e. Podarcis taurica, P. milensis, P. peloponnesiaca, Lacerta graeca and Algyroides moreoticus, representing the three main genera of this family in Europe. The last four of the above spe cies are endemic to Greece and three of them live sympatrically in Peloponn isos. These relationships were studied by allozyme analysis. Of the loci an alyzed, the Mpi-1 locus was found to be a convenient molecular marker for d iscrimination of the genera Podarcis (allele a), Lacerta (allele b) and Alg yroides (allele c). The values of Nei's genetic distances between the exami ned species ranged from 0.025 to 0.484. According to the UPGMA-dendrogram p lotted using the Nei's genetic distances, two species groups are formed ind icating that the genera Lacerta and Algyroides show a stronger relationship to one another than either does to Podarcis. These results are in agreemen t with DNA sequence data but are not in accordance with previous electropho retic and immunological studies, which suggest that Lacerta is more closely related to Podarcis than to Algyroides. The studied Podarcis taxa were fou nd to be close relatives (Nei's distances <0.18), especially P. taurica and P. milensis. These values are lower than those usually given in the litera ture for the distinction of lacertid species.