| Lacerta muralis ADAMS, 1870 Lacerta muralis DESPOTT, 1915 Lacerta filfolensis maltensis MERTENS & MÜLLER, 1940 Podarcis filfolensis maltensis CAPULA et al., 1982 Podarcis filfolensis SALVI et al., 2014 |
Adams, A.L. (1870) - Reptiles - In: Notes of a naturalist in the Nile Valley and Malta. Edingburgh: Edmonton and Douglas. Page 80-82.  Despott, G. (1915) - The reptiles of the Maltese Islands. - The Zoologist, 891: 321-360.  Mertens, R. & Müller, L. (1940) - Die Amphibien und Reptilien Europas. (Zweite Liste, nach dem Stand vom 1. Januar 1940) - Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 451: 1-56. Capula, M. & Nascetti, L. & Capanna, E. (1982) - Chromosome Uniformity in Lacertidae: New Data on four Italian Species - Amphibia-Reptilia, 3 (2/3): 207-212.  × The chromosome complements of Podarcis filfolensis, P. tiliguerta, P. wagleriana and Archaeolacerta bedriagae were analyzed in bone marrow somatic mitoses as well as in meiotic diakinesis. All four species are characterized by the typical lacertid karyotype consisting of 38 chromosomes (36 acrocentric macrochromosomes plus 2 microchromosomes). Adaptive stability of karyotypes, as a result ofa canalization process of chromosomal evolution, and absence of complex social behaviour promoting population subdivision and inbreeding, are the evolutionary factors presumably correlated with the remarkable conservativeness of karyotype observed within the family Lacertidae. Salvi, D. & Schembri, P. & Sciberras, A. & Harris, D.J. (2014) - Evolutionary history of the Maltese wall lizard Podarcis filfolensis: insights on the ‘Expansion-Contraction’ model of Pleistocene biogeography. - Molecular Ecology, 23 (5): 1167-1187. × The Expansion-Contraction (EC) model predicts demographic and range contraction of temperate species during Pleistocene glaciations as a consequence of climate-related habitat changes, and provides a paradigm for explaining the high intraspecific diversity found in refugia in terms of long-term demographic stability. However, recent evidence has revealed a weak predictive power of this model for terrestrial species in insular and coastal settings. We investigated the Pleistocene EC dynamics and their evolutionary consequences on temperate species using the Maltese archipelago and its endemic lizard Podarcis filfolensis as a model system. The evolutionary and demographic history of P. filfolensis as inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear sequences data does not conform to the EC model predictions, supporting (i) demographic and spatial stability or expansion, rather than contraction, of the northern and southern lineages during the last glacial period, and (ii) a major role for allopatric differentiation primed by sea-level dynamics, rather than prolonged demographic stability, in the formation of the observed genetic diversity. When combined with evidence from other Mediterranean refugia, this study shows how the incorporation of Pleistocene sea-level variations in the EC model accounts for a reverse demographic and range response of insular and coastal temperate biotas relative to continental ones. Furthermore, this cross-archipelago pattern in which allopatric diversity is formed and shaped by EC cycles resembles that seen between isolated populations within mainland refugia and suggests that the EC model, originally developed to explain population fluctuations into and out-of refugia, may be appropriate for describing the demographic and evolutionary dynamics driving the high genetic diversity observed in these areas. Sciberras, J. & Sciberras, A. (2014) - Behavior of lizards in the Maltese and Pelagian islands: a personal experience. - L@CERTIDAE, 2014 [1]: 1-10. × Different behavior in populations of Podarcis filflolensis on the Maltese and Pelagian islands are
described and discussed.
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