Species:

Podarcis lilfordi  (GÜNTHER, 1874)

Evolutionarily significant units (46):

 Menorca: Illa de l’Aire ESU  (GÜNTHER, 1874)

 Menorca: Illa d’en Colom ESU  (BRAUN, 1877)

 Menorca: Illa del Rei ESU  (BRAUN, 1877)

 Menorca: Illa Sargantana ESU  (BRAUN, 1877)

 Menorca: Illa des Porros ESU  (EISENTRAUT, 1928)

 Menorca: Illa Gran d’Addaia ESU  (EISENTRAUT, 1928)

 Menorca: Illa Petit d’Addaia ESU  (EISENTRAUT, 1928)

 Menorca: Illa Ravells ESU  (EISENTRAUT, 1928)

 Menorca: Escull de Binicodrell Gros ESU  (SALVADOR, 1985)

 Menorca: Escull de Binicodrell Petit ESU  (SALVADOR, 1985)

 Menorca: Illa de ses Bledes ESU  (SALVADOR, 1985)

 Menorca: Illot d’en Tosqueta ESU  (SALVADOR, 1985)

 Menorca: Illot des Porros ESU  (BARBADILLO, 1987)

 Menorca: Escull de Ses Àguiles ESU  (PÉREZ-MELLADO & SALVADOR, 1988)

 Menorca: Illot d’en Carbó Gran ESU  (PÉREZ-MELLADO & SALVADOR, 1988)

 Menorca: Illa de Ses Mones ESU  (PÉREZ-MELLADO, 1989)

 Menorca: Illot d’en Mel ESU  (TRIAY, 1998)

 Menorca: Illot d’en Carbó Petit ESU  (VAN DEN BERG & ZAWADZKI, 2010)

 Mallorca: Illa Sa Dragonera ESU  (BEDRIAGA, 1879)

 Mallorca: Illa Na Guardis ESU  (BOSCÁ, 1881)

 Mallorca: Illa Na Moltona ESU  (BOSCÁ, 1881)

 Mallorca: Illot des Frares ESU  (BOSCÁ, 1881)

 Mallorca: Illa es Colomer ESU  (BOULENGER, 1920)

 Mallorca: Illa Malgrats ESU  (WETTSTEIN, 1937)

 Mallorca: Illa Toro ESU  (HARTMANN, 1953)

 Mallorca: Illot des Conills ESU  (SALVADOR, 1976)

 Mallorca: Illa Porrassa ESU  (MAYOL, 2004)

 Mallorca: Illot Na Pelada ESU  (MAYOL, 2004)

 Mallorca: Illot d’en Curt ESU  (PÉREZ-MELLADO et al. 2008)

 Cabrera: Cabrera ESU  (BOSCÁ, 1881)

 Cabrera: Illa des Conills ESU  (MÜLLER, 1927)

 Cabrera: Illot Na Foradada ESU  (MÜLLER, 1927)

 Cabrera: Illot Na Plana ESU  (MÜLLER, 1927)

 Cabrera: Illot l’Imperial ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Escull l’Esponja ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Estell de Fora ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Estell des Dos Colls ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Illa de ses Rates ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Illa des Fonoll ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Illa Na Redona ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Illot de ses Bledes ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Illot Na Pobra ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: L’Olló ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: La Teula ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Xapat Gros ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

 Cabrera: Xapat Petit ESU  (SALVADOR, 1979)

Extinct subspecies or population (2):

 Menorca: Podarcis lilfordi rodriquezi  (MÜLLER, 1927)

 Mallorca: Podarcis lilfordi Illa Gavina population  (SALVADOR, 1985)

Synonyms:

Zootoca Lilfordi  GÜNTHER, 1874

Lacerta lilfordi  BRAUN, 1877

Podarcis lilfordi  MERTENS, 1921

Common names:

Lilford’s Wall Lizard (English)
Balearen-Eidechse (German)
Lagartija Balear (Spanish)

Taxonomic notes:

Diese Art - wie auch P. pityusensis - war in besonderer Weise dem `Spieltrieb` mancher Herpetologen ausgesetzt, die nahezu von jedem noch so kleinen Inselchen eigene Unterarten beschrieben haben. Die Meerstiefen zwischen allen Inseln und Inselchen der Balearen sind geringer als 100 Meter, was bedeutet, dass ihr Alter allerhöchstens 10.000 bis 15.000 Jahre betragen kann. Daher sind die oft auffälligen Unterschiede in Größe, Färbung und Zeichnung viel eher auf Gründer- und Gendrifteffekte zurückzuführen als auf spezielle Adaptionen auf diesen ökologisch oft ungemein ähnlichen Inseln. Dennoch sind alle bisherigen Versuche, Unterarten sinnvoll zusammenzufassen, gescheitert.

WERNER MAYER, 2015

We follow the proposed taxonomic arrangement by PÉREZ-CEMBRANOS et al. (2020), using evolutionarily significant units (ESU) instead of subspecies.

www.lacerta.de, 2021

Relevant taxonomic literature:

• Günther, A. (1874) -  Description of a new european species of Zootoca. -  The Annals and magazine of natural history, (4) 14: 158-159.  

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• Pérez-Cembranos, A. & Pérez-Mellado, V. & Alemany, I. & Bassitta, M. & Terrasa, B. & Picornell, A. & Castro, J.A. & Brown, R.P. & Ramon, C. (2020) -  Morphological and genetic diversity of the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874): Is it relevant to its conservation? -  Diversity and Distributions. https://doi. org/10.1111/ddi.13107     

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  Aims: To characterize the genetic and morphological diversification of the endan- gered Balearic lizard Podarcis lilfordi and to assess the relevance of this diversity, and how it is described, to conservation measures. Location: This study covers all the populations of the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, present in its range of distribution at coastal islets of Menorca, Mallorca and Cabrera Archipelago. Methods: We analysed genetic and morphological variation across the 43 known extant populations of the Balearic lizard, using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. We examined morphometric and scalation characters using, in some cases, phyloge- netically independent contrasts. We also incorporated the study of dorsal coloration and dorsal colour pattern including the analysis of melanism in several populations. Results: We detected clear genetic divergence between Menorcan populations and populations from Mallorca and Cabrera, in both nuclear and mtDNA markers, but genetic divergence is relatively low among different insular populations within these groups. In contrast, morphological divergence was substantial both between Menorcan and remaining populations and within these groups. Morphological traits, such as dorsal coloration, body size and the number and size of scales, seemed to be linked with differences in climatic conditions between populations. In addition, some traits, as melanism, showed a strong phylogenetic signal. Main conclusions: The morphological and genetic diversity of the Balearic lizard is incongruent with the subspecies described in the classical taxonomic literature. Moreover, current populations differ not only in some genetic and morphological features, but also in several ecological and ethological characteristics, in many cases unique to one population. Based on our results, we propose abandoning the use of subspecies to describe the extraordinary morphological diversity of the Balearic liz- ard and its replacement with the concept of evolutionary significant units (ESUs). ESUs are particularly suitable to describe and recognize such diversity and, especially, to ensure the continuity of the evolutionary process.