A new vertebrate for Europe: the discovery of a range-restricted relict viper in the western Italian Alps

Abstract

We describe Vipera walser, a new viper species from the north‐western Italian Alps. Despite an overall morphological resemblance with Vipera berus, the new species is remarkably distinct genetically from both V. berus and other vipers occurring in western Europe and shows closer affinities to species occurring only in the Caucasus. Morphologically, the new species appear to be more similar to V. berus than to its closest relatives occurring in the Caucasus, but can be readily distinguished in most cases by a combination of meristic features as confirmed by discriminant analysis. The extant population shows a very low genetic variability measured with mitochondrial markers, suggesting that the taxon has suffered a serious population reduction/bottleneck in the past. The species is extremely range‐restricted (less than 500 km2) and occurs only in two disjunct sites within the high rainfall valleys of the Alps north of Biella. This new species should be classified as globally ‘endangered’ due to its small and fragmented range, and an inferred population decline. The main near‐future threats to the species are habitat changes associated with reduced grazing, along with persecution and collecting.

Discriminating species of Sinipta Stål (Orthoptera: Acrididae) from Uruguay based on morphological, ethological and molecular data

“…As Dayrat () and Ghielmi et al () mentioned, correctly delineating species boundaries, i.e. determining whether different individual organisms are members of the same entity, is crucial for the discovery of life’s diversity.…”

“…Recently, the use of genetic markers has enabled the identification of morphologically similar but genetically distinct species, so‐called “cryptic species” (Bickford et al ). This approach makes it possible to identify divergent evolutionary lineages despite subtle morphological differences, or even in their absence (Ghielmi et al ). Nowadays, the most promising method for appropriately identifying species, as well as demarcating between‐species boundaries, is to incorporate many types of information into a study.…”

“…Molecular methods are used to ratify the identity of S. dalmani and S. hectorisperonii as distinct species. Combined methodologies (Pocco et al ) have been successfully applied in similar circumstances for different animal groups (Pilgrim et al ; Puillandre et al ; Tan et al ; Ghielmi et al ). In Orthoptera, for instance, sound production and acoustic behavior (Riede ; Lorier ; Ragge & Reynolds ; García et al ; Clemente et al ), the morphology of the stridulatory apparatus (Pitkin ; Clemente et al ; García et al , ; Clemente et al ) and molecular methods were used as a framework to identify the phylogenetic relationships between taxa and to evaluate the species status (Blanchet et al , ; Husemann et al ; Rouibah et al ).…”

Cryptic diversity and molecular systematics of the AegeanOphiomorusskinks (Reptilia: Squamata), with the description of a new species

“…In some cases, morphological differentiation was already evident and was later reinforced with the detection of high genetic divergence well above the species level (e.g., de Pous et al, 2016;Psonis et al, 2017). In other cases, DNA analyses provided evidence of hidden diversity that was subsequently confirmed with more thorough morphological analyses (e.g., Ghielmi, Menegon, Marsden, Laddaga, & Ursenbacher, 2016;Sindaco et al 2014).…”

Color and pattern variation of the Balkan whip snake,Hierophis gemonensis (Laurenti, 1768)

“…Current genetic research has resulted in taxonomic changes for many European species including their synonymization, elevation to higher levels, or description of newly recognized hidden phylogenetic clades (see Torstrom et al, 2014 for a review). Deep genetic divergences among several European reptiles were uncovered only recently due to little differences in their phenotypes (see Gvoždík et al, 2013;Ghielmi et al, 2016). This suggests, surprisingly, how often the evolution of genotype does not correspond to the evolution of phenotype.…”