Population Genomics of Wall Lizards Reflects the Dynamic History of the Mediterranean Basin

Abstract

The Mediterranean Basin has experienced extensive change in geology and climate over the past six million years. Yet, the relative importance of key geological events for the distribution and genetic structure of the Mediterranean fauna remains poorly understood. Here, we use population genomic and phylogenomic analyses to establish the evolutionary history and genetic structure of common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis). This species is particularly informative because, in contrast to other Mediterranean lizards, it is widespread across the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas, and in extra-Mediterranean regions. We found strong support for six major lineages within P. muralis, which were largely discordant with the phylogenetic relationship of mitochondrial DNA. The most recent common ancestor of extant P. muralis was likely distributed in the Italian Peninsula, and experienced an “Out-of-Italy” expansion following the Messinian salinity crisis (∼5 Mya), resulting in the differentiation into the extant lineages on the Iberian, Italian and Balkan peninsulas. Introgression analysis revealed that both inter- and intraspecific gene flows have been pervasive throughout the evolutionary history of P. muralis. For example, the Southern Italy lineage has a hybrid origin, formed through admixture between the Central Italy lineage and an ancient lineage that was the sister to all other P. muralis. More recent genetic differentiation is associated with the onset of the Quaternary glaciations, which influenced population dynamics and genetic diversity of contemporary lineages. These results demonstrate the pervasive role of Mediterranean geology and climate for the evolutionary history and population genetic structure of extant species.

Evolutionary divergence of the smooth snake (Serpentes, Colubridae): The role of the Balkans and Anatolia

“…The ‘West Balkan’ clade (Albania and Montenegro) is also phylogenetically distinct in all phylogenetic analyses, indicating the existence of another Balkan refugia, already mentioned by Jablonski et al (2019). The south‐western Balkans (Albania, Montenegro) probably also played important biogeographic role in the evolutionary history of other reptile species, such as Anguis (Jablonski et al, 2016), Triturus (Wielstra et al, 2013), Vipera ursinii (Bonaparte, 1835) (Mizsei et al, 2017; Zinenko et al, 2015), Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus, 1758) (Ursenbacher et al, 2008), Lacerta viridis (Laurenti, 1768) (Marzahn et al, 2016), Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768) (Salvi et al, 2018; Yang et al, 2022), Dalmatolacerta oxycephala (Schlegel, 1839), Dinarolacerta mosorensis (Kolombatović, 1886) (Podnar et al, 2014), H. gemonensis (Mezzasalma et al, 2015, 2018) and Z. situla (Linnaeus, 1758) (Salvi et al, 2018) during the Pliocene‐Pleistocene ages.…”

“…How to cite this article: Stratakis, M., Koutmanis, I., Ilgaz, Ç., Jablonski, D., Kukushkin, O. V., Crnobrnja-Isailovic, J., Carretero, M. A., Liuzzi, C., Kumlutaş, Y., Lymberakis, P., & Poulakakis, N. (2022). Evolutionary divergence of the smooth snake (Serpentes, Colubridae): The role of the Balkans and Anatolia.…”

Is It Function or Fashion? An Integrative Analysis of Morphology, Performance, and Metabolism in a Colour Polymorphic Lizard

“…Compared to another P. muralis population from Slovenia [32], the potential metabolic activity was lower, especially at higher temperatures (e.g., the PMA from the Pyrenees measured at 31 • C was 30% lower than the PMA from Slovenia measured at 33 • C). First of all, this result is a novelty in the study of intraspecific variability of metabolism in lizards, which is very important because for many terrestrial organisms there is still no information on metabolic adaptation in wild populations [84,85]. The finding of differences in PMA between P. muralis in the Pyrenees and in Slovenia is somewhat expected, as both populations live at different altitudes (at about 1300 m a.s.l.…”

No genomic repercussions of assortative pairing in a colour polymorphic lizard

“…This lack of congruence with behavioural data from Pérez i de Lanuza et al (2013, 2016) could reflect a mismatch between social behaviour and reproduction (behavioural observations of the spatial association between male and female pairs of lizards in wild populations were used as proxy for mating). On the contrary, discordance with results from Bellati (2011) obtained from Italian populations could reflect differences on either evolutionary history (the Pyrenean and Italian lineages diverged millions of years ago; Yang et al, 2021) or spatial context, an often important factor driving the maintenance of colour polymorphisms in lizards (McLean & Stuart‐Fox, 2014; Stuart‐Fox et al, 2021).…”