RAPD variation in Mediterranean turtle Testudo graeca L. (Testudinidae)

Abstract

The polymerase chain reaction with arbitrary primers (RAPD-PCR) was used to study intraspecific variation in Mediterranean turtle Testudo graeca , which is represented by the Dagestan ( T. g. pallasi ) and Nikolskii ( T. g. nikolskii ) subspecies in Russia. To study the phylogenetic relationships, the RAPD variation was also compared in two other T. graeca subspecies ( T. g. ibera and T. g. terrestris ), two closely related Testudo species ( T. kleinmanni and T. marginata ), and Central Asian turtle Agrionemys horsfieldii. Parameters of RAPD variation showed that the sample from different geographical regions of Dagestan was more polymorphic and heterogeneous than that from Central Asia. The two samples differed in the mean number of RAPD fragments N (48.76 vs. 40.40), number of polymorphic fragments P (78.7 vs. 32.3), and within-group similarity index APS (0.607 vs. 0.784). In T. g. pallasi , no significant difference in N, P , or APS was observed between samples from different localities of Dagestan or between groups of turtles with four-or five-clawed forelegs. A dendrogram of genetic similarity between the species and subspecies under study contained two clusters, one comprising all A. horsfieldii individuals and the other, all turtles of the genus Testudo. In the latter, T. marginata and T. kleinmanni showed higher similarity to each other than to T. graeca. The four T. graeca subspecies clustered separately from each other with a high reliability, T. g. nikolskii and T. g. ibera (Turkey) being more similar to each other than to T. g. terrestris or T. g. pallasi. The possible causes of the presence of four claws on forelegs of turtles from Dagestan and the relationships among members of the genus Testudo were discussed.

Phenotypic plasticity leads to incongruence between morphology-based taxonomy and genetic differentiation in western Palaearctic tortoises (Testudo graeca complex; Testudines, Testudinidae)

“…These studies suggested distinctly less taxonomic differentiation than morphological investigations. In contrast, Semyenova et al (2004) and Korsunenko et al (2005) found four eastern subspecies (T. g. ibera, T. g. nikolskii, T. g. pallasi, T. g. terrestris) distinct using nuclear genomic fingerprinting (Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA = RAPDs). If it is considered that RAPDs may reflect population-specific, and not taxonspecific, differentiation (e.g.…”

“…Gmira (1993aGmira ( , b, 1995 and Perälä (2002b) proposed that species of the T. graeca complex are paraphyletic with respect to two other traditional Testudo species that were never considered part of the T. graeca complex (T. kleinmanni Lortet, 1883 sensu lato, T. marginata Schoepff, 1792). As a consequence, systematics and taxonomy in these tortoises became a much debated field (Gasperetti et al, 1993;Ernst et al, 2000;Buskirk et al, 2001;Fritz and Cheylan, 2001;van der Kuyl et al, 2002van der Kuyl et al, , 2005Harris et al, 2003;Guyot-Jackson, 2004;Perälä, 2004a;Semyenova et al, 2004;Carretero et al, 2005;Korsunenko et al, 2005). In this study we treat all taxa within the T. graeca complex provisionally as subspecies of T. graeca.…”

Differentiation of tortoises of the genera Testudo and Agrionemys (Testudinidae) based on the polymorphism of nuclear and mitochondrial markers

“…Concerning the effectiveness of the use of nuclear markers for intraspecific differentiation of tortoises, it should be mentioned that it was demonstrated only in our studies upon the comparison of RAPD patterns in a small sample of T. g. terrestris, T. g. nikolskii, and T. g. pallasi [28,29]. The ISSR markers identified in a large sample of tortoises of the genus Testudo demon strated surprisingly low informativeness [13].…”

“…Polymerase chain reaction and visualization of the amplification prod ucts was carried out as described earlier [28].…”

Introduction of Amphibians and Reptiles in the Caucasus and Crimea: An Overview and Some Actual Data

“…С практической точки зрения не имеет принципиального значения, вошел ли ареал вида в современные границы в последние 10 -15 ты-сяч лет или же данный вид натурализовался за пределами естественной области распростране-ния 2 -3 тысячи или даже несколько сотен, а то и десятков лет назад. Некоторое виды, в силу своих экологических преференций, по-видимо-му, были буквально обречены на выход за пре-делы занимаемой ими области и широкое рассе-ление, примером чего может быть множествен-ная и разновременная колонизация территории Иберийского полуострова руинной стенной ящерицей, Podarcis siculus (Rafinesque-Schmaltz, 1810) из различных районов Италии (Silva-Rocha et al, 2012). Препятствовать этому процессу, очевидно, невозможно.…”