The nearly complete mitochondrial genome of the rapid racerunner
            <i>Eremias velox</i>
            (Squamata: Lacertidae)

Revealing cryptic diversity constitutes the backbone of the future identification and description of a new lineage. For the genus Ophisops (Lacertidae), previous studies indicated that this genus is characterized by cryptic diversity as three clades were obtained for O. elegans and O. occidentalis that do not fit the classical systematics. Notably, we were interested to delineate the distribution range of the two clades of O. elegans described in Iran. We sequenced 65 individuals of Ophisops mainly from northwestern Iran for one mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 [COI]; 686 base pairs [bp]) and three nuclear genes (R35, MC1R, and PKM2; 1,857 bp). Phylogeographic analysis from mitochondrial and nuclear genes confirmed that Iranian samples belong to two major haplogroups (divergence of 13% for COI) that are also split into several subclades (divergence of 6%–10% for COI), revealing an unsuspected diversity within Iranian Ophisops. Divergence dating and biogeographical analysis indicated that most clades arose through vicariance and dispersal processes during the Mio‐Pliocene (between 7.2 and 1 Myr). However, a scenario of expansion/regression is also advocated for explaining the distribution and contact between three subclades in North Iran. We propose to recognize the three major clades as three potential candidate species. Moreover, we found some correspondence between several phylogenetic clades or subclades identified and six of the nine subspecies described for O. elegans. Both species and subspecies delimitation and identification would deserve additional investigations (including morphology, ecology, biogeography, and behavior) to fulfill the conditions of integrative taxonomy.

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Diversification and cryptic diversity ofOphisops elegans(Sauria, Lacertidae)

Montgelard

Behrooz

Arnal

et al. 2020

J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res.

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Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Five Racerunners (Lacertidae: Eremias) and Comparison with Other Lacertids: Insights into the Structure and Evolution of the Control Region

Tian

Guo

2022

Genes

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Comparative studies on mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) as well as the structure and evolution of the mitochondrial control region are few in the Lacertidae family. Here, the complete mitogenomes of five individuals of Eremias scripta (2 individuals), Eremias nikolskii, Eremias szczerbaki, and Eremias yarkandensis were determined using next-generation sequencing and were compared with other lacertids available in GenBank. The circular mitogenomes comprised the standard set of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and a long non-coding control region (CR). The extent of purifying selection was less pronounced for the COIII and ND2 genes in comparison with the rest of the PCGs. The codons encoding Leucine (CUN), Threonine, and Isolecucine were the three most frequently present. The secondary structure of rRNA of Lacertidae (herein, E. scripta KZL15 as an example) comprised four domains and 28 helices for 12S rRNA, with six domains and 50 helices for 16S rRNA. Five types and twenty-one subtypes of CR in Lacertidae were described by following the criteria of the presence and position of tandem repeats (TR), termination-associated sequence 1 (TAS1), termination-associated sequence 2 (TAS2), conserved sequence block 1 (CBS1), conserved sequence block 2 (CSB2), and conserved sequence block 3 (CSB3). The compositions of conserved structural elements in four genera, Acanthodactylus, Darevskia, Eremias, and Takydromus, were further explored in detail. The base composition of TAS2 – TATACATTAT in Lacertidae was updated. In addition, the motif “TAGCGGCTTTTTTG” of tandem repeats in Eremias and the motif ”GCGGCTT” in Takydromus were presented. Nucleotide lengths between CSB2 and CSB3 remained 35 bp in Eremias and Darevskia. The phylogenetic analyses of Lacertidae recovered the higher-level relationships among the three subfamilies and corroborated a hard polytomy in the Lacertinae phylogeny. The phylogenetic position of E. nikolskii challenged the monophyly of the subgenus Pareremias within Eremias. Some mismatches between the types of CR and their phylogeny demonstrated the complicated evolutionary signals of CR such as convergent evolution. These findings will promote research on the structure and evolution of the CR and highlight the need for more mitogenomes in Lacertidae.

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The nearly complete mitochondrial genome of the rapid racerunner Eremias velox (Squamata: Lacertidae)

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

Diversification and cryptic diversity ofOphisops elegans(Sauria, Lacertidae)

Diversification and cryptic diversity ofOphisops elegans(Sauria, Lacertidae)

Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Five Racerunners (Lacertidae: Eremias) and Comparison with Other Lacertids: Insights into the Structure and Evolution of the Control Region

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