The biogeography of Elaphe sauromates (Pallas, 1814), with a description of a new rat snake species

Jablonski D., Kukushkin O., AVCI A., Bunyatova S., KUMLUTAŞ Y., ILGAZ Ç., ...Daha Fazla

PEERJ, cilt.7, 2019 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 7
  • Basım Tarihi: 2019
  • Doi Numarası: 10.7717/peerj.6944
  • Dergi Adı: PEERJ
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Anatolia, Diversification, Eurasia, Evolution, Phylogeny, Phylogeography, Reptiles, Taxonomy, COMPLETE MITOCHONDRIAL GENOME, 4-LINED SNAKE, PHYLOGENY, REPTILIA, SQUAMATA, PHYLOGEOGRAPHY, COLUBRIDAE, DIVERSITY, TAXONOMY, MARKERS
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Background: The rat snake genus Elaphe once comprised several dozens of species distributed in temperate through tropical zones of the New and Old World. Based on molecular-genetic analyses in early 2000s, the genus was split into several separate genera, leaving only 15 Palearctic and Oriental species as its members. One of the three species also occurring in Europe is Elaphe sauromates, a robust snake from the Balkans, Anatolia, Caucasus, Ponto-Caspian steppes, and Levant that has been suspected to be composed of two or more genetically diverse populations. Here, we studied the genetic structure and morphological variation of E. sauromates, aiming to better understand its inter-population relationships and biogeography, and subsequently revise its taxonomy.