DeAgamis2: 2nd INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON AGAMID LIZARDS
MOLECULAR STUDIES OF PHRYNOCEPHALUS. REVIEW
Daniel Melnikov and Natalia Ananjeva
Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences 1 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg 199034, Russia E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
From 2003 more than 18 molecular papers on Phrynocephalus were published (from 1 in 2003 to 9 in 2009). In some of them lizards were considered
just as good model organisms for study population genetic processes (group of Prof. Fu Jinzhong), in other molecular methods were used to resolve taxo-nomic relationships in some groups of Phrynocephalus (our group and group of Dr. Evgeniy Du-nayev). Many papers are focused on widely distributed species as Ph. guttatus-versicolor and Ph. he-lioscopus-persicus complexes or Tibetan forms of
Ph. vlangalii group. Most popular marker is mtDNA ND2 sequence and there are only one work with nDNA sequence and just a few with microsattelites.
Different used markers show in general a good congruence of results with each other and with morphology. Unique situation of Ph. przewalskii and Ph. frontalis (Ph. guttatus-versicolor complex) with great morphological differences and no genetic barriers is one of the most intriguing.
Key words: Phrynocephalus, molecular study, phylogeny, biogeography.
Males (upper photos) and females of Ph. przewalskii Strauch, 1876 (left photos) and Ph. frontalis Strauch, 1876. Scale is not equal - Ph. przewalskii is about twice bigger, 8 - 9 cm body length (foto Daniel Melnikov)
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