Extreme genetic diversity in the lizard Atlantolacerta andreanskyi (Werner, 1929): a montane cryptic species complex.

BACKGROUND: Atlantolacerta andreanskyi is an enigmatic lacertid lizard that, according to the most recent molecular analyses, belongs to the tribe Eremiadini, family Lacertidae. It is a mountain specialist, restricted to areas above 2400 m of the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco with apparently no connection between the different populations. In order to investigate its phylogeography, 92 specimens of A. andreanskyi were analyzed from eight different populations across the distribution range of the species for up to 1108 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA (12S, ND4 and flanking tRNA-His) and 2585 base pairs of nuclear DNA including five loci (PDC, ACM4, C-MOS, RAG1, MC1R). RESULTS: The results obtained with both concatenated and coalescent approaches and clustering methods, clearly show that all the populations analyzed present a very high level of genetic differentiation for the mitochondrial markers used and are also generally differentiated at the nuclear level. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that A. andreanskyi is an additional example of a montane species complex.

Spatial conservation prioritization of biodiversity spanning the evolutionary continuum.

Accounting for evolutionary relationships between and within species is important for biodiversity conservation planning, but is rarely considered in practice. Here we introduce a novel framework to identify priority conservation areas accounting for phylogenetic and intraspecific diversity, integrating concepts from phylogeny, phylogeography, spatial statistics and spatial conservation prioritization. The framework allows planners to incorporate and combine different levels of evolutionary diversity and can be applied to any taxonomic group and to any region in the world. We illustrate our approach using amphibian and reptile species occurring in a biodiversity hotspot region, the Iberian Peninsula. We found that explicitly incorporating phylogenetic and intraspecific diversity in systematic conservation planning provides advantages in terms of maximizing overall biodiversity representation while enhancing its persistence and evolutionary potential. Our results emphasize the need to account for the evolutionary continuum in order to efficiently implement biodiversity conservation planning decisions.