Abstract
A karyological analysis on six Italian populations the slow worm (Anguis veronensis Pollini, 1818) was performed and their genetic differentiation at the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene fragment from a Spanish sample has been assessed. The Italian populations were karyologically uniform, all showing 2n=44 elements, of which 20 were macrochromosomes and 24 microchromosomes. Comparison with literature data on Central European populations showed a difference on the morphology of the 10th chromosome pair: submetacentric in Italian populations and telocentric in the Central European ones. Our analysis showed the presence of a fragile site on chromosomes of this pair, suggesting its propensity for structural rearrangements. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene fragment showed uniformity among Italian populations (uncorrected genetic distance of 0.4%), and their genetic distinctness from the Spanish individual (uncorrected genetic distance of 4.2%). Our results confirm the existence of two different Anguis fragilis Linnaeus, 1758 lineages, each one characterized by a different cytotype.
Highlights
Until recently there were only two recognized species of the genus Anguis Linnaeus, 1758 in the Palaeartic region: A. cephallonica Werner, 1894 and A. fragilis Linnaeus, 1758, commonly known as slow worms
On the basis of the recent finding of Gvoždik et al (2013) and our previous karyological data (Gigantino et al 2002), we extended the chromosome analysis to other Italian populations
Since in Balkan Peninsula two endemic Anguis species were found (Gvoždik et al 2013), we perfomed a molecular analysis of a fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene in order to test the genetic uniformity of the studied Italian specimens
Summary
Until recently there were only two recognized species of the genus Anguis Linnaeus, 1758 in the Palaeartic region: A. cephallonica Werner, 1894 and A. fragilis Linnaeus, 1758, commonly known as slow worms. Keywords Karyotype, chromosome banding, 16S rRNA, Anguis, Italian Peninsula
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