Abstract
Valentin’s rock lizard (Darevskia valentini) is suggested to be the parent for several parthenogenetic species (e.g., D. armeniaca, D. bendimahiensis, D. sapphirina, and D. unisexualis) that evolved through hybridization. Complex evolutionary processes (including reticulate evolution) are occurring within the areas where Valentin’s rock lizard coexists with these and other rock lizards. Hence, a detailed biological specification of this species is important for understanding how vertebrates evolve. Valentin’s rock lizard is a long-lived (up to 9 years), small diurnal lizard with larger females than males, which is unlike other species of the genus. Their relatively large eggs and early reproduction period, which occurs just after emergence from winter shelters, are adaptations for living in a high elevation climate (higher than 2 000 m a.s.l.). Their body temperatures (31–32 °С) are comparable to body temperatures of rock lizards living in milder climates, though female body temperature is more dependent on substrate temperature and basking due to their lower activity than that found in males. Population density fluctuates from several individuals to several hundred per hectare and is not affected by parthenogen coexistence, although hybrids do occur in sexually biased populations where males are more common than females. The male home range is larger than that of females, though these home ranges broadly overlap. Prey is not limited in the mountain meadows and Valentin’s rock lizards feed on a great variety of arthropods. Infanticide occurs in high-density populations.
Highlights
Rock lizards belong to the genus Darevskia (Arribas, 1999; Arribas et al, 2017) or the recently suggested genus Caucasilacerta (Busack et al, 2016), which comprises about 30 relatively small species, seven of which reproduce parthenogenetically
Local density within a sample site (CMR census) reached up to 400 ind./ha (Table 2). This number was comparable with the population density of parthenogenetic species in Kuchak (D. armeniaca and D. unisexualis and their hybrids with D. valentini), where Valentin’s lizard coexists
The population density of D. valentini varied greatly from relatively low (1 – 2 ind./ha) to several hundred ind./ha, which exceeded the density of other biparental species such as D. brauneri (25 ind./ha, DSM, Tsellarius & Tsellarius, 2001) and D. portschinskii
Summary
Rock lizards belong to the genus Darevskia (Arribas, 1999; Arribas et al, 2017) or the recently suggested genus Caucasilacerta (Busack et al, 2016), which comprises about 30 relatively small species, seven of which reproduce parthenogenetically. The lizards of this genus are distributed in the Caucasus Mountains, Armenian highlands, northern Iran, western Turkmenistan, eastern Turkey, and Crimean Peninsula. Our basic understanding of the underlying mechanisms of modern geographical distribution and evolutionary scenarios needs to be improved, in particular the specific ecological traits within the genus Darevskia
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