title: Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of the Anatolian lizard Apathya (Squamata, Lacertidae).
abstract: Apathya is a lacertid genus occurring mainly in south-east Turkey and its adjacent regions (part of Iran and Iraq). So far two morphological species have been attributed to the genus; A. cappadocica (with five subspecies, A. c.cappadocica, A. c.muhtari, A. c.schmidtlerorum, A. c. urmiana and A. c.wolteri) and A.yassujica. The first species occupies most of the genus' distribution range, while A. yassujica is endemic of the Zagros Mountains. Here, we explored Apathya's taxonomy and investigated the evolutionary history of the species by employing phylogenetic and phylogeographic approaches and using both mitochondrial (mtDNA) and nuclear markers. The phylogenetic relationships and the genetic distances retrieved, revealed that Apathya is a highly variable genus, which parallels its high morphological variation. Such levels of morphological and genetic differentiation often exceed those between species of other Lacertini genera that are already treated as full species, suggesting the necessity for a taxonomic revision of Apathya. The phylogeographical scenario emerging from the genetic data suggests that the present distribution of the genus was determined by a combination of dispersal and vicariance events between Anatolia and Southwest Asia dating back to the Miocene and continuing up to the Pleistocene. Key geological events for the understanding of the phylogeography of the genus are the movement of the Arabian plate that led to the configuration of Middle East (orogenesis of the mountain ranges of Turkey and Iran) and the formation of Anatolian Diagonal.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Systematics Lab, Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, 71409 Iraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Paschalia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kapli
authors.forename: Dimitra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Botoni
authors.forename: Cetin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ilgaz
authors.forename: Yusuf
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kumlutaş
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avcı
authors.forename: Nasrullah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rastegar-Pouyani
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fathinia
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lymberakis
authors.forename: Faraham
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahmadzadeh
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Poulakakis
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D007492:Iran; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008116:Lizards / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial