Phylogeny and intraspecific genetic structure of Lacerta strigata

Genus Lacerta, belonging to family Lacertidae, contains eight species. Previous studies did not clarify the actual taxonomic situation of Lacerta strigata. The main purposes of the present study are re-examining the phylogenetic relationship of green lizards (with special focus on L. strigata) by adding more samples and also investigating L. strigata intraspecific genetic structure in its geographic distribution. Therefore, 20 new samples were obtained from Armenia, Georgia and north of Iran. All samples were sequenced for a mitochondrial gene, cytochrome b. Additional sequences obtained from GenBank were added to our sequences and the resulted data set was analyzed using two different phylogenetic inference approaches; Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian. The results indicate that all species in genus Lacerta form a monophyletic group and the Caspian green lizard is sister taxon to all other species in the genus. Also, there are two separate clades within the species which are also geographically distinct. This study confirms the results of previous studies which is the separation of the Caspian green lizard from other species in the genus.