Morphological Analysis of the Caucasian Rock Lizards Lacerta caucasica caucasica and L. c. daghestanica from the Contact Zone

Evgeny S. Roytberg

Abstract


About 170 specimens of L. c. caucasica and L. c. daghestanica from two localities where they had been found to coexist sympatrically, were studied for color pattern and 7 meristic scale characters. In Khorachoi (south-eastern Chechnya) the specimens of the two forms differ clearly by their dorsal pattern and form two sharply discrete classes along PCI in the principal component analyses of scalation; a distinct hiatus between the two taxa was revealed for the superciliary granulae number. In Khvarshi (western Daghestan), the morphological separation between the two forms is somewhat weaker than in Khorachoi for both scalation and color pattern. Some reproductive isolation between L. c. caucasica and L. c. daghestanica in the studied sections of their contact zone is proposed.

Keywords


lizards; Lacerta; variation; speciation

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-1994-1-2-179-184

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