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Phylogeography of the Bunopus geckos (Squamata, Gekkonidae) in the Arabian Peninsula
Pola, Lukáš ; Šmíd, Jiří (advisor) ; Rehák, Ivan (referee)
The Arabian Peninsula represents a bridge between three continents and two major zoogeographic regions, the Palearctic and Afrotropical (Ethiopian). It is well known for its richness and endemicity not only among geckos, but among squamate reptiles in general. Besides impressive endemic species located in the mountains, there are some, widely distributed across the entire Arabian Peninsula (pan-arabian distribution) and in terms of research they remain neglected. Among Arabian geckos, the genus Bunopus are an excellent example, whose systematics and taxonomy are quite problematic, albeit they are distributed across the entire peninsula. In order to answer the question of possible cryptic diversity of these geckos in the Arabian Peninsula, phylogenetic position of more than 80 samples covering the vast part of their distribution range has been reconstructed based on two mitochondrial (12S rRNA and COI) and two nuclear markers (RAG2 and c-mos). Haplotype networks were reconstructed from nuclear markers in order to show genealogical relationships. Results of the phylogenetic analyses presented herein show that cryptic diversity in the Arabian Peninsula is smaller in comparison to the one that was uncovered in the Iranian Plateau. Almost entire Arabian Peninsula is inhabited by two lineages only, which...
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