Zootoca carniolica (MAYER, BÖHME, TIEDEMANN & BISCHOFF, 2000)
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Zootoca carniolica
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| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Lacertinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Italian: lucertola della Carniola |
| Synonym | Lacerta vivipara carniolica MAYER, BÖHME, TIEDEMANN & BISCHOFF 2000 Zootoca vivipara carniolica — BÖHME & RÖDDER 2006 Zootoca vivipara carniolica — BISCHOFF 2007 Lacerta (Zootoca) vivipara carniolica — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008 Zootoca vivipara carniolica — CORNETTI et al. 2014 Zootoca carniolica — CORNETTI et al. 2015 Zootoca vivipara carniolica — CORNETTI et al. 2018 Zootoca carniolica — SPEYBROECK et al. 2020 Zootoca carniolica — SINDACO & RAZZETTI 2021 |
| Distribution | Slovenia, NE Italy, S Austria (Kärnten: Doberbach Tal, Krainer Alpen), NW Croatia. Type locality: Mt. Sneznik: 8 km SE Masun village, 1250 m elevation, Slovenia. |
| Reproduction | Viviparous and oviparous. Lacerta vivipara is ovovivparous throughout most of its range, but oviparous in the extreme southwest portion (Heulin et al., 1989). However, although lizards from the oviparous and ovovivparous populations are similar in many respects, they produce significant numbers of embryonic malformations when hybridized in the laboratory (Heulin et al., 1989). Zootoca vivipara louislantzi and carniolica are oviparous. Crosses between oviparous and ovovivparous populations of Zootoca (Lacerta) vivipara produce an F1 generation with an ‘‘intermediate’’ phenotype (Arrayago et al. 1996, Murphy & Thompson 2011), in which females retain embryos in utero for longer than oviparous females and embryos are surrounded by a thin, transparent shell. However, Cornetti et al. (2015) show that oviparous and ovovivparous populations in a contact zone in the Italian Alps do not hybridize and have been reproductively isolated for a long time, as shown by genetic differences. Hence, Cornetti et al. 2015 suggest to recognize Z. v. vivipara and Z. v. carniolica as two separate species.<br><br>Recknagel et al. 2018 found that a single origin of viviparity and a subsequent reversal to oviparity in one clade.<br><br>Z. v. pannonica is a ovovivparous lineage.<br>Z. v. louislantzi and carniolica are oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: ZFMK 68438, paratypes in NMW and MCSNT |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (carniolica): A subspecies of Zootoca vivipara which is distinguished from the nominotypic form by genetic properties (sequence differences between mitochondrial haplotypes) rather than by morphological peculiarities. As a main characteristic, it retains the oviparous reproductive mode, as it is the case in the populations of Spain and south-western France, which are, however, genetically only distantly related (from Mayer et al. 2000). Rodriguez-Prieto et al. 2017 found that males with a ratio of mean ventral scale rows / mean number of femoral pores (MVS/MFP) < 2.20 are unequivocally attributed to Z. carniolica, while males with MVS/MFP higher than 2.27 are unequivocally attributed to Z. v. vivipara; females with a ratio MVS/MFP lower than 2.45 are unequivocally attributed to Z. carniolica, while females with MVS/MFP higher than 2.48 are unequivocally attributed to Z. v. vivipara (”mean number” = average of left and right side per animal; based on 325 specimens). |
| Comment | Synonymy: partly after SCHMIDTLER & BÖHME 2011. Note that Lacerta (= Zootoca) vivipara carniolica MAYER et al. 2000 is not identical to Lacerta vivipara var. carniolica WERNER, 1897, which is a nomen nudum. Distribution: Z. v. carniolica and Z. v. vivipara are parapatric in the Alpine chain (Cornetti et al. 2015). Only two areas may have potentially hybridizing oviparous and viviparous populations (Carinthia, Austria; Lindtke et al., 2010, and one in the central Italian Alps, Cornetti et al. 2015). See also Z. vivipara. |
| Etymology | WERNER'S name carniolica is a Latin feminine adjective meaning "belonging to the Carnian region" ("Krain" in German) i.e., the area where this new taxon seems to have its geographic and historical (réfugial) center. |
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