The sand skink ( Neosepsreynoldsi) falls between the moleskink and scrub lizard in terms of habitatspecificity and phylogeographic structure (Φ st = 0.667). The Floridascrub lizard ( Sceloporus woodi) is themost habitat specific of the lizards and hasthe strongest phylogeographic structure (Φ st = 0.876). egregius) rather thana previously proposed affiliation betweennorthern and southern populations. egregius is not entirelyconcordant with the five recognized subspeciesand supports a link between populations incentral Florida ( E. The mole skink ( Eumecesegregius), the least habitat specific, has thelowest phylogeographic structure among thelizards (Φ st = 0.631). All speciesshow strong geographic partitioning of geneticdiversity, supporting the hypothesis that scrubfauna is highly restricted by vicariantseparations.
We compare range-wide diversity inmitochondrial cytochrome b sequences forthree scrub-associated lizards with contrastinglevels of habitat specificity. This habitat is characterized byhigh endemism, and distribution of genetic andevolutionary diversity among scrub ``islands'' isof compelling interest because Florida scrub israpidly disappearing under human development. Dry, sandy scrub habitats of the Floridapeninsula represent naturally fragmentedremnants of xeric ecosystems that werewidespread during the Pliocene and earlyPleistocene.
0 kommentar(er)
