Darevskia

Laboratory hybridization of Darevskia chlorogaster and D. capsica (Reptilia, Lacertidae)

Authors: Erashkin V. O., Kidov A. A.

The results of our laboratory hybridization of green-bellied (Darevskia chlorogaster) and Caspian (Darevskia capsica) lizards are presented. When crossing D. chlorogaster females and D. caspica males, 7 hybrid individuals were obtained. The newborn lizards had body lengths of 24.59–27.11 mm and masses of 0.32–0.37 g. Incubation lasted 57–61 days. After the first period of hibernation (286–357 days after leaving the eggs) the hybrids had their first attempts at mating and laying eggs.

Ecological niches breadth analysis of Darevskia (Lacertidae, Reptilia) parthenogenetic lizards with various scenarios of clonal lineage formation in populations

Authors: Osipov F. A., Bobrov V. V., Dergunova N. N., Arakelyan M. S., Petrosyan V. G.

In this work, we tested the conditions for fulfilling the concept of geographic parthenogenesis by a comparative analysis of the breadth of the ecological niches of parental and parthenogenetic lizards of the genus Darevskia with a various number of established hybridization events. Estimates of the breadth of ecological niches of the parthenogenetic species D. rostombekowi Nb = 0.6(±0.08) and parental bisexual species D.

Phylogeny and geographic distribution of rock lizards (Lacertidae, Reptilia) in Alborz mountain range

Authors: Iryshkov E. S., Solovyeva E. N., Arakelyan M. S., Rastegar-Poyani E., Moaddab M., Milto K. D., Galoyan E. A.

Rock lizards of the genus Darevskia have long been an important model object for study of reptile evolution. To understand the overall picture, it is important to know how bisexual and parthenogenetic species are distributed within this genus. The ranges of Caucasian species of rock lizards have been studied for a long time and in detail. However, recent attention to the species inhabiting the territory of Iran has been attracted after the description of several new species in 2013.