Speciation, population structure, and demographic history of the Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma scoparia), a species of conservation concern.

ABSTRACT: The North American deserts were impacted by both Neogene plate tectonics and Quaternary climatic fluctuations, yet it remains unclear how these events influenced speciation in this region. We tested published hypotheses regarding the timing and mode of speciation, population structure, and demographic history of the Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma scoparia), a sand dune specialist endemic to the Mojave Desert of California and Arizona. We sampled 109 individual lizards representing 22 insular dune localities, obtained DNA sequences for 14 nuclear loci, and found that U. scoparia has low genetic diversity relative to the U. notata species complex, comparable to that of chimpanzees and southern elephant seals. Analyses of genotypes using Bayesian clustering algorithms did not identify discret

SUBMITTER: Gottscho AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4203297 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature