Molecular phylogeny of the Canary Island lacertids (<i>Gallotia</i>): mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment divergence in relation to sequence divergence and geological time

Abstract

Abstract Restriction fragment length polymorphisms of 6 base pair recognising endonucleases are used to reconstruct the phylogeny of the endemic Canary Island lacertid, Gallotia . The division into conventional species is upheld by this molecular analysis and the western Canary Island lizard ( G. galloti ) and eastern Canary Island lizard ( G. atlantica ) are hypothesized to be sister species. A more comprehensive study of the intraspecific relationships of G. galloti , based on nineteen restriction enzymes, indicates that there are distinct southern and northern lineages within this species. The phylogenetic analysis does not uphold the conventional subspecies, but suggests an alternative arrangement with one northern (La Palma, Tenerife) and one southern (Gomera, Hierro) subspecies. The inferred timing of molecular divergence of populations of G. galloti , based on RFLP analysis, is compatible with the geological timing for island origin and fossil data. Mantel tests show that mitochondrial RFLP divergence is correlated with mitrochondrial 12s rRNA and cytochrome oxidase I sequence divergence and highly correlated with mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence divergence.