Darevskia unisexualis (Darevsky, 1966)

Petrosyan, Varos G, Osipov, Fedor A, Bobrov, Vladimir V, Dergunova, Natalia N, Kropachev, Ivan I, Danielyan, Felix D & Arakelyan, Marine S, 2020, New records and geographic distribution of the sympatric zones of unisexual and bisexual rock lizards of the genus Darevskia in Armenia and adjacent territories, Biodiversity Data Journal 8, pp. 56030-56030 : 56030

Darevskia unisexualis (Darevsky, 1966)

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2018390 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 1; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2018390; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Kotayk Province; locality: Punick ; decimalLatitude: 40.609193; decimalLongitude: 44.60197; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2018-7-8; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2018402 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 2; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2018402; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Kotayk Province; locality: Hrazdan city ; decimalLatitude: 40.506393; decimalLongitude: 44.748776; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2018-7-9; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2018405 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 1; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2018405; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Gegharkunik Province; locality: Tsovak ; decimalLatitude: 40.185681; decimalLongitude: 45.623972; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2018-7-10; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2018410 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 1; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2018410; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Aragatsotn Province; locality: Kuchak ; decimalLatitude: 40.528691; decimalLongitude: 44.388427; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2018-7-11; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2019416 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 1; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2019416; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Aragatsotn Province; locality: Tsilkar ; decimalLatitude: 40.736893; decimalLongitude: 44.197427; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2019-7-16; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2019429 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 1; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2019429; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Gegharkunik Province; locality: Close to Noratus ; decimalLatitude: 40.39722; decimalLongitude: 45.144424; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2019-7-19; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2019441 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 4; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2019441; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Shirak Province; locality: Keti ; decimalLatitude: 40.864013; decimalLongitude: 43.841847; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2019-7-25; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2019459 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 3; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2019459; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Kotayk Province; locality: Tsakhkadzor ; decimalLatitude: 40.53515; decimalLongitude: 44.6972; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2018-7-9; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2019463 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 2; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2019463; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Kotayk Province; locality: Artavazd ; decimalLatitude: 40.620316666667; decimalLongitude: 44.56305; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2018-7-14; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2019477 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 1; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2019477; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Gegharkunik Province; locality: Lchap, Sevan Lake ; decimalLatitude: 40.4673; decimalLongitude: 45.0621; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2019-6-20; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: REPAMPHRU2019479 ; recordedBy: Osipov F.A.; individualCount: 1; sex: fmale; lifeStage: adult; occurrenceID: urn:IEERASBIOINF:REPAMPHRU2019479; Taxon: scientificName: Darevskiaunisexualis; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Chordata; class: Reptilia; order: Squamata; family: Lacertidae; genus: Darevskia; scientificNameAuthorship: Darevsky, 1966; Location: country: Armenia; stateProvince: Lori Province; locality: Spitak ; decimalLatitude: 40.8249; decimalLongitude: 44.2775; geodeticDatum: WGS1984; georeferenceProtocol: GPS; Identification: identifiedBy: Arakelyan M.S.; Event: samplingProtocol: Captured by noose; eventDate: 2019-6-20; Record Level: language: en; rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/; rightsHolder: Petrosyan V.G.; accessRights: http://vertnet.org/resources/norms.html; institutionCode: IEERASBIOINF; collectionCode: REPAMPHRU; basisOfRecord: HumanObservation

Notes

The parthenogenetic lizard of D. unisexualis is formed as a result of interspecific hybridisation between bisexual D. valentini ("paternal") and D. r. nairensis ("maternal") species ( Darevsky 1966, Darevsky 1967, Uzzell and Darevsky 1975, Moritz et al. 1992, Murphy et al. 2000). Species identification in studed SZs was carried out using allozyme loci, mt-DNA, multilocus DNA fingerprinting, mini- and micro-satellite markers and morphological traits ( Darevsky 1967, Uzzell and Darevsky 1975, Murphy et al. 2000, Ryskov et al. 2000, Tokarskaya et al. 2001, Ryskov et al. 2003, Tokarskaya et al. 2003, Korchagin and Tokarskaya 2010, Omel'chenko et al. 2009a, Omel'chenko et al. 2009b, Arakelyan et al. 2011). In the field, D. unisexualis was identified using species identification guides according to Darevsky ( Darevsky 1967), (Fig. 6 ), since it has previously been shown that the identification using specific features did not cause confusion between the species ( Darevsky 1967, Uzzell and Darevsky 1975, Tokarskaya et al. 2001, Tokarskaya et al. 2003, Omel'chenko et al. 2009a, Omel'chenko et al. 2009b, Arakelyan et al. 2011). We captured and identified 18 individuals in 11 SZs. All individuals were found to be females, determined by visual inspection of the genitals.

The D. unisexualis range covers the territory of northern and central highland Armenia and the adjacent regions of eastern Turkey. In Armenia, the species is found in isolated populations in the five Provinces of Aragatsotn, Gegharkunik, Kotayk, Lori and Shirak. In these Provinces, nine SZs were identified, including four SZs in which D. unisexualis co-exists with the "maternal" species D. r. nairensis and in two SZs with the "paternal" species D. valentini . The number of SZs, where there is co-existence with other parthenogenetic species D. armeniaca , D. dahli and D. rostombekowi , are five, two and two, respectively. Hybrid individuals of D. valentini x D. unisexualis were found in two zones (Artavazd, Kuchak), which were previously noted in literature ( Danielyan et al. 2008, Spangenberg et al. 2017, Carretero et al. 2018). In the SZ Artavazd, autotriploid males and sterile intersexual individuals were found from 1984-1988 ( Darevsky et al. 1989). The origin of these hybrids can be explained by interclonal mating between parthenogenetic females and rare, conspecific diploid males. Identified SZs are located at rock outcrops, piles of stones and rocky slopes in the mountain-steppe zone.

Figures

Figure 6. Distinguishing characters of D. unisexualis. A. The central temporal shield is large, often divided into two; from the first upper temporal shield in the narrowest place, it is separated by 1 - 3 and from the tympanum - by 2 - 4 transverse rows of enlarged shields (indicated by arrow); B. The anal shield is large, in front of it four small and approximately equal in size pre-anal shields are located symmetrically, the middle of which can be slightly increased. (indicated by arrow); C. Only in this species - the maxillary shield is in contact with the fronto-nasal (indicated by arrow). Photos by I. Kropachev.