The Morphology, Taxonomy, and Distribution of Specimens of Darevskia clarkorum (Sauria: Lacertidae: Darevskia) Collected from Turkey’s Eastern Black Sea Region

Authors: ÇETİN ILGAZ

Abstract: In all, 103 specimens of Clark's lizard, Darevskia clarkorum (Darevsky and Vedmederja, 1977), from 6 localities in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey were examined in terms of pholidosis characteristics, morphometric measurements, and color and pattern features. Kolmogorov-Smirnov testing across all populations verified sexual dimorphism in the Ortacalar and Hemşin populations, regarding transversal series of ventral plates (P < 0.05). According to the Mann-Whitney U test, 16 pholidosis characteristics showed differences among the populations (P < 0.05). For comparison of morphometric measurements, 4 morphometric indices and ratios were developed. According to the results of independent t-testing, no differences were found between males and females among the populations. One-way variance analyses based on 4 morphometric indices and ratios confirmed that head index, snout-vent length/tail length, and tail length/total body length showed differences among the populations (P < 0.05). Regarding pholidosis characteristics (except rates of the presence of a masseteric plate and contact between the rostral and internasal plate), morphometric measurements, and color and pattern features, the specimens collected from 6 different localities were similar to D. clarkorum specimens mentioned in the literature. Furthermore, the known range of the species in Turkey has been extended.

Keywords: Reptilia, Darevskia clarkorum, Black Sea region, morphology, distribution

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