Skyros wall lizard

Skyros wall lizard
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Lacertidae
Genus:	Podarcis
Species:	P. gaigeae
Binomial name
Podarcis gaigeae (F. Werner, 1930)
Synonyms [2]
Lacerta tunica gaigeae F. Werner, 1930 Podarcis taurica gaigeae — Engelmann et al., 1993 Podarcis milensis gaigeae — Tiedemann et al., 1994 Podarcis gaigeae — Cattaneo, 1999

The Skyros wall lizard (Podarcis gaigeae) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to the islands of Skyros and Piperi in Greece.

Subspecies

Two subspecies were formerly recognized. The nominotypical subspecies, Podarcis gaigeae gaigeae, is found on Skyros and associated islets, and the other subspecies, Podarcis gaigeae weigandi, is found on the island of Piperi.

Gigantism and polymorphy

The Skyros wall lizard exhibits island gigantism on small islets surrounding Skyros. ^[3] The Skyros wall lizard also exhibits a throat color polymorphy with six different throat color morphs that are expressed in both females and males. ^[4]

Etymology

The specific name, gaigeae, is in honor of American herpetologist Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige. ^[5]

Description

The Skyros wall lizard reaches a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about 8.5 cm (3.3 in). It has a deep head and a tail approximately twice SVL. The colouring is rather variable, usually being green, olive-green, or brownish, with a dark vertebral band and dorso-lateral stripes. The mottled flanks often have a single blue spot above the shoulder. The underparts are white, often with dark spots on the throat, the lizards on each island having characteristic markings. ^[6]

Distribution

The Skyros wall lizard occurs only on Skyros and on Piperi Island in the Sporades archipelago in the northern Aegean Sea. It is the only small lizard occurring on these islands.

Habitat

The natural habitats of Podarcis gaigeae are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas, and rocky shores. ^[1]

Reproduction

P. gaigeae is oviparous. ^{[1] [2]}

Conservation status

The Skyros wall lizard has a total area of occupancy of less than 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi) but is common within that range. Although the population trend is unknown, no specific threats are apparent apart from the risks posed by wildfire. However the introduction onto its island home of some predatory species could threaten its survival so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being "vulnerable". ^[1]

References

1. Lymberakis, Petros (2009). "Podarcis gaigeae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2009 e.T61547A12513064. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T61547A12513064.en . Retrieved 15 November 2021.
2. Species Podarcis gaigeae at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
3. Runemark, Anna (2012). "Island biogeography and population divergence in the Skyros wall lizard". Doctoral thesis, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=12588&postid=2518407
4. Runemark, Anna; Hansson, Bengt; Pafilis, Panayiotis; Valakos, Efstratios D.; Svensson, Erik I. (2010). "Island biology and morphological divergence of the Skyros wall lizard Podarcis gaigeae: a combined role for local selection and genetic drift on color morph frequency divergence?" BMC Evol. Biol.10: 269. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/269
5. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5. (Podarcis gaigeae, p. 96).
6. Arnold, E. Nicholas; Ovenden, Denys W. (2002). Field Guide: Reptiles & Amphibians of Britain & Europe. London: Collins & Co. pp. 178–179. ISBN   978-0-00-219964-3.

Further reading

• Cattaneo, Augusto (1998). "Gli Anfibi e i Rettili delle isole greche di Skyros, Skopelos e Alonissos (Sporadi settentrionali) ". Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano139 (2): 127-149. ("Podarcis gaigeae gaigeae ", new combination, p. 131). (in Italian).
• Psonis, Nikolaos; Antoniou, Aglaia; Karameta, Emmanouela; Darriba, Diego; Stamatakis, Alexandros; Lymberakis, Petros; Poulakakis, Nikos (2021). "The wall lizards of the Balkan peninsula: Tackling questions at the interface of phylogenomics and population genomics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution159: 107121.
• Sindaco R, Jeremčenko VK (2008). The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. (Monographs of the Societas Herpetologica Italica). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. 580 pp. ISBN   978-88-89504-14-7.
• Werner F (1930). "Contribution to the Knowledge of the Reptiles and Amphibians of Greece, Especially the Aegean Islands". Occasional Papers of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (211): 1-46, including Plates I-VI. (Lacerta taurica gaigeae, new subspecies, pp. 9–10 + Plate I, figures 4-6; Plate II, figures 7-11).