GENETIC VARIABILITY OF FOUR SPECIES OF THE GENUS TESTUDO(LINNAEUS, 1758)

Abstract

A preliminary analysis of four taxa in the genus Testudo, at 14 presumed loci does not fully accord with current taxonomy. T. h. hermanni and T. g. gracca on one hand, and T. h. boettgeri and T. horsfieldii on the other hand, are placed in close relationship. These results do not corroborate the proposal to separate T. horsfieldii in a particular subgenus or genus and display relative independance between the two subspecies of T. hermanni. In these four taxa of the genus Testudo, the values of the generic variability parameters are low or equal to zero, close to the values obtained in another genus, Geochelone, in the Testudinidae, but are much lower than values in the Emydidae and Kinosternidae. These values are not correlated either with species diversity at the generic or familial level, or with ecological habitat or distributional area. The range of genetic variability in cryptodiran chelonians overlaps that in lacertilian squamates.