A concolor morph of Podarcis liolepis liolepis (BOULENGER, 1905) in Barcelona

A concolor morph of Podarcis liolepis liolepis (BOULENGER, 1905) in Barcelona


MARTEN VAN DEN BERG, August 2011


The term “concolor” refers to a kind of uniform color. In Podarcis lizards the concolor morphs only show the “background” color without the usual darker dorsal pattern, and these morphs are described for Podarcis siculus in the nominate subspecies (KRAMER, 1941) and Podarcis siculus campestris (HAUSER, 2009), as well as Podarcis melisellensis (KRAMER, 1941), Podarcis carbonelli (SÁ-SOUSA & HARRIS, 2002), Podarcis tiliguerta (BRUSCHI et al., 2006), Podarcis wagleriana (LO CASCIO & PASTA, 2006) and Podarcis bocagei (GALÁN & VÁZQUEZ, 2010).
In general it is quite a rare phenomenon, but in the case of the introduced population of Podarcis siculus siculus in California, the concolor morph is seen in about 50% of the population (DEICHSEL et al., 2010).

On the 11th of August 2011 the following pictures of Podarcis liolepis liolepis were captured at the old botanical garden on top of Montjuïc in Barcelona (Spain).


Image 2. Female Podarcis liolepis liolepis.


Image 3. Male Podarcis liolepis liolepis.




Image 1. Concolor morph of Podarcis liolepis liolepis.


Image 4. Male Podarcis liolepis liolepis.



References

BRUSCHI, S. & CORTI, C. & CARRETERO, M.A. & HARRIS, D.J. & LANZA, B. & LEVITON, A. (2006): Comments on the status of the Sardinian-Corsican lacertid lizard Podarcis tiliguerta. - Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 57: 215-236.

DEICHSEL, G. & NAFIS, G. & HAKIM, J. (2010): Podarcis siculus siculus - Southern Italian Wall Lizard. - CaliforniaHerps.com.

LO CASCIO, P. & PASTA, S. (2006): Preliminary data on the biometry and the diet of a micro-insular population of Podarcis wagleriana (Reptilia: Lacertidae). - Acta Herpetologica, 1 (2): 147-152.

GALÁN, P. & VÁZQUEZ, R. (2010): Morfo concolor de Podarcis bocagei en el norte de Galicia. - Boletín de la Asociación Herpetológica Española, 21: 56-57.

HAUSER, D. (2009): Bemerkenswerter Fund einer Podarcis siculus campestris („concolor“-Mutation) bei Cannobio (Lago Maggiore), Italien. -  Die Eidechse, 20 (2): 46-47.

KRAMER, G. (1941): Über das Concolor-Merkmal (Fehlen der Zeichnung) bei Eidechsen und seine Vererbung. - Biologisches Zentralblatt, 61: 1-15.

SÁ-SOUSA, P. & HARRIS, D.J. (2002): Podarcis carbonelli Perez-Mellado, 1981 is a distinct species. - Amphibia-Reptilia, 23 (4): 459-468.




www.lacerta.de - Original article - published online: 2011-08-20. Author: MARTEN VAN DEN BERG, Purmerenderweg 141, 1461DH Zuidoostbeemster, The Netherlands, E-Mail: martenvdberg@tiscali.nl