Gabrielli, M. & Benazzo, A. & Biello, R. & Ancona, L. & Fuselli, S. & Ianucci, A. & Balacco, J. & Mountcastle, J. / Tracey, A. & Ficetola, G.F. & Salvi, D. & Sollitto, M. & Fedrigo, O. & Formenti, G. & Jarvis, E.D. & Gerdol, M. & Ciofi, C. & Trucchi, E. & Bertorelle, G. (2023) -
A high-quality reference genome for the critically endangered Aeolian wall lizard, Podarcis raffonei. - Journal of Heredity, 2023, XX, 1–7 (early view).

×The Aeolian wall lizard, Podarcis raffonei, is an endangered species endemic to the Aeolian archipelago, Italy, where it is present only in 3 tiny islets and a narrow promontory of a larger island. Because of the extremely limited area of occupancy, severe population fragmentation and observed decline, it has been classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Using Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) High Fidelity (HiFi) long-read sequencing, Bionano optical mapping and Arima chromatin conformation capture sequencing (Hi-C), we produced a high-quality, chromosome-scale reference genome for the Aeolian wall lizard, including Z and W sexual chromosomes.The final assembly spans 1.51 Gb across 28 scaffolds with a contig N50 of 61.4 Mb, a scaffold N50 of 93.6 Mb, and a BUSCO completeness score of 97.3%.This genome constitutes a valuable resource for the species to guide potential conservation efforts and more generally for the squamate reptiles that are underrepresented in terms of available high-quality genomic resources.
2 new pictures of Algyroides nigropunctatus nigropunctatus DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1839 from Croatia / Cres island. (wild)
4 new pictures of Podarcis melisellensis fiumanus (WERNER, 1891) from Croatia / Cres island. (wild)
3 new pictures of Lacerta agilis argus (LAURENTI, 1768) from Germany / Bavaria / Middle Franconia. (wild)
2 new pictures of Lacerta viridis viridis (LAURENTI, 1768) from Austria / Lower Austria. (wild)
1 new picture of Darevskia portschinskii portschinskii (KESSLER, 1878) from Georgian Republic. (wild)
3 new pictures of Podarcis muralis maculiventris (WERNER, 1891) from Croatia / Cres island. (wild)
3 new pictures of Dalmatolacerta oxycephala (DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1839) from Croatia / Cres island. (wild)
5 new pictures of Lacerta bilineata bilineata DAUDIN, 1802 from Croatia / Cres island. (wild)
1 new picture of Podarcis muralis muralis (LAURENTI, 1768) from Croatia / Cres island. (wild)