A Contribution to the Biogeography of Ablepharus anatolicus and A. budaki (Squamata: Scincidae) Using Ecological Niche Modeling in Turkey

Abstract

The Anatolian Peninsula is very richly biodiverse in terms of its location and with new studies, this wealth has gradually increased as new taxa of Anatolian origin are added to the literature. Ablepharusbudaki and A. anatolicus, formerly considered to be subspecies of A. kitaibelli and A. budakirespectively, are spread throughout the southern part of Anatolia. Although recent phylogenetic andmorphological studies revealed their species status, no information was given about the relation of thespecies with each other in terms of ecological niche. In this study, our primary goal was to discoverwhether the niches of these two taxa were different from each other. Considering the analyses madewithin the scope of this study, it has been revealed that both A. anatolicus and A. budaki are differentfrom each other in terms of their ecological niche. However, since these two taxa have very smallcontact regions, an example of parapatric speciation, and their distribution areas cover almostcompletely different geographies, we can say that they have different ecological niche requirements,according to the results of this study. As a result, this study supported the findings in literature and theidea that these taxa are two different species