Morphological variation of the Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara Jacquin, 1787) in the Central Balkans

Abstract

The variation in some of the morphometric, meristic and qualitative characters of the Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara) in five population samples from mountains of the Central Balkans was analyzed using univariate and multivariate statistics. The morphological differentiation was greater in males than in females and is more expressed in the morphometric than in the pholidosis and qualitative characters. The largest differences in morphometric traits appeared between the populations from the Šara and Stara Planina mountains. The 'median' pileus pattern generally prevailed, with the appearance of other states in a certain proportion in some of the populations. Further analyses of the possible morphological and ecological distinctions of the population from Mt Tara are proposed. .

Keywords

• viviparous lizard
• morphology
• scalation
• geographic variation
• The Balkan Peninsula