Established Arrays of Triploid, Parthenogenetic Aspidoscelis neotesselatus (Colorado Checkered Whiptail) in Denver and Adams Counties, Colorado: Evidence of Untapped Ecological Potential

摘要

The natural distribution of Aspidoscelis neotesselatus (Colorado Checkered Whiptail) is confined to the complex Arkansas River drainage in southeastern Colorado (Walker et al 1997; Livo 2009; Taylor et al. 2015b). This species originated from a single hybridization event between a female of diploid and normally parthenogenetic A. tesselatus (Common Checkered Whiptail) and a male of A. sexlineatus (Six-lined Racerunner), likely in either Otero or Las Animas county, Colorado, where all three species are syntopic at certain localities (Walker et al. 1997; Walker et al. 2012; Taylor et al. 2015b). From an evolutionary perspective, parthenogenetic reproduction is expressed as motherand-daughter arrays in contrast to the lineages established in sexually reproducing species (Frost and Hillis 1990; Taylor et al. 2015b). Post-origin evolution in A neotesselatus is evident as four pattern-class arrays designated by capital letters (sensu Zweifel 1965): A-C (Walker et al. 1997), and D (Walker et al. 2012). Although these four pattern classes have predominantly allopatric distributions, rare individual pattern-class "misfits" either representing variation within a pattern class or from different modes of origin are occasionally found within a pattern-class array (Taylor et al. 2016).