The northernmost population of the Balkan wall lizards, Podarcistauricus (Pallas, 1814) was recently discovered in the Czech Republic. We studied genetic variability in a mitochondrial marker cytochrome b to shed light on the origin of this remote population. We detected three unique haplotypes, close to those occurring in the populations of Podarcistauricus from central/north Balkans and Hungary. Our data exclude the hypothesis of a single founder (a randomly or intentionally introduced pregnant female or her progeny) of the Czech population and indicate a native, autochthonous origin of the population or recent introduction/range expansion.

Department of Ecology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic Department of Ecology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Mining Muzeum Příbram Příbram Czech Republic Mining Muzeum Příbram Příbram Czech Republic

Prague Zoo Prague Czech Republic Prague Zoo Prague Czech Republic

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