ИСТИНА

The Eremias racerunners represent an important element of arid regions of Middle and Central Asia. Among other species groups of this genus, taxonomy and species identification within the E. multiocellata – E. przewalskii species complex appears to be the most complicated with 17 taxa described to date, eight of which are recognized as nominal species. We provide an integrative analysis of E. multiocellata – E. przewalskii species complex diversity in Central and Middle Asia using morphological analysis and COI DNA-barcoding. Molecular analysis is based on COI sequences (651 bp) obtained from 125 Eremias specimens from 55 populations of all currently recognized taxa from Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and Kyrgyzstan. Our data reveal three major clades in E. multiocellata – E. przewalskii species complex: (1) E. multiocellata clade from eastern and central Mongolia and central China, (2) clade, joining Tian-Shan taxa E. stummeri and E. szczerbaki and (3) clade joining E. przewalskii with several morphologically quite distant forms from western Mongolia and China and easternmost Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (E. yarkandensis, E. buechneri and other lineages). Our data indicate high genetic and morphological diversity of E. multiocellata in Mongolia and China, suggest that E. m. bannikowi from Tuva Republic (Russia) should be synonymized with the nominative form E. m. multiocellata, similar to E. przewalskii tuvensis which also appears to be a junior synonym of the nominative form E. przewalskii. We provide new data on poorly known E. cf. reticulata. The isolated mountain population from southern Mongolia (Tsagan-Bogdo Uul Mt., Bayankhongor Aimag) described as E. m. tsaganbogdensis appears to be quite distinct morphologically from neighbouring populations, however according to our preliminary data it shares the same mtDNA haplotype as the morphologically distinct E. cf. reticulata from Govi-Altai Aimag; however further studies are required to clarify taxonomic status of this population. Molecular data support validity of E. stummeri, E. szczerbaki and E. yarkandensis inhabiting Kyrgyzstan. Issyk-Kul racerunner E. stummeri is also confirmed for the extreme south-east of Kazakhstan (northern slopes of Tian Shan Mountains); morphologically and molecularly the Kazakh population of E. stummeri is insignificantly differentiated from the topotype population (north-eastern bank of Issyk-Kul Lake, Karakol). Our data indicate sister-species relationships of E. stummeri and E. szczerbaki, whereas E. yarkandensis belongs to a different clade within the E. multiocellata complex and is closer to the racerunner species found in western China and Mongolia. Our results indicate that the complicated taxonomy of the E. multiocellata – E. przewalskii species complex is still insufficiently studied and a further research, in particularly covering the range of the complex in central and western China and Kyrgyzstan, is needed.