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- Ελληνικά
Another endemic reptile species has been added to Cyprus' biodiversity, the University of Cyprus announced on Monday.
According to the announcement, the lizard known as "kurkoutas" in Cyprus or "crocodile" in Greece corresponds to a distinct species (Laudakia cypriaca), which is found only in Cyprus and which is now part of the country's important biodiversity along with the Cypriot snake (Hierophis cypriensis) and the Troodos lizard (Phoenicolacerta troodica).
These lizards were thought to correspond to a species with a wide distribution throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, however, as reported, the study of the genetic material (DNA), which was carried out at the Laboratory of Ecology and Biodiversity of the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Cyprus, in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Crete of the University of Crete and researchers from Austria, Germany and Turkey, showed that the Cyprus kurkoutas corresponds to a distinct species, also revealing the existence of two other species, with the first (Laudakia vulgaris) spreading to neighbouring Near Eastern countries (Syria, Jordan, Israel and Egypt) and the second (Laudakia stellio) being restricted to Greece and Turkey.
Finally, it should be noted that the results of the study were published in the prestigious scientific journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society and provided important data on the evolution of these animals in the Eastern Mediterranean countries, such as the estimation of the time periods in which each of their different lineages evolved, according to which it appears that the turquoise was diversified in Cyprus about 2.5 million years ago during the beginning of the "Ice Age", which brought the coasts of Cyprus closer to those of Syria and Israel.
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