DNA barcoding reveals distinct population of Dopasia gracilis (Squamata: Anguidae) in Mizoram, Northeast India

Abstract

The DNA barcode data of Asian Glass Lizard, Dopasia gracilis, is limited in the global database, especially from India. The present study aimed to generate a barcode sequence of morphologically identified D. gracilis from the Mizoram state in northeast India and compared with other Anguidae species. The studied species showed monophyletic clustering in the Bayesian analysis (BA) phylogeny with strong posterior probability support and also discriminated sufficient Kimura 2 parameter genetic distances. The barcode data of D. gracilis revealed high intra-species genetic variability and formed two clusters in BA phylogeny. The Templeton, Crandall, and Sing network also depicted four different haplotypes within the barcode sequences of D. gracilis. The DNA sequences generated from northeast India showed 6.5–6.6% and 7.3% genetic distances with the sequences generated from Yunnan Province and Tibetan Plateau, respectively. Considering the high genetic distances, multiple clustering, and distinct haplotypes, the present study assumed the presence of possible cryptic diversity of D. gracilis in the Indochina sub-region and a distinct population in northeast India. We recommended the generation of more DNA information from different localities to elucidate the actual diversity of D. gracilis within the known range distribution.

Keywords:

• Indochina
• Glass Lizard
• mitochondrial DNA
• phylogeny
• haplotypes

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the Director of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), the Government of India, for providing necessary facilities and support for the study. We are also thankful to the anonymous reviewer and Vishal Santra, Reptile Consultant, India and member of IUCN Viper Specialist Group for helping in improving the language.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in NCBI GenBank database at (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) with the accession number (MT450474) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Additional information

Funding

The research is funded by the Core Funding of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Grant No. EMR/2016/002391, Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, India. The first author (SK) acknowledges the fellowship grant received from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Senior Research Associateship (Scientists’ Pool Scheme) Pool No. 9072-A.