Data from: Phylogenetic relationships of Trachylepis skink species from Madagascar and the Seychelles (Squamata: Scincidae)

Lizards of the genus Trachylepis are a species-rich group of skinks mainly inhabiting Africa, Madagascar, and several other islands in the western Indian Ocean. All except one probably introduced species of Madagascan Trachylepis are endemic. Two species groups have been distinguished on the basis of subocular scale shape but their phylogenetic relationships remained unclear. We inferred a multilocus phylogeny of the Madagascan Trachylepis species, based on a concatenated dataset of 3261 bp from 3 mitochondrial and 4 nuclear genes with a dense Madagascan taxon sampling and find high support for the monophyly of the endemic Madagascan Trachylepis. The two species groups in Madagascar are highly supported as clades. The highland species T. boettgeri is nested in the T. aureopunctata species group of mainly arid-adapted species, suggesting a colonization of highland swamps by ancestors inhabiting dry western Madagascar. The Seychellois species were sister to the T. maculilabris/T. comorensis clade, suggesting their origin directly out of Africa as with Seychellois chameleons. In Madagascar, a high intraspecific molecular variation was confirmed for T. gravenhorstii, T. elegans, and T. vato, indicating a need for taxonomic revision.

滑蜥属（Trachylepis）的蜥蜴是一类物种丰富的石龙子类群，主要栖息于非洲、马达加斯加以及西印度洋的多个其他岛屿。马达加斯加滑蜥属的所有物种中，仅有一种为疑似引入物种，其余均为特有种。研究曾根据眼下鳞形状划分出两个物种群，但二者的系统发育关系仍不明确。本研究基于3个线粒体基因与4个核基因的串联数据集（总长3261 bp），结合高密度的马达加斯加滑蜥类群采样，对马达加斯加滑蜥属物种构建了多位点系统发育树，结果高度支持马达加斯加特有滑蜥属类群为单系群。马达加斯加境内的两个物种群均被高度支持为单系演化支。高地物种T. boettgeri嵌入于主要由适应干旱环境物种组成的T. aureopunctata物种群中，这表明其祖先源自栖息于马达加斯加西部干旱区域的类群，随后拓殖至高地沼泽生境。塞舌尔境内的滑蜥物种与T. maculilabris/T. comorensis演化支互为姊妹群，这表明其起源与塞舌尔变色龙类似，均直接源自非洲大陆。在马达加斯加境内，T. gravenhorstii、T. elegans与T. vato均被证实存在较高的种内分子变异，这提示需要对其开展分类学修订。