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.卷尾石龙子属（Trachylepis）蜥蜴是一类物种丰富的石龙子（skinks）类群，主要栖息于非洲、马达加斯加以及西印度洋的若干其他岛屿。除马达加斯加境内的1种疑似引入物种外，其余所有卷尾石龙子属物种均为特有种（endemic）。此前研究曾根据眼下鳞（subocular scale）的形态特征划分出两个物种类群，但二者的系统发育关系（phylogenetic relationships）始终未能明确。本研究基于3个线粒体基因（mitochondrial gene）与4个核基因（nuclear gene）的拼接序列数据集（concatenated dataset，总长3261 bp），结合高密度的马达加斯加类群采样，对马达加斯加卷尾石龙子属物种进行了多位点系统发育（multilocus phylogeny）分析，结果强烈支持马达加斯加特有卷尾石龙子属物种为单系群（monophyly）。马达加斯加境内的两个物种类群均被强烈支持为演化支（clade）。高地物种T. boettgeri嵌套于以适应干旱环境物种为主的T. aureopunctata物种类群中，这表明其祖先由栖息于马达加斯加西部干旱区域的类群演化而来，并成功开拓了高地沼泽生境。塞舌尔境内的卷尾石龙子属物种与T. maculilabris/T. comorensis演化支互为姊妹群（sister group），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的种内分子变异（intraspecific molecular variation）程度较高，这提示需要对其开展分类学修订（taxonomic revision）。