MtDNA barcoding illuminates native diversity and introduction pathways of slow worms in The Netherlands

MtDNA barcoding is a powerful tool for determining the identity and provenance of introduced (cryptic) species. We mtDNA barcode Anguis slow worms from the Netherlands. We show that a non-native population (Zuid-Kennemerland National Park) that was established over a century ago concerns the same species that occurs natively: Anguis fragilis . It carries a haplotype that naturally occurs from The Netherlands to the Balkans. While a lineage from the Balkans up to Western Europe occurs throughout The Netherlands, we detect a lineage from France and Spain in one locality in the southwest of the country. We associate this record with the import of hay bales from France, used for horse feed. In the central Netherlands we find a haplotype previously only reported from Poland, potentially reflecting an unknown introduction or an underestimation of the haplotype’s distribution in the poorly sampled postglacially colonized part of the range.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Amphibia-Reptilia

• Publication date

  2025-10-31

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1163/15685381-bja10243
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Contact zone of slow worms Anguis fragilis Linnaeus, 1758 and Anguis colchica (Nordmann, 1840) in Poland

  2025cited by this paper
• The invasive marsh frogs advancing into The Netherlands carry a diverse mix of mtDNA

  2025cited by this paper
• Cryptic species conservation: a review

  2024cited by this paper
• Extreme genetic depletion upon postglacial colonization hampers determining the provenance of introduced palmate newt populations

  2024cited by this paper
• An extended mtDNA phylogeography for the alpine newt illuminates the provenance of introduced populations

  2023cited by this paper
• Saint Patrick, what about legless lizards? Tracing the mitochondrial affiliation and possible origin of Anguis (Squamata: Anguidae) population in Ireland

  2023cited by this paper
• Exploring the speciation continuum of slow worms: location and extent of the Anguis fragilis/veronensis hybrid zone in southeastern France

  2023cited by this paper
• An isolated crested newt population in Dutch coastal dunes: distribution relict or introduction?

  2022cited by this paper
• Phylogenomics of Anguis and Pseudopus (Squamata, Anguidae) indicates Balkan-Apennine mitochondrial capture associated with the Messinian event.

  2022cited by this paper
• The introduction of three cryptic tree frog species in the Dutch coastal dunes challenges conservation paradigms

  2022cited by this paper
• The conservation paradox of an introduced population of a threatened species: spadefoot toads in the coastal dunes of the Netherlands

  2022cited by this paper
• The limits of mtDNA analysis for determining the provenance of invasive species: a midwife toad example

  2022cited by this paper
• Two species of slow worm (Anguis fragilis, A. colchica) present in the Baltic region

  2021cited by this paper
• The distribution and biogeography of slow worms (Anguis, Squamata) across the Western Palearctic, with an emphasis on secondary contact zones

  2021cited by this paper
• Morphological and genetic differentiation in the anguid lizard Pseudopus apodus supports the existence of an endemic subspecies in the Levant

  2021cited by this paper
• Mitochondrial genomes of Danish vertebrate species generated for the national DNA reference database, DNAmark

  2020cited by this paper
• Scientists' warning on invasive alien species

  2020cited by this paper
• DNA barcoding: a way forward to obtain deep insights about the realistic diversity of living organisms

  2020cited by this paper
• Characterization of microsatellite markers in the genera Anguis and Pseudopus ( Reptilia : Anguidae )

  2018cited by this paper
• ModelFinder: Fast Model Selection for Accurate Phylogenetic Estimates

  2017cited by this paper
• Phylogeography and postglacial colonization of Central Europe by Anguis fragilis and Anguis colchica

  2017cited by this paper
• UFBoot2: Improving the Ultrafast Bootstrap Approximation

  2017cited by this paper
• Contrasting evolutionary histories of the legless lizards slow worms (Anguis) shaped by the topography of the Balkan Peninsula

  2016cited by this paper
• W-IQ-TREE: a fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis

  2016cited by this paper
• Alien species as a driver of recent extinctions

  2016cited by this paper
• Impacts from Invasive Reptiles and Amphibians

  2015cited by this paper
• Distribution and hybridization of Anguis fragilis and A. colchica in Hungary

  2014cited by this paper
• An ancient lineage of slow worms, genus Anguis (Squamata: Anguidae), survived in the Italian Peninsula.

  2013cited by this paper
• Biological Identifications Through DNA Barcodes

  2012cited by this paper
• Slow worm, Anguis fragilis (Reptilia: Anguidae) as a species complex: Genetic structure reveals deep divergences.

  2010cited by this paper
• Effect of taxon sampling on recovering the phylogeny of squamate reptiles based on complete mitochondrial genome and nuclear gene sequence data.

  2009cited by this paper
• Cryptic species as a window on diversity and conservation.

  2007cited by this paper
• FaBox: an online toolbox for fasta sequences

  2007cited by this paper
• Mitochondrial DNA Evidence and Evolution in Varanoidea (Squamata)

  2001cited by this paper
• Two novel gene orders and the role of light-strand replication in rearrangement of the vertebrate mitochondrial genome.

  1997cited by this paper
• Karyotype stasis but species-specific repetitive DNA patterns in Anguis lizards (Squamata: Anguidae), in the evolutionary framework of Anguiformes

  year unknowncited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.