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Atlantolacerta andreanskyi (Werner, 1929) is an endemic lizard from the High Atlas Mountains region of Morocco. A previous molecular assessment of this species using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers uncovered extensive genetic diversity with seven lineages indicative of a species complex. A morphological assessment of six of these lineages did not establish simple diagnostic features, and proposed these should be considered as a cryptic species, while highlighting the need for greater sampling across the range. In this study, we sampled 8 individuals from 5 previously unsampled localities and carried out genetic analyses to compare these populations to the known variation. Phylogenetic reconstruction based on mitochondrial DNA markers (12S rRNA and ND4) corroborates the previously described lineages and identified a new one. Interestingly, the two samples that account for this newly identified lineage have been collected from distinct localities – M’goun and Toumliline – that form a sister taxon to the population of Jbel Azourki.

Two satellite DNAs (satDNAs) have been isolated and characterized from three populations of Atlantolacerta andreanskyi. One satDNA (AAN-TaqI) has been isolated here from the first time. It is characterized by a tendency to AT enrichment (AT = 54.2%) and monomer length ranging from 187 to 199 bp. FISH experiments showed that this element occurs in subterminal position on the short arms of all chromosomes of the complement. The analyses of genetic variability of AAN-TaqI showed that the concerted evolution is acting effectively on these repeats that form separate clusters consistent with the geographic origin in the phylogenetic tree, thus supporting the hypothesis that A. andreanskyi would be a species complex. In addition, in the population from Jbel Aoulime this satDNA is already differentiated into two subfamilies. The other satDNA belongs to the family of IMO-TaqI already isolated in other lacertids. Differently from AAN-TaqI, concerted evolution does not seem to act effectively on this element that is not differentiated between populations. These results confirm that IMO-TaqI (AT = 53.4%) is conserved in both chromosomal position and most of its sequence in the lacertids from which it has been characterized so far. Its remarkable evolutionary conservation for about 45 million years could indicate that this satDNA may have a functional role that future investigations could unveil. Once again, this study shows how satDNAs coexisting in the same genome may differ in their evolutionary pattern, even though the reasons underlying this phenomenon in the species here studied have still to be fully understood.

Although dietary studies are essential to design effective conservation strategies for amphibians, non-invasive studies using microscopy assessment of faecal material are known to have limitations. We assessed the use of DNA metabarcoding to determine diet in the Moroccan painted frog Discoglossus scovazzi. Nineteen families of insects were identified, and resolution of prey taxonomy to the family level identified differences between adult males and females not seen at the order level. Several prey items could be identified to the species level, providing identifications that add towards the determination of the insect diversity of the habitat. However, the 16S primers used only amplified insect prey, so a notable part of the diet could not be surveyed. Multiple markers will be needed to obtain information across the whole prey spectrum of these generalist amphibians.

Release calls of Pelobates varaldii Pasteur and Bons (1959) are described quantitatively based on airborne recordings obtained from 4 males and 12 females from a population of the extreme north of its range. The calls are sequences of pulsed notes with a variable number of pulses per note. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on the acoustic repertoire of this endemic endangered species from Morocco., This work was supported by the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technics-Morocco (ICGVSA project. PI. T. Slimani).