Pikstein, Rachel N.
Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, California USA
Pikstein Laboratory NPO
Meshaka Jr., Walter E.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania USA
Williams, Dean A.
Texas Christian University
Ft. Worth, Texas USA
Forrester, Jeffrey S.
Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania USA
Andrew, Cydney M.
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan USA
Nies, Joseph B.
Hilla, Brent
Pikstein Laboratory NPO
Arnold, Matthew L.
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, Arizona USA
Due to the detrimental nature of their expansion's pressure on the ecosystems they establish in, invasive species place a heavy burden on regional economies to manage their various impacts. However, these exotic species offer remarkable opportunities to assess short-time adaption, symbiosis, and speciation parameters. This study compared specimens of the “Argentine black and white tegu” lizard, Salvator merianae, from invasive populations in southern Florida and captive-bred specimens across the United States in order to investigate ecological-evolutionary divergences. We compared various crosses and hybridizations of Salvator in captivity for comparison to natural occurrences (South America) from the literature. We sampled twelve morphological variables on all captive and invasive specimens, including five established scale counts for determining classification, and two new scale count parameters developed by this work. Blood samples from over 120 living and deceased specimens were used for a variety of genetic analyses, both genomic and mitochondrial. This study offers the most extensive genetic analysis performed to date on S. merianae and S. rufescens, both in sample size and degree of genetic investigations performed. The goal of our GEATI (genetic ecological assessment of the tegu invasion) project and the outcome of its efforts are to better evaluate species parameters within Teiidae, study the short-term evolution of a founder population, and to gauge the hybridization potential among invasive reptiles. These results offer new models for measuring evolutionary change, provide further squamate genetic foundations, and offer reclassification for Salvator; while routinely assisting South American conservation and US eradication efforts from relative developments.