Conclusions
The Balearic lizard P. lilfordi has recently entered the genomic
era, offering a new interesting insular system to explore trends in
vertebrate genome evolution. Our study presents a first use of theP. lilfordi genome to reliably mapped extensive SNP data.
Comparative analysis using independent methods and datasets provided
robustness to our findings. We found support for the origin of this
species colonization in the Mallorca Island, confirming previous
proposals and providing a framework for future studies of the
evolutionary trajectories in genome diversification for this insular
species. The substantial genetic diversity observed in these effectively
closed populations suggest that they have potential mechanisms to
partially counteract genetic drift and inbreeding depression that are
worth further investigation by genome resequencing and inclusion of
additional populations. Furthermore, integration of population
demographic data (ongoing) and collection of detailed phenotypic data,
still scarce for this species, will be critical to evaluate the genomic
plasticity and ability to persist of these insular populations.