Phylogeographical Analysis of Eremias argus in Yoobu-do Island and Sohwang Sand Dune, Korea

Eremias argus, which specifically inhabits riverside or coastal sand dune, is an endangered species designated by the Ministry of Environment of Korea because it has been drastically decreasing due to the destruction of habitat and the human activities. Therefore, it is required to prepare a countermeasure for the strategic and systematic solutions for the conservation of the E. argus. This study analyzed mtDNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of E. argus inhabiting Yoobu-do island and Sohwang sand dune. This study aims to provide fundamental genetic information through phylogeographical analysis between two regions. Of 11 individuals of E. argus used in the analysis, the total 652∼656 bp of mtDNA COI genes for 3 individuals of Takydromus wolteri as ‘out group’ were analyzed. Intraspecific genetic distance for E. argus was shown to be the same result of 0.000. As for T. wolteri, it was 0.005, showing very similar result. T. wolteri inhabiting Gapcheon stream in Daejeon metropolitan city was found to be the highest intraspecific genetic distance (0.008). The NJ tree of E. argus and T. wolteri indicated there was almost no genetic difference between habitat for E. argus. For T. wolteri, however, there was slight difference between the individuals inhabiting Yoobu-do island and those inhabiting Gapcheon stream in Daejeon metropolitan city. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare conservation strategies to increase genetic diversity of E. argus in Yoobu-do island in the future because it is highly presumed that the population of E. argus in Yoobu-do island have been flown from nearby coastal sand dune.