"Однажды решил хитрец Али заняться сельским хозяйством. Нашел себе клочок земли, расчистил его от камней, выкорчевал кустарник, вскопал землю и посадил огород. Прошло немного времени, и зазеленел его огород. Осталось только поливать и ждать урожая.
Да не тут-то было. Приходит раз Али проверить свое хозяйство и видит: грядки все разрыты, зелень изъедена, помята. Ползает по огороду большая ящерица - последнее доедает".
http://exlibris.ng.ru/kids/2002-09-19/8_ali.htmlИменно эта сокотрийская сказка пришла на память в связи с открытием итальянской зоологической экспедицией НОВОЙ ящерицы-сцинка - по-сокотрийски она называется gimsh или gumsh - на острове Абд-эль-Кури и опубликованными результатами биогенетических исследований сцинков архипелага Сокотра, проведенными затем ее участниками:
Sindaco, R., Metallinou, M., Pupin, F., Fasola, M. & Carranza, S. (2012). Forgotten in the ocean: systematics, biogeography and evolution of the Trachylepis skinks of the Socotra Archipelago. —Zoologica Scripta, 00, 000–000.
The Socotra Archipelago, in the north-west Indian Ocean, is considered to be one of the most remote and most biodiversity rich and distinct islands in the world. Often referred to as the ‘Galapagos of the Indian Ocean’, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Natural site in 2008. Despite having a very rich and bizarre fauna and flora with a high level of endemicity at both species and generic levels, the taxonomy of most of the groups is still not clear, and their origin and evolution remain unknown. Reptiles constitute the most relevant vertebrate fauna of the Socotra Archipelago, with 90% of the 30 species and 45% of the 12 genera being found nowhere else in the world. The skinks of the endemic species Trachylepis socotrana are the only reptile species in the Archipelago distributed across all four islands (Socotra, Darsa, Samha and Abd Al Kuri). Although the species is very well known from Socotra Island, it was not discovered on Samha until 1999 and on Darsa until 2000, whereas only a few citations and one single Museum specimen exist for the population from Abd Al Kuri. To clarify the systematics, biogeography and evolution of Trachylepis socotrana, we assembled a dataset for Mabuya sensu lato including 904 base pairs (bp) of sequence (392 bp from the 12S and 512 from the 16S rRNA mitochondrial genes) for 115 individuals, including specimens of T. socotrana from all four island populations, numerous representatives of the genus Trachylepis from the Middle East, Africa and Madagascar, plus some individuals from each of the other three genera of Mabuya sensu lato (Chioninia, Eutropis and Mabuya). The results of the phylogenetic analyses indicate that, contrary to what was previously thought, members of the genus Trachylepis have colonized the Socotra Archipelago in two independent events, with the first giving rise to the populations from Socotra, Samha and Darsa and the second to the Trachylepis from Abd Al Kuri Island. According to the calibrations, both colonization events occurred within the last fourteen million years, when the Socotra Archipelago had already drifted away from Arabia, thus ruling out vicariance. Both morphological and genetic data show that the Trachylepis from Abd Al Kuri is a distinct taxon, which is herein described as a new species belonging to the T. brevicollis species complex. On the basis of this evidence, the terrestrial herpetofauna from Abd Al Kuri is composed exclusively of endemic species (one of which, the gecko Pristurus abdelkuri, was introduced into some parts of Socotra).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00540.x/abstract
Как пишет по этому поводу участник экспедиции Фабио Пупин, поясняя суть нестандартных выводов, к которым неожиданно для себя пришла экспедиция, -
In a recent paper, the team presented some new highlights on the systematics, biogeography and evolution of Trachylepis socotrana, the only endemic reptile (a skink) supposed to live in all four islands (Socotra, Darsa, Samha and Abd Al Kuri). By comparing the skinks of the archipelago with representatives of the genus Trachylepis from Middle East, Africa and Madagascar plus some individuals from each of the other three genera of Mabuya skinks sensu lato (Chioninia, Eutropis and Mabuya), they have been able to trace back the history of the Socotran skinks. Interestingly, the results of the phylogenetic analyses indicate that members of the genus Trachylepis have landed in the archipelago in two independent events, firstly colonizing Socotra, Samha and Darsa about 10 million years ago, and then, 3 million years ago, colonizing Abd Al Kuri Island, when all the islands were already drifted away from the mainland. Furthermore, the Abd Al Kuri skink has proved to be a distinct new species, named by the authors Trachylepis cristinae, to credit the herpetologist who found the holotype while the team was surveying the island. This finding also means that reptiles of Abd Al Kuri, the westernmost island of the archipelago, are with no exceptions all exclusive of the island. Once again, the Socotra Archipelago proves to be one of the most unique places in the world to witness and investigate evolutionary processes, and indeed is worthy of its nickname of “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean”.
http://www.herpfolio.net/category/socotra/Он же в другой статье высказывается и об островах, как о "древнейших в мире" -
"These are some of the oldest islands in the world. Million of years of isolation from nearby continents provided the flora and fauna of the islands with the textbook situation of surviving and evolving in their own ways. That's why the islands are inhabited by such an impressive number of endemics. It's quite a general rule to find peculiarities on islands, but what makes Socotra Archipelago so amazing is its amount of endemics: just considering reptiles, they are almost all endemic (except those which are believed to have reached the islands thanks to us) with ancient lineages and genera, including multiple species clearly adapted to different habitats".
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0425-hance_socotra.htmlИтак, сцинки Сокотры и Абд-эль-Кури, как, похоже, свидетельствуют их митохондриальные гены, несут с собой объективную информацию о возрасте отделения Сокотры и прилежащих островов от материка, и возраст этот явно стремится к 3 и более миллионам лет.
И если олдованцы из Homo habilis не перебрались сюда около 3 млн. лет назад, то позже им, скорее всего, пришлось добираться до Сокотры морем. Вопрос: как это было возможно? - опять повисает в воздухе.
В общем, как в той сокотрийской сказке: решил хитрец Али заняться сельским хозяйством, все засеял, организовал, наладил. И тут приполз сцинк...
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