A combination of long term fragmentation and glacial persistence drove the evolutionary history of the Italian wall lizard Podarcis siculus.

Our population-level historical demography showed a common trend consistent with glacial expansions and regional persistence during the last glacial maximum. This complex genetic signature appears to be inconsistent with the expectation of the expansion-contraction model and post-LGM (re)colonizations from southern refugia. Hence it is one of an increasing number of cases in which these assumptions are not met, indicating that long-term fragmentation and pre-LGM events such as glacial persistence were more prominent in shaping genetic variation in this temperate species.