A total of 2729 base pairs from three mitochondrial (12S, ND4 and CYTB) and two nuclear (C‐MOS, MC1R) genes were used to assess the molecular diversity and phylogenetic structure of the two Omanosaura lacertid lizards endemic to the Hajar Mountains in Northern Oman. Sequence data from fifteen samples of O. jayakari and five of O. cyanura were analyzed using Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference phylogenetic methods, haplotype networks, and molecular dating. Our divergence time estimates suggest that the two species diverged around 8 million years ago (Mya). Mitochondrial sequence data show that the genetic diversity within O. jayakari is very low. Phylogenetic analyses support a partition into two clades without a clear geographic association across the Hajar Mountains, their split dating back to approximately 0.31 Mya. On the other hand, O. cyanura presents three relatively deep lineages associated with three geographic regions of the mountains: lineage 1, restricted to the Musandam Peninsula in the extreme north of the mountain range; lineage 2, including only one sample located in the Western Hajars; and lineage 3, including two samples from the Jebel Akhdar, the highest part of the Mountains, situated between the Western and Eastern Hajars. According to our time estimates, lineage 1 diverged from the other two lineages around 3.95 Mya, and lineages 2 and 3 would have diverged approximately 2.44 Mya. Nuclear data confirm the genetic homogeneity of O. jayakari and the high genetic diversity within O. cyanura. More samples of O. cyanura from undersampled areas will be needed to confirm the consistency of this pattern.

Trabajo presentado en el XIII Iberian Congress of Herpetology (XIII Congresso Luso-Espanhol de Herpetologia, XIII Congreso Luso-Español de Herpetología), celebrado en Aveiro (Portugal) del 30 de septiembre al 4 de octubre de 2014.

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