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Highly divergent lineage of narrow-headed vole from the Late Pleistocene Europe.

ABSTRACT: During the Late Pleistocene, narrow-headed voles (Lasiopodomys gregalis) inhabited Eurasia's vast territories, frequently becoming the dominant small mammal species among steppe-tundra communities. We investigated the relationship between this species' European and Asiatic populations by sequencing the mtDNA genomes of two extant specimens from Russia and 10 individuals from five Central European sites, dated to the post-LGM period. Phylogenetic analyses based on a large portion of mtDNA genomes highly supported the positioning of L. gregalis within Arvicolinae. The phylogeny based on mtDNA cytochrome b sequences revealed a deep divergence of European narrow-headed voles from Asiatic ones and their sister position against the extant L. gregalis and L. raddei. The divergence of the European lineage was estimated to a minimum 230 thousand years ago. This suggest, contrary to the current biogeographic hypotheses, that during the interglacial periods narrow-headed vole did not retreat from Europe but survived the unfavourable conditions within the refugial areas. Based on this result, we propose to establish a cryptic species status for the Late Pleistocene European narrow-headed vole and to name this taxon Lasiopodomys anglicus.

SUBMITTER: Baca M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6882798 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Highly divergent lineage of narrow-headed vole from the Late Pleistocene Europe.

Baca Mateusz M Popović Danijela D Lemanik Anna A Baca Katarzyna K Horáček Ivan I Nadachowski Adam A

Scientific reports 20191128 1

During the Late Pleistocene, narrow-headed voles (Lasiopodomys gregalis) inhabited Eurasia's vast territories, frequently becoming the dominant small mammal species among steppe-tundra communities. We investigated the relationship between this species' European and Asiatic populations by sequencing the mtDNA genomes of two extant specimens from Russia and 10 individuals from five Central European sites, dated to the post-LGM period. Phylogenetic analyses based on a large portion of mtDNA genomes ...[more]

PMID: 31780683

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Pleistocene glacial oscillations have significantly affected the historical population dynamics of temperate taxa. However, the general effects of recent climatic changes on the evolutionary history and genetic structure of extant subtropical species remain poorly understood. In the present study, phylogeographic and historical demographic analyses based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences were used. The aim was to investigate whether Pleistocene climatic cycles, paleo-drainages or mountain vicariance of Taiwan shaped the evolutionary diversification of a subtropical gossamer-wing damselfly, Euphaea formosa. RESULTS: E. formosa populations originated in the middle Pleistocene period (0.3 Mya) and consisted of two evolutionarily independent lineages. It is likely that they derived from the Pleistocene paleo-drainages of northern and southern Minjiang, or alternatively by divergence within Taiwan. The ancestral North-central lineage colonized northwestern Taiwan first and maintained a slowly growing population throughout much of the early to middle Pleistocene period. The ancestral widespread lineage reached central-southern Taiwan and experienced a spatial and demographic expansion into eastern Taiwan. This expansion began approximately 30,000 years ago in the Holocene interglacial period. The ancestral southern expansion into eastern Taiwan indicates that the central mountain range (CMR) formed a barrier to east-west expansion. However, E. formosa populations in the three major biogeographic regions (East, South, and North-Central) exhibit no significant genetic partitions, suggesting that river drainages and mountains did not form strong geographical barriers against gene flow among extant populations. CONCLUSIONS: The present study implies that the antiquity of E. formosa's colonization is associated with its high dispersal ability and larval tolerance to the late Pleistocene dry grasslands. The effect of late Pleistocene climatic changes on the subtropical damselfly's historical demography is lineage-specific, depending predominantly on its colonization history and geography. It is proposed that the Riss and Würm glaciations in the late Pleistocene period had a greater impact on the evolutionary diversification of subtropical insular species than the last glacial maximum (LGM).

Dataset Information

Highly divergent lineage of narrow-headed vole from the Late Pleistocene Europe.

Publications

Highly divergent lineage of narrow-headed vole from the Late Pleistocene Europe.

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