Abstract
Aim: There is an increasing evidence showing that species within various taxonomic groups have reticulate evolutionary histories with several cases of introgression events. Investigating the phylogeography of species complexes can provide insight into these introgressions, and when and where these hybridizations occurred. In this study, we investigate the biogeography of a widely distributed Western Palaearctic bat species complex, namely Myotis nattereri sensu lato. This complex exhibits high genetic diversity and in its western distribution range is composed of deeply diverged genetical lineages. However, little is known about the genetic structure of the eastern populations. We also infer the conservation and taxonomical implications of the identified genetic divergences. Taxon: Myotis nattereri sensu lato including M. schaubi. Location: Western Palaearctic. Methods: We analysed 161 specimens collected from 67 locations and sequenced one mitochondrial and four nuclear DNA markers, and combined these with the available GenBank sequences. We used haplotype networks, PCA, t-SNE and Bayesian clustering algorithms to investigate the population structure and Bayesian trees to infer the phylogenetic relationship of the lineages. Results: We identified deeply divergent genetical lineages. In some cases, nuclear and mitochondrial markers were discordant, which we interpret are caused by hybridization between lineages. We identified three such introgression events. These introgressions occurred when spatially separated lineages came into contact after range expansions. Based on the genetic distinction of the identified lineages, we suggest a revision in the taxonomy of this species group with two possible new species: M. hoveli and M. tschuliensis. Main conclusions: Our findings suggest that the M. nattereri complex has a reticulate evolutionary history with multiple cases of hybridizations between some of the identified lineages.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 343-354 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Biogeography |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Funding
We used the DNA samples from the collection of Museum für Naturkunde. Additionally, wing punches from: Slovenia and Israel were collected by Christian Dietz with the permissions of Republika Slovenija (35601-71/2008-4) and Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (2007/28417) respectively; Armenia by Astghik Ghazaryan with the permission of Republic of Armenia (5/22.1/51 216). We are grateful to Isabelle Waurick; she undertook the DNA extractions and performed sequencing. We would like to thank Benjamin Allegrini, Yalın Emek Çelik, Isabel Dietz, Fulgencio Lison Gil, Stefan Greif, Tamás Görföl, Matej Hočevar, Otto von Helversen, Richard Hoffman, Maria Jerabek, Darija Josić, Andreas Kiefer, Jana Mlakar, Bernd Ohlendorf, Eleni Papadatou, George Papov, Boyan Petrov, Alenka Petrinjak, Monika Podgorelec, Guido Reiter, Simon Ripperger, Bernd-Ulrich Rudolph, Konrad Sachanowicz, Marjetka Šemrl, Aleš Tomažič, Gudrun Wibbelt, Anton Vlaschenko, Andreas Zahn and various other researchers for their help during the fieldwork and/or getting access to tissue samples. We are also grateful to Bridgit Symons and Henry Schofield for language editing and proofreading. MZ was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency through the Research program P1-0184. proofreading. MZ was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority | 2007/28417, 5/22.1/51 216 |
| Museum für Naturkunde | |
| Republika Slovenija | 35601-71/2008-4 |
| Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS | P1-0184 |
Keywords
- cryptic species
- glacial refugia
- hybridization
- introgression
- range expansions
- the Caucasus