Exploring phylogeography and species limits in the Altai vole (Rodentia: Cricetidae).

• Published in: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
• Main Authors: Tougard, Christelle, Montuire, Sophie, Volobouev, Vitaly, Markova, Evgenia, Contet, Julien, Aniskin, Vladimir, Quéré, Jean-Pierre
• Other Authors: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Paléobiodiversité et Evolution (PALEVO), École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), Biogéosciences UMR 6282 (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Origine, structure et évolution de la biodiversité (OSEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (UB RAS), A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Work financially supported by our laboratories (ISEM, Biogéosciences, CBGP and MNHN), the Department of Biology, Evolution and Environment of University Montpellier II, and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (for EM, research grant 10-04-96102).
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: Microtus obscurus; speciation; morphometrics; cytogenetics; evolution; hybridization; [SDV.BID]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00781227; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2012.02034.x

19 pages International audience Natural hybridization between species is not a rare event. In arvicoline rodents, hybridization is known to occur in the wild and/or in captivity. In the Microtus arvalis group, cytogenetic studies revealed that there were two distinct chromosomal forms (2n = 46 but a different fundamental number of autosomes). These forms have been attributed to two cryptic species: the common (arvalis) and Altai (obscurus) voles. Recently, individuals with intermediate karyotypes (F1 and backcrosses) were discovered in central European Russia, and, for this reason, other studies have regarded obscurus and arvalis as conspecific. In the present study, to address the question of the species limits in the Altai vole and to infer its evolutionary history, a phylogeographical analysis combined with multivariate morphometric methods and original chromosome data was performed. Two obscurus lineages were identified: the Sino-Russian and South Caucasian lineages. Both lineages are characterized by low genetic diversity, resulting, in the former, from a past bottleneck event caused by encroaching periglacial areas and, in the latter, from recent rapid population divergence. Introgressive hybridization between the Altai and common voles appears to be the result of a secondary contact following the Last Glacial Maximum in central European Russia. Despite the fact that speciation is an ongoing process in most arvicoline species, the common and Altai voles are genetically divergent, morphologically and karyologically distinct, and exhibit contrasting evolutionary histories. For all these reasons, they should be ranked as species: M. arvalis and M. obscurus.