Petrova T.V., Kuksin A.N., Putintsev N.I., Lopatina N.V., Lissovsky A.A. 2023. Phylogeography of Lasiopodomys gregalis (Rodentia: Cricetidae) in the southern part of its geographic range // Russian J. Theriol. Vol.22. No.2. P.102–119 [in English].
Tatyana V. Petrova [p.tashka@inbox.ru], Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Emb. 1, Saint-Petersburg 199034, Russia; Alexander N. Kuksin [kuksintuva@yandex.ru], Tuvinian Institute for Exploration of Natural Resources, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Internatsionalnaya Str. 117a, Kyzyl 667007, Russia; Nikolay I. Putintsev [niputin@mail.ru], Tuvan State University, Lenina Str. 36, Kyzyl 667000, Russia; Nataliya V. Lopatina [lopatinanata@yandex.ru], Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Frunze Str. 11, Novosibirsk 630091, Russia; Andrey A. Lissovsky [andlis@zmmu.msu.ru], A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Prospekt 33, Moscow 119071, Russia.
doi: 10.15298/rusjtheriol.22.2.03
ABSTRACT. The narrow-headed vole species complex (subgenus Stenocranius) is represented by at least two cryptic species: Lasiopodomys gregalis and L. raddei. One of L. gregalis lineages (lineage B, inhabiting northern Mongolia and neighbouring territories) forms a secondary contact zone with L. raddei. In the current study, we analysed phylogeographic structure of L. gregalis lineage B by means of sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome b and reconstructed ecological niches of both species at present and in the past. The source of the spread of L. gregalis lineage B was probably the territory of modern western Mongolia and southeastern Tuva. Despite seeming continuity of the geographic range of lineage B, mitochondrial clusters within it turned out to be allopatric or parapatric; the reasons for such spatial structure are not yet clear. Based on the ecological niche modelling, it can be hypothesised that the two studied species reacted differently to climatic fluctuations of the late Pleistocene, and the structure of the modern geographic range of L. gregalis lineage B has formed largely due to inter-specific competitive interactions with L. raddei.
KEY WORDS: ecological niche modelling, cytochrome b, narrow-headed vole, Stenocranius, Lasiopodomys raddei.