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Recent water voles (genus  Arvicola ) display a prominent morphological diversity with a strong ecotypical background but with unclear taxonomic associations. We provide a novel synthetic view on the evolutionary history and the current taxonomic richness in the genus. Our molecular reconstruction, based on a 1143-bp-long sequence of cytochrome  b  and a 926-bp interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein ( irbp ) confirmed the monophyly of four species ( amphibius ,  sapidus ,  monticola  and  italicus ) recognized thus far, and retrieved a new deeply divergent lineage from West Iran. Genetic divergence of the Iranian lineage (&gt;9.0%) is inside the range of interspecies distances, exceeding the interspecies divergences between the remaining  Arvicola  species (range, 4.3–8.7%). The oldest name available for the Iranian phylogroup is  Arvicola persicus  de Filippi, 1865, with the type locality in Soltaniyeh, Iran. The molecular clock suggests the divergence of  A. persicus  in the Early Pleistocene (2.545 Ma), and the current radiation of the remaining species between 1.535 Ma ( Arvicola sapidus ) and 0.671 Ma. While  A. sapidus  possibly evolved from  Arvicola jacobaeus , a fossil ancestor to  A. persicus  is unknown. The aquatic life-style of  Mimomys savini , a direct ancestor to some fossil  Arvicola , is retained in recent stem species  A. sapidus  and  A. persicus , while a major shift toward fossorial morphotype characterizes the terminal lineages ( amphibius ,  italicus  and  monticola ). We suggest that habitat-dependent morphological plasticity and positive enamel differentiation in  Arvicola amphibius  widened its ecological niche that might trigger a range expansion across c. 12 million km 2 , making it one of the largest among arvicolines.

Evolutionary history of water voles revisited: confronting a new phylogenetic model from molecular data with the fossil record