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Analysis of sex‐linked sequences supports a new mammal species in Europe
Author(s) -
HELLBORG LINDA,
GÜNDÜZ İSLAM,
JAAROLA MAARIT
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2005.02559.x
Subject(s) - biology , vole , mitochondrial dna , monophyly , microtus , mammal , reproductive isolation , evolutionary biology , zoology , genetics , phylogenetics , clade , gene , population , demography , sociology
Abstract European mammals have been the focus of particularly detailed taxonomic studies by traditional morphological methods. However, DNA analyses have the potential to reveal additional, cryptic species. We describe two highly divergent evolutionary lineages within a small Eurasian mammal, the field vole ( Microtus agrestis ). We show that the two lineages can be detected not only with maternally (mitochondrial DNA), but also with paternally (Y chromosome) and biparentally (X chromosome) inherited DNA sequences. Reciprocal monophyly of all genealogies and their congruent geographical distributions is consistent with reproductive isolation. Our results suggest that the field vole should be reclassified as two separate species.