Phylogeographic analysis reveals northerly refugia for the riverine amphibian Triturus dobrogicus (Caudata: Salamandridae)

0468501 - ÚBO 2017 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Vörös, J. - Mikulíček, Peter - Major, Á. - Recuero, E. - Arntzen, J. W.
Phylogeographic analysis reveals northerly refugia for the riverine amphibian Triturus dobrogicus (Caudata: Salamandridae).
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Roč. 119, č. 4 (2016), s. 974-991. ISSN 0024-4066. E-ISSN 1095-8312
Institutional support: RVO:68081766
Keywords : Danube River * microsatellites * mitochondrial DNA * newt * riverine barrier * riverine dispersal * Sava River
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 2.288, year: 2016

We investigated the recent evolutionary history of the Danube crested newt, Triturus dobrogicus through reconstructions of: (1) the number and position of refugia at the last glacial maximum, (2) the role of major central European rivers in pattern of post-glacial dispersal, and (3) the present-day distribution pattern. We analysed sequences of mitochondrial DNA (ND2, 1065bp) and six microsatellite loci in 363 T.dobrogicus individuals from 58 populations covering the range of the species. Our analyses suggested that T.dobrogicus survived the last glacial maximum in two separate refugia positioned in northwestern Pannonia and in Southern Pannonia from where its range expanded along the Danube and Tisza Rivers. Our findings also confirmed that rivers played an important role in shaping the evolutionary history of amphibian species in Central Europe. We compared the T.dobrogicus range with another lowland amphibian, the fire-bellied toad Bombina bombina, using species distribution modelling. In line with these models, the isolated mountains inside Pannonia are occupied not by B.bombina, but by its mountain-dwelling sister-species B.variegata. However, in contrast to the model, crested newts (including T. dobrogicus) are absent from these mountains. We attribute this biogeographical discrepancy to the positioning of the species' refugia at the last glacial maximum.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0266337