Nuclear and organelle genes based phylogeny of dryomys (glirıidae, rodentıa, mammalıa) from Turkey

Abstract

Molecular phylogeny, phylogeography and genetic structure of the genus Dryomys Thomas, 1906 from Turkey were identified by using partial sequences of beta-fibrinogen intron 7 and mitochondrially encoded 12S ribosomal RNA genes and also combined data of two genes. Within Dryomys nitedula species, both, nuclear and mitochondrial genes coherently separated the Thrace lineage from the other lineages in Anatolia. Contrary to this, complex and incomprehensible phylogenies were recovered for Anatolian populations of this species. The analysis of the combined data of these two genes resolved mentioned complexity and incongruity and made phylogeny compatible with the results of past studies for the relative position of the Anatolian lineages. Thus, the presence of four different lineages (one in Thrace and three in Anatolia) within D. nitedula in the localities exemplified across Turkey was confirmed. Genetic differentiation (K2P distances) between the lineages were moderate at the level of intraspecific diversity. In addition to this, genetic distance (K2P = 5.5%) determined between D. nitedula and D. laniger conformed the distance suggested for the separate species of mammals. Evolutionary divergence time estimations demonstrated that the probable divergence between D. laniger and D. nitedula and among its detected lineages started in the border of Late Miocene and Pliocene (5.3 Mya) and lasted to the beginning of the Calabrian Stage of Pleistocene (1.8 Mya) in line with the previous results obtained from fossil and molecular data.