Journal
HEREDITY
Volume 85, Issue 4, Pages 307-317Publisher
BLACKWELL SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2540.2000.00756.x
Keywords
cytochrome b; European rabbit; glaciations; Iberian Peninsula; Oryctolagus cuniculus; phylogeography
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We studied mitochondrial DNA variation in the European rabbit through the examination of restriction fragment length polymorphism in 526 individuals from 20 locations spread across the Iberian Peninsula. Digestion with eight enzymes of a 1120-bp fragment comprising most of the cytochrome b gene resolved 38 different haplotypes. These haplotypes were distributed in two highly divergent clades, with different but overlapping geographical distributions, and with comparable levels of within-clade variation. The overall phylogeographical pattern suggests a history of long-term regional isolation of two groups of rabbit populations, compatible with the recognition of two subspecies within the Iberian Peninsula, followed by recent contact and admixture. The underlying cause is sought in the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods in the late Pleistocene.
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