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11.
New insights into the taxonomy and phylogeny of social voles inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences
Boris Kryštufek, Tanya Zorenko, Elena Bužan, 2012, original scientific article

Abstract: We sequenced the entire cytochrome b gene in Microtus paradoxus from Turkmenistan and Microtus socialis from Crimea and Kalmykia. Phylogenetic relationships among social voles were reconstructed by the inclusion into analyses of a further 23 published haplotypes belonging to six species. The two probabilistic methods which were used in phylogenetic analyses, the Bayesian inference and Maximum Likelihood, yielded very similar results. Both trees showed two highly divergent lineages which were further subdivided into seven species. The socialis lineage encompassed four species (M. socialis, M. irani, M. anatolicus, and M. paradoxus), and the remaining three species clustered into the guentheri lineage (M. guentheri, M. hartingi, M. dogramacii). The ranges for nucleotide divergences between seven species of social voles (4.95-9.28% and 4.18-8.81% for mean and net divergences, respectively) mainly exceeded 4.3%, which is frequently regarded as the conservative cut-off between sibling species in the specious genus Microtus
Keywords: Microtus socialis, Microtus paradoxus, Arvicolinae, Cryptic species, Species delimitation, Molecular systematics
Published in RUP: 15.10.2013; Views: 3304; Downloads: 129
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Female reproductive characteristics of the Horvath's rock lizard (Iberolacerta horvathi) from Slovenia
Katarina Ljubisavljević, Peter Glasnović, Katja Kalan, Boris Kryštufek, 2012, original scientific article

Abstract: In this paper, we present data on the female reproductive traits of the Horvath's rock lizard from Slovenia. The clutch, egg and hatchling characteristics were investigated based on clutches laid in laboratory conditions by pregnant females collected from a natural population. A female lays one clutch of eggs annually with an average number of three (range 1-5) eggs. We found a significant positive correlation between female size and egg width and volume. The mean egg length and volume in a clutch decreased significantly with clutch size independently of female size. The incubation period averaged 44 days. Significant positive correlations were found between the hatchling total length and mass, and egg mass. There was a significant negative relationship between the egg mass and incubation duration. The life-history strategy of the Horvath's rock lizard appeared to be shaped by several factors, such as the constraints of a high-altitude environment, flattened body morphology and possibly phylogenetic background
Keywords: Horvatova kuščarica, Iberolacerta horvathi, kuščarice, življenjski ciklus
Published in RUP: 15.10.2013; Views: 3585; Downloads: 80
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14.
The status of a rare phylogeographic lineage of the vulnerable European souslik Spermophilus citellus, endemic to central Macedonia
Boris Kryštufek, Peter Glasnović, Svetozar Petkovski, 2012, short scientific article

Abstract: The conversion of grasslands for agriculture has triggered a serious decline of the European ground squirrel or souslik Spermophilus citellus, categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996. The Jakupica phylogeographic lineage of central Macedonia is the smallest of the three major evolutionary lines of the European souslik. This lineage is an important reservoir of within-species diversity and should be regarded as an independent unit for conservation management purposes. It is endemic to Mount Jakupica, where it lives in mountain pastures at 1,500-2,250m altitude. The total area occupied by sousliks (884 ha) is fragmented and 94% of individuals occur in four colonies. Densities (0.8-5.5 adults ha-1) are lower than those reported elsewhere for the species, with the total population probably ,2,000 adults. One large colony, reportedly of c. 1,000 sousliks, was decimated in 2007 by a catastrophic fire and had still not recovered bz 2010. A steady decline in livestock grazing, together with the predicted advance of the tree line as a consequence of climate change, will probably reduce the optimal habitat for the souslik and negatively affect population fitness. Monitoring needs to be implemented, at least for the largest colonies, to provide early warning of any declines
Keywords: Spermophilus citellus, souslik, European souslik, density, endemic, distance sampling, fragmentation, Macedonia
Published in RUP: 15.10.2013; Views: 4022; Downloads: 68
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15.
Mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences resolve the taxonomy of field mice (Apodemus) in the western Balkan refugium
Boris Kryštufek, Martina Lužnik, Elena Bužan, 2012, original scientific article

Abstract: Apodemus sylvaticus stankovici, described from the topographically rough landscape of the western Balkan glacial refugium, was recently proposed as being either a junior synonym of Apodemus flavicollis or a species on its own right. To untangle this taxonomic vagueness, we sequenced complete cytochrome b gene in 28 field mice collected at 12 locations in the mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, western Macedonia and northern Greece. Samples yielded 27 new haplotypes which clustered into two distinct groups. One of these clades also included the reference haplotype of A. flavicollis, while another cluster emerged as being identical with the reference sample for A. sylvaticus. As is common in Apodemus, both species retrieved in our analysis were characterized by low levels of intraspecific variation (0.4- 0.9%) as opposed to a high level of differentiation between them (8.0-10.0%); therefore, the taxonomic classification of our material was without doubt. We found no evidence regarding the presence of an additional cryptic species in the mountains of the western Balkans. The very similar values of genetic variability in the two species imply their common evolutionary history of a long-term coexistence in the western Balkan refugium
Keywords: Mice, Apodemus flavicollis, Apodemus sylvaticus, Apodemus stankovici, molecular taxonomy
Published in RUP: 15.10.2013; Views: 4369; Downloads: 93
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16.
Species richness and distribution of non-volant small mammals along an elevational gradient on a Mediterranean mountain
Boris Kryštufek, Nataša Režek Donev, Janko Skok, 2011, original scientific article

Abstract: We explored the alpha and gamma patterns in species richness of non-volant small mammals on Mt. Snežnik (sea level: 1796 m) on the northern edge of the Mediterranean Basin. A total of 2871 individuals were sampled belonging to 23 different species of rodents and soricomorphs. Two estimates of true species richness (sample-based rarefaction and abundance-based coverage estimator of species richness, ACE) yielded very similar values to empirical data. The empirical number of species varied between 4 and 11 per station in alpha-richness and between 5 and 17 per 200 m elevational interval in gamma-richness. The 95% confidence intervals for ACE overlapped between elevations in both data sets, hence not a single sampling site or elevational interval emerged statistically richest or poorest in the number of species. The two patterns responded to elevation in a very different way but any of the curves was decidedly humped. The mid-domain effect predictions failed to reproduce the pattern of observed or estimated species richness, and hence the ranges were located non-randomly along the elevational gradient. The pattern of distribution and diversity is supposedly generated by the environmental variables correlated to the elevation, which vary in a non-random manner with elevation
Published in RUP: 15.10.2013; Views: 3564; Downloads: 85
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