Reconstructed historical distribution and phylogeography unravels non-steppic origin of Caucasotachea vindobonensis (Gastropoda: Helicidae)

Kajtoch, Lukasz and Davison, Angus and Grindon, Adele and Deli, Tamás and Sramkó, Gábor and Fehér, Zoltán (2017) Reconstructed historical distribution and phylogeography unravels non-steppic origin of Caucasotachea vindobonensis (Gastropoda: Helicidae). Organisms Diversity and Evolution, 17 (3). pp. 679-692. ISSN 1439-6092

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Abstract

A knowledge about the phylogeography of European taxa of steppic provenance suggests that they were widely distributed during glacial periods but underwent range contraction and fragmentation during interglacials (into “warm stage refugia”). Among the steppe-related invertebrates that have been examined, the majority have been insects; data on the phylogeography of snails is still wholly missing. To begin to fill this gap, phylogeographic and niche modelling studies on the presumed steppic snail Caucasotachea vindobonensis were conducted. Surprisingly, reconstruction of ancestral areas suggests that extant C. vindobonensis probably originated in the Balkans, having refugia during Late Pleistocene, with a more recent colonization of the Carpatho-Pannonian and the Ponto-Caspian regions. In the Holocene, C. vindobonensis passed between the Sudetes and the Carpathians to the north, where its recent and current distribution may have been facilitated by anthropogenic translocations. Together these data suggest a possible non-steppic origin of C. vindobonensis. Further investigation may reveal the extent to which the current steppic snail assemblages consist partly of Holocene newcomers.

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