Comparative phylogeography of vicariant species of the <i>Daphnia longispina</i> s.lat. complex (Crustacea: Cladocera) in North Eurasia

Abstract

This study presents new data on population-genetic polymorphism, phylogeny and phylogeography of two vicariant species belonging to the Daphnia longispina s.lat. complex (Crustacea: Cladocera) in northern Eurasia, D. longispina s.str. and D. dentifera. Based on the variability of the fragments of non-coding 12S rRNA and the protein coding ND2 genes of mitochondrial DNA, the demographic processes that took place in populations of this vast region have been reconstructed. The previously suggested hypothesis about the different demographic history of the “Siberian” and “European” D. longispina s.str. clades has not been confirmed, since we first revealed a deep mitochondrial divergence within the “Siberian” clade. Moreover, a new divergent lineage of D. longispina s.str. in Siberia has been identified. Nevertheless, the phylogeographic patterns of D. longispina s.str. and D. dentifera in northern Eurasia confirm the earlier conclusion that repeated, combined effects on their populations of dispersion and vicariate events occurred in different phases of the Pleistocene.