Origin of Japanese Populations of Reeves' Pond Turtle, Mauremys reevesii (Reptilia: Geoemydidae), as Inferred by a Molecular Approach

Abstract

Abstract Reeves' pond turtle, Mauremys reevesii, is an aquatic geoemydid species that is broadly distributed in East Asia. Like many other Asian turtles, this species is facing an extinction crisis in most countries where it occurs. In Japan, however, this turtle commonly occurs in various freshwater habitats. Although the Japanese populations have generally been considered to be native, a few recent studies have yielded circumstantial evidence that suggested that they had originated from relatively recent artificial introductions from abroad. To evaluate the validity of such a view, we analyzed sequence variations of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and the control region in M. reevesii samples from various localities in Japan and adjacent countries. The results revealed the presence of 3 distinct genetic groups (groups A, B, and C) in the Japanese samples, of which groups A and B included haplotypes that were almost identical with some haplotypes from the Korean sample and the Chinese and Taiwanese s...