RESEARCH ARTICLE Phylogeographic structure of the Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus L.): Late Pleistocene connections between Caucasus and Western European populations Natalia Yu. Feoktistova*, Ilya G. Meschersky, Pavel L. Bogomolov, Alexandra S. Sayan, Natalia S. Poplavskaya, Alexey V. Surov A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky pr., Moscow, Russia a1111111111 a1111111111 *
[email protected] a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 Abstract The Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) is one of the most endangered mammals in West- ern and Central Europe. Its genetic diversity in Russia and Kazakhstan was investigated for the first time. The analysis of sequences of an mtDNA control region and cytochrome b OPEN ACCESS gene revealed at least three phylogenetic lineages. Most of the species range (approxi- Citation: Feoktistova NY, Meschersky IG, 2 Bogomolov PL, Sayan AS, Poplavskaya NS, Surov mately 3 million km ), including central Russia, Crimea, the Ural region, and northern AV (2017) Phylogeographic structure of the Kazakhstan), is inhabited by a single, well-supported phylogroup, E0. Phylogroup E1, previ- Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus L.): Late ously reported from southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, was first described from Pleistocene connections between Caucasus and Russia (Bryansk Province). E0 and E1 are sister lineages but both are monophyletic and Western European populations. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0187527. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. separated by considerable genetic distance. Hamsters inhabiting Ciscaucasia represent a pone.0187527 separate, distant phylogenetic lineage, named ªCaucasusº. It is sister to the North phy- Editor: Tzen-Yuh Chiang, National Cheng Kung logroup from Western Europe and the contemporary phylogeography for this species is dis- University, TAIWAN cussed considering new data.