Allozyme analysis of Erebia medusa over large regions of Europe revealed a significant population differentiation (FST: 0.149 ± 0.016). A UPGMA‐analysis showed a division into four major lineages with mean inter‐group genetic distances ranging from 0.051 (±0.010) to 0.117 (±0.024). An AMOVA revealed that rather more than two‐thirds of the variance between samples was being between these lineages and less than one‐third within lineages. An eastern group included the samples from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and north‐eastern Hungary. This genetic lineage expressed significantly higher genetic diversity than the other three. A second lineage was formed by the samples from France and Germany. The two samples from western Hungary represent a third delimited lineage and the sample from northern Italy a fourth. We suppose that this genetic differentiation took place during the last ice‐age in four disjunct refugia. The genetically more diverse eastern genetic lineage might have evolved in a relatively large refugium in south‐eastern Europe. We assume that the other three lineages developed in relatively small relict areas around the Alps. It is likely for the western lineage that its ice‐age distribution showed at least one disjunction in late Würm with the consequence of further genetic differentiation. Most probably, the eastern lineage colonized postglacial Central Europe using two alternative routes: one north and one south of the Carpathians. Up to now, neither similar glacial refugia, nor comparable secondary disjunctions in late Würm, are reported for any other animal or plant species.

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Aim The effects of glacial disjunctions on intraspecific differentiations are in the focus of phylogeographical studies. Several studies investigate the consequences of post‐glacial expansions from glacial refugia on the composition within major genetic lineages. Location and methods We analysed the geographical pattern of allozyme variation of twenty loci of Polyommatus coridon (Poda, 1761) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from thirty‐six localities spread throughout large regions of its European range. A total of 1566 individuals were analysed. Results We obtained a significant genetic differentiation (FST 0.060 ± 0.007). Further analyses showed a division into two major genetic lineages with a mean genetic distance (Nei, 1978) of 0.041 (± 0.010 SD). Applying an AMOVA, more than three quarters of the variance between populations was between these lineages and less than one quarter within these lineages. Both genetic lineages showed a significant decline in the number of alleles from southern to northern populations. Furthermore, we found a contact zone of these two major genetic lineages in eastern Central Europe extending throughout north‐eastern Germany, then following the mountain regions along the Czech‐German border and passing through the eastern Alps in a north–south direction. Main conclusions We assume that this differentiation evolved during the last ice‐age as a result of isolation in the Adriato‐ and the Ponto‐Mediterranean region. The loss of genetic diversity from the south to the north within both lineages reflects the decline of diversity during the post‐glacial expansion.

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