Aim: During glaciations, the distribution of temperate species inhabiting the Northern Hemisphere generally contracts into southern refugia; and in boreo-alpine species of the Northern Hemisphere, expansion from Northern refugia is the general rule. Little is known about the drivers explaining vast distributions of species inhabiting multiple biogeographic regions (major biogeographic regions defined by the European Environmental Agency). Here we investigate the fine-scale phylogeography and evolutionary history of the Eurasian common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), the terrestrial reptile with the world's widest and highest latitudinal distribution, that inhabits multiple biogeographic regions. Location: Eurasia. Methods:We generated the largest molecular dataset to date of Z. vivipara, ran phylogenetic analyses, reconstructed its evolutionary history, determined the location of glacial refuges and reconstructed ancestral biogeographic regions. Results:The phylogenetic analyses revealed a complex evolutionary history, driven by expansions and contractions of the distribution due to glacials and interglacials, and the colonization of new biogeographic regions by all lineages of Z. vivipara.Many glacial refugia were detected, most were located close to the southern limit of the Last Glacial Maximum. Two subclades recolonized large areas covered by permafrost during the last glaciation: namely, Western and Northern Europe and North-Eastern Europe and Asia. Main conclusions:In Z. vivipara, most of the glacial refugia were located in the South of their current distribution. Previous studies suggested the existence of Northern refuges, but the species' inability to overwinter on permafrost and the lack of genetic support suggest that the presence of a refugia in the north of the Alps is unlikely. This species currently inhabits boreo-alpine climates and retracted during previous glaciations into southern refugia, as temperate species. Two clades exhibited enormous geographic expansion that started from two distinct glacial refugia.These phylogeographic patterns were highly congruent with those of Vipera berus.Together they suggest that glacial retraction, the location of the refugia and absence of competition may have promoted the enormous geographic expansion of two clades.

Food fraud encompasses economic fraud and can produce health problems for consumers, as well as conservation problems for the involved species. Nevertheless, few studies tested for mislabeling in restaurants. In this study, we tested for mislabeling of fish species in restaurants. We sampled 77 fish dishes from 53 different restaurants located in 9 different districts of Madrid, Spain. A short fragment of the 16S rDNA was employed for DNA amplification leading to species or genera identification. Results showed that 7 species or genera and almost 30% of the samples were mislabeled.Mislabeling was present in 37% of the sampled restaurants and in 71% of the sampled districts. Mislabeling was common and it was not correlated with a districts' economic status (i.e. with the official average square-meter price of apartments). The analyses also showed that some species were more prone to be mislabeled than others.

Gene flow is an important factor determining the evolution of a species, since it directly affects population structure and species' adaptation. Here we investigated population structure, population history, and migration among populations covering the entire distribution of the geographically isolated South-West European common lizard (Zootoca vivipara louislantzi) using 34 newly developed polymorphic microsatellite markers. The analyses unravelled the presence of isolation by distance, inbreeding, recent bottlenecks, genetic differentiation, and low levels of migration among most populations, suggesting that Zootoca vivipara louislantzi is threatened. The results point to discontinuous populations and are in line with physical barriers hindering longitudinal migration South to the Central Pyrenean cordillera and latitudinal migration in the central Pyrenees. In contrast, evidence for longitudinal migration exists from the lowlands north to the central Pyrenean cordillera and the Cantabrian mountains. The location of the populations South to the Central Pyrenean cordillera were identified as the first to be affected by global warming, thus management actions aimed at avoiding population declines should start in this area.