Evolutionary history and postglacial colonization of an Asian pit viper (Gloydius halys caucasicus) into Transcaucasia revealed by phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses

Abstract

It has been generally acknowledged that glacial climates at the time of the Pleistocene altered the patterns of species distributions, prompting latitudinal and altitudinal distribution shifts in several species, including poikilothermic species commonly known for their thermal sensitivity. However, the historical phylogeographic patterns of such species have remained largely unknown. Here, we present the historical biogeographic, phylogenetic, and phylogeographic relationships of the Caucasian pit viper, G. h. caucasicus, based on two mtDNA (cyt b and ND4) and one nDNA (c-mos) genes. This pit viper represents the westernmost member of the Crotalinae subfamily in the Palearctic and occurs in a variety of habitats, from 30 m to 3,000 m above sea level. In Iran, it is distributed on the northern and southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains, rendering it a target for phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies of a terrestrial poikilothermic animal. Our study identified four Iranian lineages of G. h. caucasicus along the northeastern to northwestern slopes of the Alborz Mountains and southern Azerbaijan (Talysh Mountains). Diversification of the Iranian lineages highlights population expansion and subsequent isolation into four plausible refugial areas during the Quaternary paleo-climatic oscillations, confirmed by our molecular dating and historical biogeographic analyses. The results of coalescence-based simulations support the incursion of the species from northeastern Iran to the western end of the Alborz, and then toward Transcaucasia via two directions: northern and southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains. Furthermore, our results clearly implied that G. h. caucasicus should be elevated to species rank and further referred to as G. caucasicus (Nikolsky, 1916).

Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis reveals multiple Pleistocene glacial refugia for the Yellow‐spotted mountain newt, Neurergus derjugini (Caudata: Salamandridae) in the mid‐Zagros range in Iran and Iraq

“…These studies have shown that impact of climate fluctuation is more complicated and may not follow a prevailing scenario of glacial retraction and postglacial expansion as has been reported from the more northerly located regions of the western Palaearctic (Chiocchio, Bisconti, Zampiglia, Nascetti, & Canestrelli, ). Indeed, Southern Europe, Turkey, the southern parts of the Caucasus and Alborz act as multiple glacial refugia due to topographical heterogeneity and low latitude (Ahmadzadeh, Flecks, et al, ; Asadi et al, ; Rossiter, Benda, Dietz, Zhang, & Jones, ). In Iran, some species experienced range contractions to glacial refugia located, for example, in the Zagros, Alborz, and Kope Dagh Mountains, which were followed by postglacial expansion for Brandt's Persian lizard, Iranolacerta brandtii (Ahmadzadeh, Carretero, et al, ), oriental green lizards of the Lacerta trilineata (Ahmadzadeh, Flecks, et al, ), two sympatric moth species, Gnopharmia colchidari and G. kasrunensis (Rajaei Sh et al, ), Persian jird, Meriones persicus (Dianat, Darvish, Cornette, Aliabadian, & Nicolas, ), greater horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (Shahabi, Akmali, & Sharifi, ), Asian pit viper, Gloydius halys caucasicus (Asadi et al, ), and Eastern rock nuthatch, Sitta tephronota , (Yousefi, Shabani, & Azarnivand, ).…”

Molecular phylogeny of Eremias spp. from Pakistan contributes to a better understanding of the diversity of racerunners

“…Thus, an exact knowledge of the biodiversity of these regions is of paramount interest for biogeography and conservation. Until today, there exist only a handful of herpetological studies using molecular genetic approaches (Asadi et al., 2019; Dufresnes et al., 2019; Macey, Wang, Ananjeva, Larson, & Papenfuss, 1998; Poyarkov et al., 2014; Shahamat, Rastegar‐Pouyani, Rastegar‐Pouyani, Hosseinian Yousefkhani, & Wink, 2020; Solovyeva et al., 2018). This is explained by the cultural and ethnic diversity and complicated political circumstances preventing broadscale research.…”

Pleistocene climate fluctuations as the major driver of genetic diversity and distribution patterns of the Caspian green lizard, Lacerta strigata Eichwald, 1831

“…During the Quaternary stadials, the prevalent climate of the region was cold/dry and the species was likely sheltered in the southern refugia until interstadials when the climate became warmer and moist (Kehl, 2009). The Alborz Mountains and the southern Caspian Sea have been reported as refugia for many other species (Ahmadzadeh, Flecks, Carretero, Mozaffari, Böhme, et al, 2013;Asadi et al, 2019;Saberi-Pirooz et al, 2018;Veith et al, 2003;Zohary, 1973), acting as sources of subsequent diversifications , which eventually promoted haplotype admixture.…”