Molecular Approaches Revealing Prehistoric, Historic, or Recent Translocations and Introductions of Hares (Genus Lepus) by Humans

Suchentrunk, Franz; Slimen, Hichem Ben; Stamatis, Costas; Sert, Hakan; Scandura, Massimo; Apollonio, Marco; Mamuris, Zissis

doi:10.1007/s11598-006-9016-7

Cited by 22 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…This phylogeographic pattern is congruent with the hypothesis that all hares reported by Kasapidis et al (2005) carrying an A-haplotype are descendents of hares that have either immigrated naturally to SE mainland Europe and to those islands off the Anatolian coast via natural land bridges during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) or the early Holocene, or that have been transferred to those places in prehistoric or historic times by humans. Anthropogenic translocations have particularly been inferred for hares from Cyprus and Rhodes, as those latter islands were not connected by land bridges with mainland Anatolia during the Pleistocene, the major evolutionary epoch of the genus Lepus (Kasapidis et al 2005; see also Suchentrunk et al 2006;Masseti and De Marinis 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other islands, such as Cyprus, where A-haplotypes have also been identified, had never been connected to mainland Anatolia during the late Pliocene/Pleistocene/Holocene, the period of evolution of the genus Lepus (e.g., Lopez-Martinez 2008). Thus, hares from those islands are hypothesized to be descendents of hares that have been transferred from Anatolian source populations to the islands by humans in prehistoric or historic times (Kasapidis et al 2005; see also Suchentrunk et al 2006). They might, however, also originate from other regions of the Middle East (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mitochondrial HVI sequence variation in Anatolian hares (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778)

et al. 2009

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Variability and phylogenetic relationships of sequences of the hypervariable domain I (HVI) of the mitochondrial DNA was studied in 46 brown hares (Lepus europaeus) from Anatolia, to test the hypotheses that (i) hares from several islands off the Anatolian coast and from Cyprus are phylogenetically close to mainland Anatolian hares, (ii) Anatolian hare sequence variability is higher than that of typical European brown hares, and to iii) infer possible Anatolian source populations of hares from some islands in the eastern Mediterranean. Neighbor joining and Maximum Parsimony analyses revealed reciprocal monophyly for sequences from Anatolia, the considered eastern Mediterranean islands off the Anatolian coast, Cyprus, and those sequences published earlier form NE Greece that were supposed to originate from earlier immigration via the late-Pleistocene/early-Holocene land bridge that connected SE Europe and W Anatolia (Kasapidis et al., 2005. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 34, 55-66). A high sequence idiosyncrasy was found among the Anatolian samples. Almost all approaches to compare variability between Anatolian and the downloaded European sequence data indicated higher sequence diversity in Anatolia, in accordance with earlier findings for allozyme loci. Network and principal coordinate analyses of the Anatolian sequences and those from the islands off the Anatolian coast as well as the Anatolian-type NE Greek sequences suggested high mitochondrial gene exchange among local populations in Anatolia with little effect of possible geographic barriers, and did not provide clues for tracing possible origins of island populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondrial HVI sequence variation in Anatolian hares (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778)

et al. 2009

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“…(2) Despite the mutual geological history of Sardinia and Corsica, and their frequent connections during glacial times (Vigne, 1992), Sardinian hares have never occurred in Corsica, where Lepus corsicanus and L. europaeus are present instead (e.g., Mitchell-Jones et al, 1999;Suchentrunk et al, 2006b).…”

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Mitochondrial CR-1 Variation in Sardinian Hares and Its Relationships with Other Old World Hares (Genus Lepus)

et al. 2007

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Among the European fauna, the Sardinian hare (Lepus sp.) is peculiar in that it differs from all other hares inhabiting the continent. Here, we report on the variation of a 461 bp sequence of hypervariable domain 1 of the mitochondrial control region, examined in 42 hares collected throughout Sardinia and compared to the corresponding sequences of different Lepus taxa. Seventeen novel haplotypes were found in the Sardinian population, resulting in a haplotype diversity of 0.840 and a nucleotide diversity of 0.012. As a result of Bayesian and principal coordinates analyses, Sardinian hares were grouped with North African hares, constituting a monophyletic clade that diverges from all other Old World hares, including Cape hares from South Africa and East Asia. Hence, our data agree that populations inhabiting North Africa and Sardinia form a distinct taxon, which could possibly be included in the L. capensis superspecies. Moreover, two corresponding lineages can be found in Sardinia and Tunisia, providing evidence of a common origin of the two populations and thus supporting the hypothesis that North African hares were introduced into the island in historical times. Our data show that the two lineages differ in their geographic distribution throughout the island and that the wild Sardinian population also shows the signature of a postintroduction demographic expansion.

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“…No data were however collected from Corsica in this work. Some studies have later identified L. corsicanus as the sole species present in Corsica, but were essentially focused in limited areas of the island (Scalera and Angelici 2003;Riga et al 2003;Suchentrunk et al 2006). Pierpaoli and Randi (2005) have also identified this species in specimens collected in Corsica between 1999 and 2001, but no details on the location or the number of specimens studied were provided.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hares in Corsica: high prevalence of Lepus corsicanus and hybridization with introduced L. europaeus and L. granatensis

2010

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The Italian hare, Lepus corsicanus, was first described in Corsica more than 100 years ago, but the knowledge on the status of the species in this island remains scarce. Moreover, frequent introductions of thousands of individuals from other hare species, namely Lepus europaeus and Lepus granatensis, into Corsica are known to have occurred and an updated assessment of the prevalence of L. corsicanus in Corsica is therefore of utmost importance. Here, to estimate the relative prevalence of the hare species present in Corsica, we conducted a molecular analysis on 67 samples collected by hunters between 2002 and 2007 in 36 Corsican communes. Sequencing of portions of the nuclear gene transferrin and of the control region of the mitochondrial DNA allowed classifying most of the collected samples as belonging to L. corsicanus (70.1%). Of the sampled Corsican communes, 86.1% contained this species, while only in 11.1%, L. europaeus was present. Three of the analyzed specimens showed an inconsistent molecular assignment between markers suggesting a hybrid origin: L. corsicanus×L. europaeus, L. corsicanus×L. granatensis, and L. europaeus×L. granatensis. The first two cases of hybridization had never been described in nature, even in studies focusing on hares from Italy where L. corsicanus and L. europaeus are often sympatric. These results stress the real risk of corrosion of the native gene pool of L. corsicanus via hybridization with introduced species. We highlight the need of urgently rethinking the management plan of hare populations in Corsica.

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Molecular Approaches Revealing Prehistoric, Historic, or Recent Translocations and Introductions of Hares (Genus Lepus) by Humans

Cited by 22 publications

References 43 publications

Mitochondrial HVI sequence variation in Anatolian hares (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778)

Mitochondrial HVI sequence variation in Anatolian hares (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778)

Mitochondrial CR-1 Variation in Sardinian Hares and Its Relationships with Other Old World Hares (Genus Lepus)

Hares in Corsica: high prevalence of Lepus corsicanus and hybridization with introduced L. europaeus and L. granatensis

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