Morphometrics and genetics highlight the complex history of Eastern Mediterranean spiny mice
Résumé
Spiny mice of the Acomys cahirinus group display a complex geographic structure in the Eastern Mediterranean area, as shown by former genetic and chromosomal studies. In order to better elucidate the evolutionary relationships of insular populations from Crete and Cyprus with the continental ones from North Africa and Cilicia in Turkey, genetic and morphometric variations were investigated, based on mitochondrial D-loop sequences, and size and shape of the first upper molar. The Cypriot and the Cilician populations show idiosyncratic divergence in molar size and shape, while Crete presents a geographic structure with at least three differentiated sub-populations, as shown by congruent distributions of haplogroups, Robertsonian fusions and morphometric variation. A complex history of multiple introductions is most probably responsible for this structure, and insular isolation coupled with habitat shift should have further promoted a pronounced and rapid morphological evolution in molar size and shape on Crete and Cyprus.
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