2005). A new cryptic species of pond turtle from southern Italy, the hottest spot in the range of the genus Emys (Reptilia, Testudines, Emydidae). -Zoologica Scripta , 34 , 351-371. Geographic variation in the mtDNA haplotypes (cytochrome b gene) of 127 European pond turtles from Italy was investigated. Thirty-eight of the Italian samples were also studied by nuclear fingerprinting (ISSR PCR) and compared with samples from other parts of the range representing all nine currently known mtDNA lineages of Emys orbicularis . Our genetic findings were compared against morphological data sets (measurements, colour pattern) for 109 adult turtles from southern Italy. Italy is displaying on a small geographical scale the most complicated variation known over the entire distributional area of Emys (North Africa over Europe and Asia Minor to the Caspian and Aral Seas). The Tyrrhenic coast of the Apennine Peninsula, the Mt. Pollino area and Basilicata are inhabited by Emys orbicularis galloitalica , a subspecies harbouring a distinct mtDNA lineage. The same lineage is also found in Sardinia. Along the Adriatic coast of Italy and on the Salentine Peninsula (Apulia, southern Italy), another morphologically distinctive subspecies ( Emys orbicularis hellenica ) occurs, which also bears a different mtDNA lineage. A higher diversity of mtDNA haplotypes in the south of the Apennine Peninsula suggests that the glacial refugia of E. o. galloitalica and E. o. hellenica were located here. A further refuge of E. o. hellenica probably existed in the southern Balkans. The west coasts of the Balkans and Corfu have probably been colonized from Italy and not from the geographically closer southern Balkanic refuge. In Sicily, a third mtDNA lineage is distributed, which is sister to all other known lineages of Emys . Morphologically, Sicilian pond turtles resemble E. o. galloitalica . However, nuclear fingerprinting revealed a clear distinctiveness of the Sicilian taxon, whereas no significant divergence was detected between representatives of the other eight mtDNA lineages of Emys . Furthermore, nuclear fingerprinting provided no evidence for current or past gene flow between the Sicilian taxon and the mainland subspecies of E. orbicularis . Therefore, Sicilian pond turtles are described here as a species new to science. Some populations in Calabria and on the Salentine Peninsula comprise individuals of different mtDNA lineages. We interpret this as a natural contact. However, we cannot exclude that these syntopic occurrences are the result of human activity. For example, in other parts of Italy, the natural distribution pattern of Emys is obscured by allochthonous turtles. This could also be true for southern Italy. The discovery of the complex taxonomic differentiation in southern Italy requires reconsidering conservation strategies.

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Some aspects of the natural history of snakes of the colubrid genus Natrix have been well studied. With their extensive European distribution and relative abundance, their ecology, reproduction and behaviour are well known. Yet other facets of their biology remain poorly understood. These include knowledge of Natrix phylogeny, hypotheses explaining the current distribution of the three extant members of the genus, and their evolution and relationships. In this study we used molecular data, the nucleotide sequences of four protein-coding mitochondrial genes (3806 bp total), to provide a well-supported phylogeny for the genus Natrix . With these molecular data, evidence from the fossil record, and knowledge of palaeogeological events, we used two approaches in designing a time scale which we used to date the major events in Natrix speciation and intraspecific variation. Our data strongly support a phylogeny for the genus in which N. maura is basal with N. natrix and N. tessellata being sister species. The calibrated molecular clock suggests that N. maura diverged from the common ancestor of the three species 18-27 mya and that N. natrix and N. tessellata diverged 13-22 mya. Although the ranges of these estimates are large they support an early Miocene to late Oligocene origin for the three species. Intraspecific divergence is estimated to have commenced 5.3, 6.0 and 6.7 mya with evolutionary rates of 1 : 1.25 : 1.35% per million years for N. maura, N. natrix and N. tessellata , respectively.

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In the present study, we use mtDNA sequence data (cyt b gene) in combination with nuclear DNA sequences (C‐mos, Rag2 genes, R35 intron), nuclear genomic fingerprints (ISSR) and morphological data to reveal species diversity within the Southeast Asian leaf turtle genus Cyclemys, a morphologically difficult group comprising cryptic species. Two morphologically distinct major groupings exist, a yellow‐bellied species group with three taxa (Cyclemys atripons, C. dentata, C. pulchristriata) and a dark‐bellied species group. The latter contains besides the morphologically variable C. oldhamii three additional new species (C. enigmatica n. sp., C. fusca n. sp., C. gemeli n. sp.). According to mtDNA data, C. fusca and C. gemeli constitute with high support the sister group of a clade comprising all other species, indicating that the dark‐bellied species are not monophyletic, despite morphological similarity. mtDNA sequences of C. enigmatica, being highly distinct in nuclear genomic markers, do not differ from the sympatric C. dentata, suggesting that the original mitochondrial genome of C. enigmatica was lost due to introgressive hybridization. Morphological discrimination of Cyclemys species is possible using multivariate methods. However, gross morphology of most dark‐bellied species on the one hand and of C. atripons and C. pulchristriata on the other is so similar that reliable species determination is only possible when genetic markers are used. The high diversity within Cyclemys requires revision of the IUCN Red List Categories for leaf turtles because the former assessment was based on the wrong assumption that in the entire range of the genus occurs only a single species.

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Based on more than 1100 samples of Emys orbicularis and E. trinacris, data on mtDNA diversity and distribution of haplotypes are provided, including for the first time data for Armenia, Georgia, Iran, and the Volga, Ural and Turgay River Basins of Russia and Kazakhstan. Eight mitochondrial lineages comprising 51 individual haplotypes occur in E. orbicularis, a ninth lineage with five haplotypes corresponds to E. trinacris. A high diversity of distinct mtDNA lineages and haplotypes occurs in the south, in the regions where putative glacial refuges were located. More northerly parts of Europe and adjacent Asia, which were recolonized by E. orbicularis in the Holocene, display distinctly less variation; most refuges did not contribute to northern recolonizations. Also in certain southern European lineages a decrease of haplotype diversity is observed with increasing latitude, suggestive of Holocene range expansions on a smaller scale.

Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae) has received much ecological and evolutionary research attention as a genus that includes some of the most conspicuous pioneer trees of Southeast Asian tropical rainforests and because of its manifold associations with ants, including about 30 species that are obligate ant-plants (myrmecophytes). We used sequence data from three chloroplast DNA loci (ccmp5, ccmp6, atpB-rbcL) to assess phylogeographical patterns in species of Macaranga, section Pruinosae, sampled from various regions of Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. Fortynine chloroplast DNA haplotypes (HT) were identified among 768 specimens from five species, Macaranga gigantea (N= 329; 23 HT), Macaranga pearsonii (N=347; 21 HT), Macaranga puberula (N=24; 4 HT), Macaranga hosei (N= 48; 6 HT), and Macaranga pruinosa (N=20; 5 HT). Fortyone haplotypes were species-specific, whereas eight haplotypes were shared by two, three, or four species and occupied internal positions in a parsimony network. Population genetic parameters based on haplotype frequencies proved to be in a similar range in the non-myrmecophytic M. gigantea and in the ant-associated M. pearsonii, which have overlapping distributions in northern and eastern Borneo. A comparison of G ST and N ST values revealed a strong phylogeographic structure in both species, whereas colonization pathways suggested by the network topology were different. Both species exhibited similar levels of haplotypic diversity and moderate to high levels of population differentiation. There were no obvious indications for an influence of the symbiotic ant partners on the population structure of their host plants.