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Allozymic variation at 21-23 loci was studied in 28 populations of Talitrus saltator, 23 populations of Orchestia montagui, 13 populations of O. stephenseni, and five populations of Platorchestia platensis from the Mediterranean Basin. Different levels of gene flow (Nmtheta) were detected within each species at the scale of the whole Mediterranean: O. montagui and P. platensis had low population structure, with levels of Nmtheta > or = 1, whereas the T. saltator and 0. stephenseni populations have values of Nmtheta < 1. The relationship between Nmtheta and geographic distance was analyzed to test for the presence of an isolation by distance pattern in the spatial genetic variation within each species. A model of isolation by distance is useful to describe the pattern of genetic structuring of study species at the scale of the whole Mediterranean: geographic distance explained from 28% to 70% of the variation in gene flow. In the Aegean area all species showed an island model of genetic structuring regardless of the levels of gene flow.

Genetic variability was assessed in eight populations belonging to the Leuciscus souffla complex and in nine populations of Leuciscus cephalus, sampled in France, Italy and Greece and in one population of Leuciscus lucumonis, endemic to Italy. Twenty-six enzymatic loci were analysed in order to clarify the genetic relationships, the patterns of colonisation of peri-Mediterranean area and the taxonomic positions. Results indicate a more ancient penetration of the Leuciscus souffia complex in southern Europe (possibly during the Messinian 'Lago Mare' phase of the Mediterranean), whereas L. cephalus and L. lucumonis seem to have quite recently reached these regions (about 1Myr). These evidences are discussed in relation to the two main proposed models of primary freshwater fishes colonisation of peri-Mediterranean area. In addition, the genetic distance suggests a generic separation between the two complexes. The genus Telestes Bonaparte, is rehabilitated to include members of the Leuciscus souffia complex which is represented by endemic taxa from southern France, Italy and westem Balkans.

This study analysed the levels of genetic differentiation within and among the six Italian species of the fairy shrimp genus Chirocephalus by analysing electrophoretic polymorphisms at 22 enzymatic loci and by sequencing a 665-bp fragment of the mitochondrial gene encoding for subunit I of cytochrome oxidase. The allozyme data revealed different levels of intra-specific differentiation; mean h estimates were low in Chirocephalus salinus, higher and comparable in C. diaphanus and C. kerkyrensis, while C. ruffoi was the most genetically structured species. At the inter-specific level, C. marchesonii was the most differentiated species, both for allozymes and mtDNA. Phylogenetic relationships deduced from allozymes and mtDNA were not always consistent with each other. This highlights the differences in performance of the two classes of molecular markers and the need of different independent strategies of data analysis to search for possible incongruence. Neither allozymes nor mtDNA supported monophyly of the diaphanus-group, previously recognized on the basis of the morphology of appendages (antennae and penes). In contrast the molecular results were consistent with the great heterogeneity in resting egg morphology among representatives of the diaphanus-group.We collected samples of 22 populations, belonging to all six Italian species of the genus Chirocephalus, using hand nets and coarse

SUMMARYWe studied genetic divergence in a group of exclusively stygobiont isopods of the family Stenasellidae. In particular, we assessed evolutionary relationships among several populations of Stellaselllls racovitzai and Stellaselllls virei. To place this study in a phylogenetic context, we used another species of Stellaselllls, S. assorgiai, as an outgroup. S. racovitzai occurs in Corsica, Sardinia and in the fossil islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, while S. virei is a polytypic species widely distributed in the central France and Pyrenean area. This vicariant distribution is believed to be the result of the disjunction of the Sardinia-Corsica microplate from the Pyrenean region and its subsequent rotation. Since geological data provide time estimates for these events, we can use the genetic distance data to calibrate a molecular clock for this group of stygobiont isopods. The calibration of the molecular clock reveals a roughly linear relationship (r = 0.753) between the genetic distances and absolute divergence times, with a mean divergence rate (19.269 Myr/DNei) different from those previously reported in the literature and provides an opportunity to shed some light on the evolutionary scenarios of other Stellaselllls species.

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In this study, we investigated the molecular phylogenetic divergence and historical biogeography of cave crickets belonging to the genus Troglophilus (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae) from caves in eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia regions.Three mitochondrial DNA genes (COI, 12S rDNA, and 16S rDNA) and two nuclear ones (18S rDNA and 28S rDNA) were amplified and partially sequenced to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among most of the known Troglophilus species.Results showed a well-resolved phylogeny with three main clades representing the Balkan, the Anatolian, and the Cycladian-Cretan lineages. Based on Bayesian analyses, we applied a relaxed molecular clock model to estimate the divergence times between these three lineages. Dating estimates indicate that radiation of the ingroup might have been triggered by the opening of the Mid-Aegean trench, while the uplift of the Anatolian Plateau in Turkey and the changes of relief, emergence, and disappearance of orographic and hydrographical barriers in the Balkan Peninsula are potential paleogeographic events responsible for the initial diversification of the genus Troglophilus. A possible biogeographic scenario, reconstructed using S-DIVA with RASP software, suggested that the current distribution of Troglophilus species can be explained by a combination of both dispersal and vicariance events that occurred in particular in the ancestral populations. The radiation of Troglophilus species likely started from the Aegean and proceeded eastward to Anatolia and westward to the Balkan region. Results are additionally compared to those available for Dolichopoda, the only other representative genus of Rhaphidophoridae present in the Mediterranean area. K E Y W O R D S biogeography, cave crickets, divergence times, East Mediterranean, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, phylogeography, Troglophilus

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