Phenetic and ecological plasticity in Arvicola has caused a long-standing dispute over the number of species within the genus, which is currently thought to consist of two aquatic (sapidus, amphibius) and one fossorial species (scherman). We used mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) gene sequences to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships between the fossorial and the aquatic water voles from the various regions of their European and Asiatic range. These two types differed morphologically and exhibited allopatric ranges. Our study provided 50 new haplotypes, generating a total dataset of 70 different water vole cytb haplotypes. Phylogenetic reconstructions retrieved two major lineages that were in a sister position to A. sapidus: a fossorial Swiss lineage and a widespread cluster, which contained aquatic and fossorial water voles from Europe and western Siberia. The phylogeographic architecture in water voles is explained by Quaternary climatic dynamics. Our results show that A. scherman in its present scope is not a monophyletic taxon.

Abstract Seven historical bat specimens of four species (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, R. mehelyi, Taphozous nudiventris, Myotis myotis), attributed to originate from the territory of the present-day Lebanon, are deposited and documented in the modern database of the mammal collection of the Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien). Two of these species (R. mehelyi, T. nudiventris) have never been reported for Lebanon in the existing literature and recent surveys have also failed to find them in this country. Since these bats were collected in the period 1824–1885, the history of the all respective specimens was evaluated in detail. The revision brought rather unexpected results. Only one specimen (R. ferrumequinum) was found to come (most probably) from Lebanon, being collected by W. Hemprich and Ch. Ehrenberg in 1824. In the remaining six specimens, the origin could not be defined, thus rendering the statement that they were collected in Lebanon insecure. This case demonstrates that careful checks of modern interpretations of historical records are necessary when examining past distributions of organisms.

No abstract

No abstract