On the origin and systematics of the northern African wood mouse (<i>Apodemus sylvaticus</i>) populations: a comparative study of mtDNA restriction patterns

Abstract

Conflicting hypotheses have been fonnulated regarding the origin of wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) populations in northern Africa. ln this study, the mtDNA restriction patterns of mice (n = 28) collected in Tunisia andMorocco are compared with those of representatives from southern Europe (n = 102). The neighbour-joining tree confinns the existence of the three lineages preyiously found in the Mediterranean area: western, Tyrrhenian-BaIkan, and Sicilian. The western group is isolated from the two others, with bootstrap vaIues of 89 and 95%. Northern African patterns are included in the western group. Their variability is low, the same pattern being shared by five Tunisian and ail Moroccan animais (n = 18), caught either in the north of the country (Cap Spartel) or in the south (Marrakech).This implies that northern African wood mouse populations have a southwestern European origin and that their presence in the region is probably recent, which corresponds to both paIeontological data and the hypothesis of anthropogenic introduction.