Phylogeography of the vairone (Leuciscus souffia, Risso 1826) in Central Europe

Abstract

The vairone Leuciscus souffia is a cyprinid fish that inhabits river systems in and around the Alps. The complete mitochondrial DNA control region (

Phylogeography of the threatened crayfish (genus Austropotamobius) in Italy: implications for its taxonomy and conservation

“…This result may confirm the presence of two A. pallipes subspecies, as proposed by Brodsky (1983), A. p. pallipes in France and the British Isle, and A. p. bispinosus confined to Italy. Anyway, independently from the systematic implication, this result can be viewed as an additional example of the role played by mountain chains in the separation events, as reported for other freshwater species such as the cyprinid fish vairone (Leuciscus souffia multicellus) (Salzburger et al, 2003).…”

“…Bianco (1995) distinguished three main ichthyogeographic districts in Italy (Figure 3): the Padan-Venetian (PV) district, which includes the rivers flowing into the upper and middle Adriatic Sea; the Tuscan-Latium (TL) district, ranging from the rivers Serchio and Arno, in Tuscany, up to the Tiber, flowing into in the Tyrrenian Sea; and the Southern Italy district (S), including all the Southern rivers flowing into both the Eastern and Western Italian coasts. As shown in Figure 3, the distribution of A. italicus lineages seems inconsistent with the Italian ichthyogeographic districts (Bianco, 1993(Bianco, , 1995 and with the Apennine chain that acts as a barrier to the dispersion of most fish species (Bianco, 1993;Salzburger et al, 2003;Stefani et al, 2004). As shown in Figure 3, with the exception of A. i. carsicus entirely located within the PV district, the distribution ranges of all the other Austropotamobius lineages include two distinct ichthyogeographic districts.…”

Genetic variation and phylogeography of the swordtail fish Xiphophorus cortezi (Cyprinodontiformes, Poeciliidae)

“…The results of this study indicate a low degree of genetic variation in the mtDNA control region of X. cortezi compared to other teleostean fishes (i.e., Fajen and Breden, 1992;Lee et al, 1995;Salzburger et al, 2003;Stefanni and Thorley, 2003;Aboim et al, 2005). Out of 881 aligned positions 16 (1.8%) were variable (the numbers are the same if the X. malinche sample is included) and out of 65 sequences nine (13.8%) distinct haplotypes were found (10 if the X. malinche sample is included).…”

The endangered white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes (Decapoda, Astacidae) east and west of the Maritime Alps: a result of human translocation?

“…1). The presence of A. pallipes in Southern French basins and in Northern Italian basins (in Eastern and Western basins with respect to the maritime alpine watershed) is an exception to the general biogeographic scenario for freshwater fauna in Southern Europe; indeed, Northern Adriatic freshwater basins have been considered one of the best isolated biogeographic districts in Europe (Bianco 1990;Banarescu 1992), and phylogeographic analysis for many aquatic species has revealed the presence of deep and ancient divergence between sister lineages occurring on the opposite side of the Alps (Durand et al 1999;Perdices and Doadrio 2001;Susnik et al 2001;Weiss et al 2002;Perdices et al 2003;Salzburger et al 2003., Zaccara et al 2007). The phylogeographic structure of A. italicus within the Italian peninsula is well described Zaccara et al 2005;Fratini et al 2005), and different lineages and potential Management Units have been identified.…”