The evolutionary history of the two karyotypic groups of the common shrew, Sorex araneus, in Poland

DNA polymorphism within Sorex araneus from European Russia as inferred from mtDNA cytochrome b sequences

“…Ratkiewicz et al (2002) showed the same for Polish populations. Our data suggest that the nucleotide and haplotype diversity within Sorex araneus in Europe is much higher than previously estimated and that this diversity is independent on the karyological diversity.…”

“…Ratkiewicz et al (2002) have found that the distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes of cytochrome b within common shrews in Poland by no means connected with their racial affiliation to the West or East European Karyotypic Groups. Moreover, any traces of recent insularity or bottlenecking during the evolution history of these populations are lacking.…”

Craniometrical characteristics of some Sorex araneus chromosomal races

“…By canonical discriminant analysis a clear morphological distinction in the cranial and postcranial skeleton was demonstrated between populations of the Novosibirsk and Tomsk chromosomal races and their hybrids (Polyakov et al, 2002). In one of the most recent studies carried out by analogous methods involving mandibular measurements, little difference was found between Polish chromosomal races that belong to the West and East European karyotypic groups (Wójcik et al, 2000), consistent with data showing an absence of cytochrome b variation between karyotypic groups (WEKG and EEKG) in Poland and also consistent with recent isolation or a bottleneck in their evolution (Ratkiewicz et al, 2002). Polly (2001Polly ( , 2003Polly ( , 2007 has investigated differences between populations of S. araneus using dental shape variables.…”

Fennoscandian phylogeography of the common shrew Sorex araneus. Postglacial recolonisation—combining information from chromosomal variation with mitochondrial DNA data

“…Several molecular studies indicate that the formation of chromosome races is a recent phenomenon (Taberlet et al 1994;Fumagalli et al 1999;Andersson et al 2005), and that chromosome morphology and mtDNA have evolved independently (Taberlet et al 1994;Fumagalli et al 1999;Ratkiewicz et al 2002). It has been proposed that the cytochrome b gene, used in these studies, may not harbour enough variation to identify molecular differences between major karyotypic groups .…”