A new mitochondrial lineage in the edible dormouse, Glis glis (Rodentia: Gliridae), from Alonissos island (Sporades archipelago, Greece)

Abstract

We performed a phylogeographic analysis of mitochondrial DNA in the edible dormouse, Glis glis (Linnaeus, 1766), including 15 known haplotypes obtained across large part the European species' range along with a fragment of the cytochrome b gene of one specimen from Alonissos island (Sporades archipelago, Greece). The haplotype of this specimen did not cluster with any other haplotypes, which were grouped into four lineages. The genetic divergence (mean K2P distance) between the Greek specimen and these four lineages, comprised between 3.3 % and 5.9 %, was comparable to the genetic divergence found between the aforesaid lineages (1.9-6.4 %). Accordingly, the specimen most likely falls into a new, never described before, Mediterranean mitochondrial lineage of G. glis.