The distribution of genetic diversity of Miniopterus schreibersii in Europe and Anatolia

Europe is probably the continent in which the glacial phylogeography of species have been investigated the most thoroughly. Until now, three main refugia have been identified in Europe, one in the Iberian Peninsula, one in Italy and the third one in the Balkans. In this study, we investigated the phylogeographic history of Miniopterus schreibersii (the bent- winged bat) in Europe and Anatolia using mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences. New samples collected from Spain, France, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Albania and Crete (Greece) were combined with previous published data from Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece (mainland) and Turkey for a comprehensive analysis. The results indicated a very shallow differentiation in Europe, with the highest diversity being found in the Balkans. The results also suggest that the rest of Europe was most probably populated from a Balkans refugium and the populations in the Iberian Peninsula likely went extinct. Further sampling from Italy will be necessary, to determine the fate of the populations in this refugial peninsula. This absence of large genetic differences within Europe contrasts with the recent phylogeographic work on Miniopterus schreibersii in Anatolia indicating mitochondrial, nuclear and morphological differentiation of parapatric populations, resulting in a suggested elevation of the subspecies M. s. pallidus to species level.