Climatic refugia boosted allopatric diversification in Western Mediterranean vipers

Abstract: Aim: to understand the role of climate in fostering diversification, this study reconstructs the historical biogeography of Western Mediterranean vipers
Location: Western Mediterranean Basin
Taxon: Vipera aspis and V. latastei-monticola complex
Methods: phylogeographic analyses were performed over mitochondrial (three genes) and nuclear sequences (two genes), extensively covering species ranges. A total of 4,056 records were assigned to genetic units, using interpolations of genetic data, to test phylogenetic niche conservatism, under a 3D hypervolume approach, and to perform paleoclimatic reconstructions for main lineages that diversified during the Pleistocene.
Results: Bayesian inferences based on mtDNA recovered three Miocene clades and nine Pliocene lineages that distinctly diversified during the Pleistocene. Diversification until late Pliocene was mostly restricted to southern regions of Iberian and Italian Peninsulas, and north-western African mountains, expanding n...