Data from: Imprints of multiple glacial refugia in the Pyrenees revealed by phylogeography and palaeodistribution modelling of an endemic spider

Mediterranean mountain ranges harbour highly endemic biota in islandlike
habitats. Their topographic diversity offered the opportunity for mountain
species to persist in refugial areas during episodes of major climatic
change. We investigate the role of Quaternary climatic oscillations in
shaping the demographic history and distribution ranges in the spider
Harpactocrates ravastellus, endemic to the Pyrenees. Gene trees and
multispecies coalescent analyses on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA
sequences unveiled two distinct lineages with a hybrid zone around the
northwestern area of the Catalan Pyrenees. The lineages were further
supported by morphological differences. Climatic niche-based species
distribution models (SDMs) identified two lowland refugia at the western
and eastern extremes of the mountain range, which would suggest secondary
contact following postglacial expansion of populations from both refugia.
Neutrality test and approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) analyses
indicated that several local populations underwent severe bottlenecks
followed by population expansions, which in combination with the deep
population differentiation provided evidence for population survival
during glacial periods in microrefugia across the mountain range, in
addition to the main Atlantic and Mediterranean (western and eastern)
refugia. This study sheds light on the complexities of Quaternary climatic
oscillations in building up genetic diversity and local endemicity in the
southern Europe mountain ranges.