Genetic structure and subspecies divergence of Lepus capensis in Xinjiang

To date, the genetic structure and genetic diversity of Lepus capensis in Xinjiang has not been systematically studied at the molecular level, and its subspecies taxonomic status has been under debate for years. According to traditional morphology, there are three subspecies of L. capensis distributed in Xinjiang: L.c. centrasiaticus, L.c. lehmanni and L.c. pamirensis. In this study, we determined 592 bp D-loop sequences of 87 cape hares from Xinjiang Province. Forty-four haplotypes were defined based on 148 polymorphic sites. Both the haplotype diversity (0.977 ± 0.005) and nucleotide diversity (0.064 ± 0.031) are high. FST P values are significantly high and no haplotype was shared among the four geographic populations, indicating that genetic differentiation among populations is significant. AMOVA shows that most of the genetic differentiation occurred among geographic groups, indicating that geographic isolation such as mountains and deserts might make an effective barrier against gene flow. Both the phylogenetic tree and median-joining network grouped 44 haplotypes into four distinct clades corresponding to four geographic areas, indicating an obvious phylogeographic pattern. Our data supported the subspecies status of L. c. lehmanni. The fact that haplotypes of L. c. centrasiaticus were grouped into two distinct clades suggests that this traditional subspecies should be considered as two subspecies. In addition, L. c. pamirensis shows a significantly higher sequence divergence compared to other subspecies, and the difference even reached the level of species

Small mammals collected from Qinghai Province, China

We collected 78 specimens of small mammals from Qinghai Province. China, in the summers of 2007 and 2009. Nine species of the orders Rodentia and Lagomorpha were identified: Allactaga sibirica, Dipus sagitta, Alticola sroliczkanus, Neodon irene, Phodopus roborovskii, Cricetulus longicaudatus, Meriones meridianus, Mur musculus, and Ochotona curzoniaae. Two distribution patterns were recognized for all species, except for the cosmopolitan species Mus musculus: restricted to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (Alticola stoliczkanus, Neodon irene, and Ochotona curzoniae), or widely distributed in northern China, extending to Russia and neighboring countries (remaining species)