Phylogeography of the Italian vairone (Telestes muticellus Bonaparte 1837) inferred by microsatellite markers: evolutionary history of a freshwater fish species with a restricted and fragmented distribution

摘要

BackgroundOwing to its independence from the main Central European drainage systems, the Italian freshwater fauna is characterized by a high degree of endemicity. Three main ichthyogeographic districts have been proposed in Italy. Yet, the validity of these regions has not been confirmed by phylogenetic and population genetic analyses and a phylogeographic scenario for Italy's primary freshwater fish fauna is still lacking. Here, we investigate the phylogeography of the Italian vairone (Telestes muticellus).