Genetic diversity and geographical distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in the cryptic species of common field mice from the subgenus Sylvaemus in the Western Caucasus

Genetic analysis of the common field mice in the Western Caucasus has shown that two genetically diverged lines of the mice from the subgenus Sylvaemus (A. uralensis and A. ponticus) in-habit sympatrically and symbiotically its western part, within the Republic of Adygei. A. ponticus dominates under warmer and more humid conditions of the plain and foothills, and in the forest steppe and broad-leaved belts abundant in varied food resources. A. uralensis prevails in the subalpine meadow belt and within the upper boundary of the broad-leaved forests where biotopes are represented by stony lands. In the Western Caucasus A. ponticus is on the whole genetically more heterogeneous as compared to A.uralensis. In A. uralensis from all Western Caucasus the existence of similar haplotypes, absence of geographical structure for the samples, and minimal genetic distances between them indicating genetic uniformity of the species in the territory under study, are determined.