Geographical Variation of the Marbled Polecat Vormela peregusna (Carnivora: Mustelidae): Molecular Genetic Study

摘要

The marbled polecat Vormela peregusna (Giildens-taedt, 1770) remains the least studied member of the family Mustelidae. Our previous molecular genetic analysis [1] provided more specific information on phy-logenetic relationships of the genus; however, the intraspecific structure of the marbled polecat is still unknown, although the species area is rather extended and covers the entire steppe, desert, and semidesert zones of Eurasia. Sequencing the mitochondrial DNA of marbled polecats from southernRussia, Transcaucasia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan showed a high degree of the species genetic homogeneity in a large part of the area, and no distinctions were found between animals from the above regions, though some of these populations are now assumed to be valid subspecies.