Biometric characterisation and taxonomic considerations of european rabbit Oryctolagus Cuniculus (Linnaeus 1758) in Sicily (Italy) (original) (raw)
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Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 1994
Mammalian species presently living on Mediterranean islands have been brought in by man. The question of their geographical origin and of the time of their introduction is often a matter of debate. We studied this problem using a population of rabbits (European rabbit: Oryctolagus cuniculus) living in Zembra, an island off Tunisia. Archaeological surveys show that rabbit has been introduced to the island by Bronze Age or Roman people, between the IIIrd Millenium B.C. and the IIIrd century A.D. Part of the 16S-rRNA gene of mitochondrial DNAs from fossil bones of different ages (dated back to 130-390 A.D.) was characterized and compared to that of present day rabbits of differing geographical origin. The data suggest that animals present on Zembra in late Roman times belonged to the same maternal lineage as present populations from Northern Spain and Southern France.
Lagomorph Biology, 2008
The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a well-known species all over the world and occurs in both wild and domestic forms. European rabbits are present in most of Europe, North Africa, parts of South America, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in more than 800 islands, where they occupy a huge variety of ecosystems (Thompson and King 1994). Its domestic counterpart exhibits a remarkable variety of breeds showing variation in colour, size and fertility. Domestic breeds are kept and raised globally for meat, wool and fur, and also as increasing popular pets. However, for most of its history, the European rabbit was confined to the Iberian Peninsula where the species is supposed to have emerged in the mid-Pleistocene. We know this from the analysis of the fossil record that in addition, places also in the Iberian Peninsula the emergence of genus Oryctolagus (Lopez-Martinez 2008, this book). The subsequent geographical expansion and successful colonization of multiple territories is as recent as historical times and has been mostly human-mediated. This expansion eventually ended in a domestication process that is unique to Western Europe. While the fossil record together with much more recent historical documents attesting the origin and recent expansion of the European rabbit provide us with a rough picture of the history of the species, the fact is that in both cases they are represented by scarce and spotty information. This in turn prevents a deeper understanding of the rich and unique evolutionary history of the rabbit species. An alternative way to address questions related to this subject is the analysis of genetic data. In fact, the history of species, including their split from sister taxa, historical population subdivisions, expansions and contractions, and other types of demographic events, leave a signature in their genomes that can be assessed by using a combination of molecular biology tools and statistical inference procedures. This is particularly true in the last few years, which witnessed the dramatic development
2018
Received 14.01.2018; accepted 20.02.2018; printed 30.03.2018 Although most non-scientific literature listing wild rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia Leporidae), in the Maltese islands mentions the occurrence of two colour morphs in the Maltese islands, an attempt at describing in scientific detail such coloration has never been made. Wild rabbits in the Maltese islands occur in two dominant morphs; the grey agouti and the yellow morph. In this article, a detailed description of each variation was given with regards to ‘dorsum’, ‘flanks’, ‘nape’, and ‘ventrum’, as well as the specific descriptions of ‘head’, ‘tail’, and ‘ear tip’. Hair colour bands for both morphs are also given. Predation and camouflage are explored as the major driving force behind the high level of occurrence of the wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus sporting the yellow morph. This when compared to other countries.
Phylogeography of Southern European Refugia: EVOLUATIONARY PERSPECTIVE ON THE ORIGINS AND CONSERVATION OF EUROPEAN BIODIVERSITY, 2007
The patterns of population differentiation and geographical expansion of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) remain largely unknown. Using gene frequency data for 20 polymorphic protein loci (102 alleles), we investigated the evolutionary history of the rabbit through the analysis of 13 representative populations and the use of both the neighbor-joining (NJ) and the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) trees. We also conducted a separate analysis comparing one domestic and one wild population with previously published results. Our data indicate that an ancient split separated southwestern Iberian populations from all others, including domestic breeds, and that this division may have corresponded to the emergence of the subspecies O.c. algirus and O.c. cuniculus. Separation times between the two major groups of populations were estimated with Nei's genetic distance and were found to be highly discrepant with the mtDNA divergence estimate. The southwestern Iberian populations (algirus group) are more polymorphic than northern populations (cuniculus group), the latter displaying more than simply a subset of southern alleles. These results are thus compatible with the isolation of a marginal population or with a smaller long-term population size in the north. The high degree of genetic differentiation between the two subspecies allows the reconstruction of rabbit geographical expansion. France, Britain and other European countries, as well as Australia, were colonized by animals belonging to the cuniculus group, from which domestic breeds are exclusively derived. In contrast, Azorean island populations represent an expansion of the algirus group and show evidence of a strong bottleneck effect.
Translocations as a risk for the conservation of European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus lineages
Oryx, 2008
Population units that merit separate management and are of conservation concern have been called evolutionary significant units. Two divergent lineages of the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus occur naturally in Spain, with a well-marked geographical distribution. We analysed the frequency and importance of rabbit translocations in central-southern Spain and whether this practice, carried out by hunters and conservationists, could cause the mixture of two clearly different evolutionary significant units. We carried out interviews in 1993 and 2002 at 60 locations to determine the presence and intensity of translocations during both decades. The distribution of the lineages was obtained using mtDNA analysis of hunted rabbits in 2003-2005. We demonstrate that rabbit translocation was used frequently in the 1980s and increased in the 1990s. Up to 43% of the studied areas translocated rabbits in the latter decade, whereas only 25% did so in the 1980s. Our results show that neither the origin of the introduced rabbits nor their genetic lineage were taken into account in most of the translocations. We found rabbits of lineage A in several localities within the distribution area of lineage B, and vice versa, probably as a consequence of translocations. The distribution of both lineages is likely to have been altered by human activity and this could represent the loss of the results of 2 million years of genetic differentiation with possible attendent ecological consequences. Consequently, authorities should more closely regulate rabbit translocations and convey to both hunters and conservationists the importance of not mixing the lineages by translocations.
Morphological diversity, evolution and biogeography of early Pleistocene rabbits (Genus Oryctolagus)
Palaeontology, 2021
The early Pleistocene is the key period for understanding the evolutionary history and palaeobiogeography of rabbits (Genus Oryctolagus). In western Europe, many species were endemic, making them a reliable indicator of the evolution of the terrestrial ecosystems in which many species have evolved. However, the morphological variability of rabbit species is still poorly understood and their phylogeny remains a subject of debate. Through both qualitative (morphological description) and quantitative (linear measurements and two-dimensional geometric morphometrics) approaches, we address here the morphometric diversity of the third lower premolar (p3), a tooth commonly used to distinguish leporid species, in order to assess intra- and inter-regional morphological variations in several early Pleistocene rabbit populations. Our results suggest that the different approaches are complementary and allow, on different levels, a full characterization of the p3 variability of early Pleistocene rabbits and to imply relations between populations. The size and shape variations of this tooth reflect the taxonomic and phylogenetic signals of the different species but were probably also significantly impacted by geographical position and local climatic conditions. In view of the great morphometric variability highlighted in this work, we suggest a careful reconsideration of certain dental criteria previously considered ‘diagnostic’ in the characterization of these species. However, the overall results allowed us to discuss the phylogeny of the genus Oryctolagus and to hypothesize the ecological requirements and different phases of the dispersal of taxa in western Europe, probably associated with global climate changes.
Heredity, 2000
We studied mitochondrial DNA variation in the European rabbit through the examination of restriction fragment length polymorphism in 526 individuals from 20 locations spread across the Iberian Peninsula. Digestion with eight enzymes of a 1120-bp fragment comprising most of the cytochrome b gene resolved 38 dierent haplotypes. These haplotypes were distributed in two highly divergent clades, with dierent but overlapping geographical distributions, and with comparable levels of within-clade variation. The overall phylogeographical pattern suggests a history of long-term regional isolation of two groups of rabbit populations, compatible with the recognition of two subspecies within the Iberian Peninsula, followed by recent contact and admixture. The underlying cause is sought in the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods in the late Pleistocene.