Phylogenetic analyses of M. myotis based on HVII
sequences
Genetic sequences referring to the sole HVII domain of the mitochondrial
CR region belonged to 10 distinct haplotypes, among which six were newly
described and one was previously described in Myotis blythii only
(Table S5).
Phylogenetic analyses that considered our haplotypes with the ones
already described across Europe showed they all clustered within
haplogroups A, B or C as described by Ruedi et al. (2008) (Figure 3).
Ninety-five percent of individuals showed haplotypes clustering within
haplogroup B, including the widespread haplotype H12 and six other
haplotypes described for the first time, named H-ST16-1/6. Four out of
six of these haplotypes were unique to a single colony, one was
exclusively found in an adult male, and one was found in two different
colonies and an adult male (Figure 3, Table S5). In addition, six
individuals from three colonies (4.1%) shared the pan-European
haplotype H1, belonging to the haplogroup A. Finally two individuals
from two different colonies carried the genetic signature of haplogroup
C, previously found in North-Western Italy and Switzerland, among which
one haplotype was newly described and another one was previously
described from a M. blythii . Crucially, both these individuals
were youngsters, so that they were not included in the determination of
the genetic structure.
Haplotypes belonging to more than one haplogroup were found in all
colonies, with the exception of the southern colony five, with
representatives from groups A, B and C described only in colony three,
much closer to the border compared to other colonies (Figure 3, Table
S5). Interestingly, adult males included in these analyses only carried
signatures belonging to haplogroup B (Figure 3, Table S5).