III. Goals
Despite being the focus of several studies, the evolutionary history ofB. gargarizans remains uncertain. Our study was conducted to clarify the phylogeography of B. gargarizans as a basis for understanding its historical dispersal patterns in relation to the geologic and climatic history of the region. Our study improves on previous studies by increasing geographic coverage by adding samples from the Northeast Asia (North Korea, South Korea and Russia), as well as including multiple genetic loci.