scholarly journals Evolutionary history of the European free‐tailed bat, a tropical affinity species spanning across the Mediterranean Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 499-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Amorim ◽  
Orly Razgour ◽  
Vanessa A. Mata ◽  
Susana Lopes ◽  
Raquel Godinho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

scholarly journals Population genomics of wall lizards reflects the dynamic history of the Mediterranean Basin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhao Yang ◽  
Nathalie Feiner ◽  
Daniele Salvi ◽  
Hanna Laakkonen ◽  
Daniel Jablonski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Structure ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Hybrid Origin ◽  
Recent Common Ancestor ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

The Mediterranean Basin has experienced extensive change in geology and climate over the past six million years. Yet, the relative importance of key geological events for the distribution and genetic structure of the Mediterranean fauna remains poorly understood. Here, we use population genomic and phylogenomic analyses to establish the evolutionary history and genetic structure of common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis). This species is particularly informative because, in contrast to other Mediterranean lizards, it is widespread across the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas, and in extra-Mediterranean regions. We found strong support for six major lineages within P. muralis, which were largely discordant with the phylogenetic relationship of mitochondrial DNA. The most recent common ancestor of extant P. muralis was likely distributed in the Italian Peninsula, and experienced an Out-of-Italy expansion following the Messinian salinity crisis (~5 Mya), resulting in the differentiation into the extant lineages on the Iberian, Italian and Balkan peninsulas. Introgression analysis revealed that both inter- and intraspecific gene flow have been pervasive throughout the evolutionary history of P. muralis. For example, the Southern Italy lineage has a hybrid origin, formed through admixture between the Central Italy lineage and an ancient lineage that was the sister to all other P. muralis. More recent genetic differentiation is associated with the onset of the Quaternary glaciations, which influenced population dynamics and genetic diversity of contemporary lineages. These results demonstrate the pervasive role of Mediterranean geology and climate for the evolutionary history and population genetic structure of extant species.

scholarly journals Extensive introgression and mosaic genomes of Mediterranean endemic lizards

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhao Yang ◽  
Nathalie Feiner ◽  
Catarina Pinho ◽  
Geoffrey M. While ◽  
Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Mediterranean Islands ◽  
The Past ◽  
Island Endemics ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Mediterranean Island ◽  
History Of ◽  
Entire History ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is a hotspot of biodiversity, fuelled by climatic oscillation and geological change over the past 20 million years. Wall lizards of the genus Podarcis are among the most abundant, diverse, and conspicuous Mediterranean fauna. Here, we unravel the remarkably entangled evolutionary history of wall lizards by sequencing genomes of 34 major lineages covering 26 species. We demonstrate an early (>11 MYA) separation into two clades centred on the Iberian and Balkan Peninsulas, and two clades of Mediterranean island endemics. Diversification within these clades was pronounced between 6.5–4.0 MYA, a period spanning the Messinian Salinity Crisis, during which the Mediterranean Sea nearly dried up before rapidly refilling. However, genetic exchange between lineages has been a pervasive feature throughout the entire history of wall lizards. This has resulted in a highly reticulated pattern of evolution across the group, characterised by mosaic genomes with major contributions from two or more parental taxa. These hybrid lineages gave rise to several of the extant species that are endemic to Mediterranean islands. The mosaic genomes of island endemics may have promoted their extraordinary adaptability and striking diversity in body size, shape and colouration, which have puzzled biologists for centuries.

Bluetongue in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: History of occurrence prior to 2006

2008 ◽  
Vol 87 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 4-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip S. Mellor ◽  
Simon Carpenter ◽  
Lara Harrup ◽  
Matthew Baylis ◽  
Peter P.C. Mertens
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

scholarly journals The Italian genome reflects the history of Europe and the Mediterranean basin

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 1056-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Fiorito ◽  
Cornelia Di Gaetano ◽  
Simonetta Guarrera ◽  
Fabio Rosa ◽  
Marcus W Feldman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
History Of Europe ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

scholarly journals Stereotomy and the Mediterranean: Notes Toward an Architectural History

2017 ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara GALLETTI
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Architectural History ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Region I ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Hellenistic Greece ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Stereotomy, the art of cutting stones into particular shapes for the construction of vaulted structures, is an ancient art that has been practiced over a wide chronological and geographical span, from Hellenistic Greece to contemporary Apulia and across the Mediterranean Basin. Yet the history of ancient and medieval stereotomy is little understood, and nineteenth- century theories about the art’s Syrian origins, its introduction into Europe via France and the crusaders, and the intrinsic Frenchness of medieval stereotomy are still largely accepted. In this essay, I question these theories with the help of a work-in-progress database and database-driven maps that consolidate evidence of stereotomic practice from the third century BCE through the eleventh century CE and across the Mediterranean region. I argue that the history of stereotomy is far more complex than what historians have assumed so far and that, for the most part, it has yet to be written.

The Nature and Origin of the Vertebrate Fauna

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Blondel
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Tectonic Plates ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Heterogeneous Region ◽  
Western Half ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

The aim of this chapter is to provide an account of the complex history of Mediterranean faunas as they evolved from the end of the Pliocene about 1.8 million years ago until the present day. Reconstructing this history is difficult because the Mediterranean basin is one of the most complex regions in the world and is characterized by significant geographical and topographical variation. The Mediterranean basin was formed during the Tertiary by the convergence of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, in combination with several African microplates, Iberia, and two main African promontories: Apulia in the west and Arabia in the east (Chapter 1 and Dercourt et al. 1986). Where the African and Eurasian plates meet, seismic and volcanic activity have combined with other processes to form a very heterogeneous region. High mountains and deeply dissected topography form the main part of a coastline some 46,000 km in length, 18,000 of which are island shores (Chapter 13). A dominant feature of the region, which has had many consequences for species diversity and the process of differentiation, is the striking contrast between the northern half of the basin with its many large peninsulas—Iberian, Apennine, Balkan, and Anatolian—and the southern half with its more or less rectilinear shorelines. In addition, there is a marked biogeographical contrast between the western and the eastern halves of the Mediterranean, the former having shifted somewhat to the north with respect to the latter. The line separating the two north–south ranges in each half of the basin runs approximately along the 36th parallel in the western half and the 33rd in the eastern half. In the western half, west of the Sicily–Cap Bon line, biota are more boreal in character and overlap to a large degree with those of central Europe. To the east, biota have more affinities with central Asia (Blondel and Aronson 1999). Modern patterns of regional floral and faunal diversity mostly result from differential speciation and extinction rates during the Quaternary (Chapter 4).

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