Keywords
Lepus europaeus
taxonomy
molecular phylogenetics
16S rRNA
GenBank
genetic distance
Uzbekistan.
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper reviews the taxonomic history and geographic distribution of Lepus tibetanus Waterhouse, 1841 and Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778, and reports a molecular identification and phylogenetic analysis of tissue samples collected in the Navoi and Bukhara regions of Uzbekistan, based on the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. Genetic- distance analysis and a maximum-likelihood tree revealed low intraspecific divergence (0.00–0.49%) but markedly higher interspecific divergence (3.20–3.94%) between the two species; Uzbek specimens formed well-supported monophyletic clades with corresponding GenBank sequences (89–99% bootstrap support), confirming species-level identity. These results provide the first molecular confirmation of both taxa from Uzbekistan and contribute new data to the phylogeography of the genus Lepus in Central Asia.References
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