Molecular and phenotypic distinction of the very recently evolved insular subspecies Mus musculus helgolandicus ZIMMERMANN, 1953.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Populations and subspecies of the house mouse Mus musculus were able to invade new regions worldwide in the wake of human expansion. Here we investigate the origin and colonization history of the house mouse inhabiting the small island of Heligoland on the German Bight - Mus musculus helgolandicus. It was first described by Zimmermann in 1953, based on morphological descriptions which were considered to be a mosaic between the subspecies M. m. domesticus and M. m. musculus. Since mice on islands are excellent evolutionary model systems, we have focused here on a molecular characterization and an extended phenotype analysis.

Results

The molecular data show that the mice from Heligoland are derived from M. m. domesticus based on mitochondrial D-loop sequences as wel

SUBMITTER: Babiker H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4535776 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature