The occurrence of mountain hare mitochondrial DNA in wild brown hares

摘要: If interspecific hybrids are fertile and backcross to either parental species, transmission of mitochondrial DNA over the species barrier can occur. To investigate if such has occurred between brown hare Lepus europeus Pall mountain L. timidus in Scandinavia, an analysis genetic variation from 36 hares, collected 15 localities, was performed. Sequence divergence mtDNA estimated at 8 ± 1% (SD). Intraspecific sequence varied 0.09 0.38% hares 0.10 1.44% hares. In six out 18 examined, two different haplotypes origin were detected, demonstrating a The results indicate that hybridization occurs wild populations.