Evolutionary history of water voles revisited: confronting a new phylogenetic model from molecular data with the fossil record

A new phylogenetic model of water voles (genus Arvicola) reveals four recognized species and a deeply divergent lineage from West Iran, with genetic divergence exceeding interspecies distances. The Iranian lineage, named Arvicola persicus, diverged in the Early Pleistocene (~2.545 Ma), while other species radiated between 1.535 Ma (A. sapidus) and 0.671 Ma. Molecular data confirm monophyly of known species and suggest an ancestral aquatic lifestyle retained in A. sapidus and A. persicus, contrasting with fossorial adaptations in terminal lineages. Habitat-dependent plasticity in Arvicola amphibius may have driven its range expansion, making it one of the largest among arvicolines.

Mahmoudi, A., Maul, L. C., Khoshyar, M., Darvish, J., Aliabadian, M., & Kryštufek, B. (2019). Evolutionary history of water voles revisited: confronting a new phylogenetic model from molecular data with the fossil record. Mammalia, 84(2), 171–184. https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2018-0178