Influenced by rapid changes in climate and landscape features since the Miocene, widely distributed species provide suitable models to study the environmental impact on their evolution and current genetic diversity. The dice snake Natrix tessellata, widely distributed in the western Palearctic is one such species. We aimed to resolve a detailed phylogeography of N. tessellata with a focus on the Central Asian clade with four and Anatolia clade with three mitochondrial lineages, trace their origin, and correlate the environmental changes that affected their distribution through time. The expected time of divergence of both clades began at 3.7 Mya in the Pliocene, reaching lineage differentiation approximately one million years later. The genetic diversity in both clades is rich, suggesting different ancestral areas, glacial refugia, demographic changes, and colonization routes. The Caspian lineage is the most widespread lineage in Central Asia, distributed around the Caspian Sea and reaching the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan, and eastern European lowlands in the west. Its distribution is limited by deserts, mountains, and cold steppe environments. Similarly, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan lineages followed the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya river systems in Central Asia, with ranges delimited by the large Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts. On the western side, there are several lineages within the Anatolia clade that converged in the central part of the peninsula with two being endemic to western Asia. The distribution of both main clades was affected by expansion from their Pleistocene glacial refugia around the Caspian Sea and in the valleys of Central Asia and by environmental changes, mostly through aridification.

中文翻译：

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丝绸之路：沙漠和山谷中的河流塑造的中亚骰子蛇（Serpentes：Natricidae）的系统发育地理学

受中新世以来气候和景观特征快速变化的影响，广泛分布的物种为研究环境对其进化和当前遗传多样性的影响提供了合适的模型。广泛分布于古北极西部的骰子蛇 Natrix tessellata 就是这样一种物种。我们旨在解决 N. tessellata 的详细系统发育地理学，重点关注具有四个线粒体谱系的中亚进化枝和具有三个线粒体谱系的安纳托利亚进化枝，追踪它们的起源，并将影响它们随时间分布的环境变化联系起来。两个进化枝的预期分化时间开始于上新世的 3.7 Mya，大约一百万年后达到谱系分化。两个进化枝的遗传多样性都很丰富，表明不同的祖先地区、冰川避难所、人口变化和殖民路线。里海血统是中亚分布最广的血统，分布在里海周围，一直延伸到阿富汗的兴都库什山脉山麓，西部则是东欧低地。其分布受沙漠、高山、寒冷草原环境的限制。类似地，哈萨克斯坦和乌兹别克斯坦的血统沿袭了中亚的阿姆河和锡尔河系统，其范围由广阔的克孜勒库姆沙漠和卡拉库姆沙漠划定。在西侧，安纳托利亚进化枝内有几个谱系汇聚在半岛的中部，其中两个是西亚特有的。