A new study by researchers of the Department of Biological Sciences of the Ecology and Biodiversity Lab

A new study by researchers of the Department of Biological Sciences reveals extensive genetic diversity and evolutionary divergence within Cyprus in organisms that do not exhibit any morphological differentiation

The evolutionary differentiation of organisms within isolated islands, like Cyprus, has received much less attention compared to that among islands. In the framework of the research program titled ‘Eco-evolutionary dynamics on Cyprus: a multitaxon approach to population differentiation within an isolated island’ (EVOLCYP - EXCELLENCE/0918/0161) funded by the Cyprus’ Research and Innovation Foundation and coordinated by Prof. Spyros Sfenthourakis, PI of the Ecology and Biodiversity Lab, Dr Andreas Dimitriou used genomics techniques to examine a large number of populations of a morphologically invariant and long considered as a good species, revealing unexpected levels of genetic diversity and evolutionary divergence. In fact, within Cyprus alone, four distinct genealogies of this group have been evolving in the past six million years, reaching levels of divergence that justify their recognition as new species for science! In a future paper, under preparation, the formal descriptions of the new species will be presented, adding important cryptic endemic elements to the biodiversity of Cyprus. This research has been published in the high caliber journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution with the cooperation of researchers from the Museum of Natural History of Crete (University of Crete, Greece) and the Department of Biology of the University of Athens, Greece.