The Near East as a cradle of biodiversity : A phylogeography of banded newts (genus Ommatotriton) reveals extensive inter- and intraspecific genetic differentiation
The banded newt (genus Ommatotriton) is widely distributed in the Near East (Anatolia, Caucasus and the Levant) – an understudied region from the perspective of phylogeography. The genus is polytypic, but the number of species included and the phylogenetic relationships between them are not settled. We sequenced two mitochondrial and two nuclear DNA markers throughout the range of Ommatotriton. Fo