Molecular Systematics of Old World Stripe-Necked Turtles (Testudines: Mauremys)

Nine extant species of Mauremys (including Ocadia and Chinemys) represent a geographically widespread yet morphologically and ecologically conservative group of batagurid turtles. Here we examine the evolutionary rela- tionships of Mauremys using 1539 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA encoding portions of COI, ND4, and three adja- cent tRNA genes. These data contain 246 parsimony informative characters that we use to erect hypotheses of rela- tionships for Mauremys. Both maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods suggest that Mauremys japonica, M. sinensis, M. nigricans, and M. reevesii form a well-supported monophyletic clade, as do M. mutica and M. annamen- sis. Furthermore, our analyses show that M. mutica is paraphyletic with respect to M. annamensis. The western taxa M. leprosa, M. caspica, and M. rivulata remain problematic and do not form a monophyletic group sister to the Asian taxa. Nevertheless, an east-west biogeographic hypothesis cannot be discounted with our molecular genetic data.