Geographic patterns of genetic variation in the greater Egyptian jerboa Jaculus orientalis (Dipodidae, Rodentia) from Tunisia Abderraouf Ben Faleh a, b, * , Hassen Allaya a , Adel Abdel Aleem Basyouny Shahin c a Marine Biology Unit, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis-El Manar, Tunisia b Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences of Gafsa, University of Gafsa, Tunisia c Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Minia University, 61519 El Minia, Egypt article info Article history: Received 29 April 2016 Received in revised form 23 June 2016 Accepted 26 June 2016 Keywords: Dipodidae Jaculus orientalis Cytochrome b Genetic structure Tunisia abstract The biogeographic area of Tunisia is characterized by several geographic and climatic zones that shaped the spatial distribution and genetic differentiation in many species. Despite the merit studies carried out on different species in this region, yet the distribution patterns of genetic diversity and taxonomy of many taxa remain unresolved. This study aimed to elucidate the geographic patterns of genetic variation in one of the endemic species of Tunisia, the greater Egyptian jerboa, Jaculus orientalis. The extent of phylogeo- graphic patterns and molecular genetic diversity (mitochondrial cytochrome b gene) were addressed in a survey of 65 specimens from 11 localities. Twenty-four haplotypes were identified among populations which organized them into two well-supported clades separated by a higher genetic divergence (K2P ¼ 1%; Фct ¼ 0.65; P < 0.05). The first, clade I, included populations from the northern and central parts of Tunisia, while the second, clade II, comprised only populations from the southern part. Divergence between pop- ulations of the two clades would have occurred by Middle Pleistocene (ca. 0.71 Mya). Barrier Software showed that the populations of the two clades were separated by a geographical barrier, namely Chott El Jerid, located in the middle zone. Additionally, the clear distinction between the northern and central populations from those of the southern part was probably due to a Libyan origin of the latter. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The Mediterranean ecoregion of North Africa is an important biodiversity hotspot in the Mediterranean Basin (Myers et al., 2000) and supports an outstanding number of endemic species (Ben Faleh et al., 2012a). This biogeographic area is char- acterized by several geographic and climatic zones that may have played a role in genetic differentiation. For example, in Tunisia patches of forest occur throughout the central part, while widely-forested areas are only limited to the northern part. Almost one-third of the Tunisia’s surface area was covered by the Sahara desert and the major portion of the rest was dominated by an arid climate that is characterized by annual and seasonal variation in precipitation (Amor et al., 2009; Ben * Corresponding author. Marine Biology Unit, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis-El Manar, Tunisia. E-mail address: benfalahabdelraouf@yahoo.fr (A. Ben Faleh). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biochemical Systematics and Ecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biochemsyseco http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bse.2016.06.015 0305-1978/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 68 (2016) 15e22