50,000 years of genetic uniformity in the critically endangered Iberian lynx RICARDO RODRI ´ GUEZ,* 1 OSCAR RAMI ´ REZ,† 1 CRISTINA E. VALDIOSERA,*‡ NURIA GARCI ´ A,* FERNANDO ALDA,** JOAN MADURELL-MALAPEIRA, – JOSEP MARMI, – IGNACIO DOADRIO,** ESKE WILLERSLEV,‡ ANDERS GO ¨ THERSTRO ¨ M,*†† JUAN LUIS ARSUAGA,* MARK G. THOMAS,§†† CARLES LALUEZA-FOX† and LOVE DALE ´ N*‡‡ *Centro Mixto, Universidad Complutense de Madrid–Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolucio ´n y Comportamiento Humanos. Avda. Monforte de Lemos 5, Pabello ´n 14. 28029 Madrid, Spain, †Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF). Dr. Aiguader, 88. 08003 Barcelona, Spain, ‡Center for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Oster Voldgade 5-7 1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark, §Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street London, WC1E 6BT, UK, –Institut Catala ` de Paleontologia. Edifici ICP, Campus de la UAB. 08193 Cerdanyola del Valle `s, Barcelona, Spain, **Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales CSIC, Jose ´ Gutie ´rrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain, ††Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyva ¨gen 18, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden, ‡‡Department of Molecular Systematics, Swedish Museum of Natural history, Svante Arrhenius Va ¨g 9-11, PO Box 50007, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden Abstract Low genetic diversity in the endangered Iberian lynx, including lack of mitochondrial control region variation, is thought to result from historical or Pleistocene ⁄ Holocene population bottlenecks, and to indicate poor long-term viability. We find no variability in control region sequences from 19 Iberian lynx remains from across the Iberian Peninsula and spanning the last 50 000 years. This is best explained by continuously small female effective population size through time. We conclude that low genetic variability in the Iberian lynx is not in itself a threat to long-term viability, and so should not preclude conservation efforts. Keywords: coalescence, female effective population size, Lynx pardinus, mitochondrial DNA, mutation rate Received 2 April 2011; revision received 23 June 2011; accepted 1 July 2011 Introduction The Iberian lynx, Lynx pardinus (Temminck 1827), classi- fied as a Critically Endangered species (IUCN 2010), is the most endangered carnivore in Europe (Mallinson 1978) as well as the most threatened of the 36 extant species of the family Felidae (Nowell & Jackson 1996). The genus Lynx comprises three additional species: the bobcat (L. rufus), the Canadian lynx, (L. canadensis) and the Eurasian lynx (L. lynx). All major felid lineages were established within a relatively short time period spanning 10.8–6.2 Myr before present (Ma BP), and the split between the genus Lynx, the ocelot (Leopardus par- dalis) and puma (Puma concolor) is estimated to have occurred approximately 8.0–6.7 Ma BP (Johnson et al. 2006). The geographical origin of the lynx lineage is uncertain. Palaeontological evidence points towards an African origin according to Werdelin (1981) whereas other authors suggest a North American origin (MacF- adden & Galiano 1981; Martin 1989). Moreover, phylog- eographic evidence has been interpreted as supporting a North American origin for the lynx lineage based on the fact that the most basal members of this group (L. rufus and L. canadensis) have an American distribution (Johnson & O’Brien 1997; Johnson et al. 2006). It has been suggested that at approximately 1.6–1.2 Ma the ancestors of the Eurasian and Iberian lynxes expanded across the Bering land bridge to Eurasia (Johnson et al. 2006). 1 Ricardo Rodrı ´guez and Oscar Ramı ´rez contributed equally to this work. Correspondence: Ricardo Rodrı ´guez, Fax: + 34 91 822 28 55; E-mail: ricardo_eyre@yahoo.es Ó 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Molecular Ecology (2011) 20, 3785–3795 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05231.x