The survival of isolated small populations is threatened by both demographic and genetic factors. Large carnivores declined for centuries in most of Europe due to habitat changes, overhunting of their natural prey and direct persecution. However, the current rewilding trends are driving many carnivore populations to expand again, possibly reverting the erosion of their genetic diversity. In this study we reassessed the extent and origin of the genetic variation of the Italian wolf population, which is expanding after centuries of decline and isolation. We genotyped wolves from Italy and other nine populations at four mtDNA regions (control-region, ATP6, COIII and ND4) and 39 autosomal microsatellites. Results of phylogenetic analyses and assignment procedures confirmed in the Italian wolves a second private mtDNA haplotype, which belongs to a haplogroup distributed mostly in southern Europe. Coalescent analyses showed that the unique mtDNA haplotypes in the Italian wolves likely originated during the late Pleistocene. ABC simulations concordantly showed that the extant wolf populations in Italy and in south-western Europe started to be isolated and declined right after the last glacial maximum. Thus, the standing genetic variation in the Italian wolves principally results from the historical isolation south of the Alps.

CIBIO InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos Campus de Vairão Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal

Departamento de Biologia Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Porto Portugal

Department 18 Section of Environmental Engineering Aalborg University Aalborg Denmark

Department of Biology and Ecology Ostrava University Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Biology Biotechnical Faculty University of Ljubljana Ljubljana Slovenia

Department of Biology Faculty of Science University of Zagreb Zagreb Croatia

Department of Forest Ecology Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Zoology Charles University Prague Prague Czech Republic

Department of Zoology Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences University of Tartu Tartu Estonia

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czech Republic

Friends of the Earth Czech Republic Olomouc Branch Olomouc Czech Republic

Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Sofia Bulgaria

Laboratorio di Genetica Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale Ozzano dell'Emilia Bologna Italy

Mammal Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences Białowieża Poland

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Museomics and morphological analyses of historical and contemporary peninsular Italian wolf (Canis lupus italicus) samples

The extinct Sicilian wolf shows a complex history of isolation and admixture with ancient dogs