Population genetic structure and demographic history of the freshwater crab Potamon elbursi (Brachyura: Potamidae) from the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran

Hydrographically separated populations of the freshwater crab Potamon elbursi Pretzmann, 1976 were genetically investigated to assess their local diversity and to reconstruct the possible role of Quaternary glaciations in shaping current diversity in the Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. A total of 61 specimens from six rivers were collected from the two different drainage systems of the Alborz Mountains, Namak Lake and the South Caspian watershed. A comparative analysis of a partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene revealed relatively high overall haplotype diversity and low nucleotide diversity. In four populations, there is no association between the haplotype network and the geographical separation between drainages, whereas the remaining two populations consist of private haplotypes. Gene flow among rivers was estimated using pairwise differences of Φst; in almost all cases gene flow was significantly restricted, regardless of association to a particular river system. Surprisingly, the only exception was the pairwise comparison of two distant rivers belonging to different drainages; this lack of differentiation may be attributed to incomplete lineage sorting or secondary introduction events. The mismatch distribution analysis, together with the shape of the haplotype network and the nucleotide and haplotype diversity indices, indicates that the studied metapopulation show the signature of recent population bottlenecks followed by demographic or spatial expansion and dating back to Pleistocene climatic fluctuations.