Genetic Diversity of the Field Vole <i>Microtus agrestis</i> (Arvicolinae, Rodentia) in the Central Part of Northern Eurasia According to the Cytochrome <i>b</i> Gene Data

An analysis of the genetic diversity of the field vole was carried out with the inclusion of new data on the complete sequences of the cytochrome b gene from the least studied area of the species range – the central part of Northern Eurasia (20 localities of the East European Plain, the Urals, Western and Eastern Siberia). The obtained results are generally consistent with modern view on the species phylogeography, but indicate the previously not investigated genetic heterogeneity of the Eastern clade, which occupies the entire Asian part of the species’ range and its European part to Northern and Eastern Europe. The comparison of the genetic diversity analysis results with the age of paleontological findings, carried out using the Urals territory as the example, allows to assume that climatic changes in the late Pleistocene and Holocene could not lead to the complete extinction of the species in the region, but to the spatial redistribution of its populations and to the complete or partial replacement of some genetic groups by others.