2011), and domestic ferret ( Davison et al. European polecats are known to hybridize with a number of other mustelid species, including Steppe polecat ( Cserkész et al. 2009), or their findings being inconclusive between the 2 potential ancestral species ( Davison et al. Blandford and Walton 1991 Driscoll et al. The ancestral species to the ferret is also disputed with many authors treating the domestic ferret as a descendant of the European polecat, but others treating it as a descendant of the Steppe polecat ( M. putorius furo) has long been associated with man and is thought to have been domesticated around 2000 years ago and introduced in Great Britain around the 11th century ( Thomson 1951). The European polecat ( Mustela putorius) occurs in a range of habitats including farmland, wetland, and woodland, where it feeds mainly on rabbits, rodents, amphibians, and small birds ( Lodé 1997 Croose 2016). Mustela, a genus of Mustelidae that originated at least 5.3 MYA, contains around 17 species of weasels, stoats, mink, polecats, and ferrets ( Koepfli et al. Mustelidae form the largest family of the order Carnivora, comprising around 60 species. We quantify this introgression and find introgressed genes containing Fst outliers associated with cognitive function and sight.Ĭonservation, domestic ferret, European polecat, genomics, introgression, Mustelids Introduction These polecats ranged from presumed F1 hybrids (gamma = 0.53) to individuals that were much less introgressed (gamma = 0.2). We found high degrees of genome introgression in British polecats outside their previous stronghold, even in those individuals phenotyped as “pure” polecats. We used a range of population genomics methods to examine the data, including phylogenetics, phylogenetic graphs, model-based clustering, phylogenetic invariants, ABBA-BABA tests, topology weighting, and Fst. Here, we carry out population-level whole-genome sequencing on 8 domestic ferrets, 19 British European polecats, and 15 European polecats from the European mainland. During this range expansion, European polecats hybridized with feral domestic ferrets producing viable offspring. The European polecat has recently undergone a population increase due to legal protection and its range now overlaps that of feral domestic ferrets ( Mustela putorius furo). In Great Britain, following years of persecution the range of the European polecat contracted and by the early 1900s was restricted to unmanaged forests of central Wales. The European polecat ( Mustela putorius) is a mammalian predator which occurs across much of Europe east to the Ural Mountains.
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