The Most Successful Species Among Spiny Hedgehogs: Mitochondrial Phylogeography of Hemiechinus auritus (Gmelin, 1770) (Erinaceidae, Mammalia)

The long-eared hedgehog, Hemiechinus auritus, has the broadest distribution among Erinaceidae, yet its intraspecific taxonomy remains contentious, with three to six subspecies recognized. We examined the phylogeographic structure of the species across nearly its entire distribution range using two mitochondrial genes (cytb, COI) for 153 specimens from 103 localities, complemented by complete mitogenomes for seven individuals. Phylogenetic reconstructions recovered five deeply divergent, well-supported mitochondrial lineages (p-distances 2–4%): Northern, Eastern, Transcaucasian, South-western and Southern. The Southern lineage, which includes specimens from the type locality of H. a. megalotis, was recovered as the basal branch, whereas the Northern and Eastern lineages formed a derived clade. Demographic analyses indicated recent postglacial expansion in the Northern and Eastern lineages, but not in the Southern and South-western lineages. Species distribution modelling reconstructed Pleistocene range fragmentation during glacial maxima, with divergence among lineages dated to the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. The mitochondrial lineages are partly congruent with the main morphological subspecies, although the status of H. a. megalotis and H. collaris requires further scrutiny. Our results indicate that H. auritus may represent a complex of several divergent lineages, whose evolutionary independence and taxonomic status should be tested with nuclear genomic data.