Peter Mikulicek

• Comenius University Bratislava

Pelophylax esculentus (genotype LR), an interspecific hybrid of P. ridibundus (genotype RR) and P. lessonae (genotype LL), is one of the most studied examples of hemiclonal hybridogenic vertebrates. In most populations, hybrids produce clonal gametes of one parental species and backcross with the other parental species, forming a new generation of...

European water frogs from the Pelophylax esculentus complex include two sexual species, P. ridibundus and P. lessonae, and their hybrids, which usually clonally transmit one of the parental species' genomes. This unique reproductive strategy allows hybrids to reproduce with one or both parental species, creating diverse population systems. Unlike m...

Populations of plants and animals at the edge of a species’ range may exhibit lower genetic diversity due to a combination of historical (e.g., postglacial dispersal) and contemporary (e.g., lower effective population size, stronger genetic drift, bottlenecks, and others) processes. In this study, we analysed the genetic structure of populations of...

One of the most frequently translocated species outside their native range in Europe are water frogs of the genus Pelophylax. Recently, water frogs belonging to the same genus have also been recorded on the island of Gozo in Malta. To trace their origin, we genetically examined 17 individuals from three Gozitan localities where water frogs have bee...

Sexual reproduction is the primary mode of reproduction in eukaryotes, but some organisms have evolved deviations from classical sex and switched to asexuality. These asexual lineages have sometimes been viewed as evolutionary dead ends, but recent research has revealed their importance in many areas of general biology. Our review explores the unde...

The genus Pelophylax (water frogs) includes relatively common, widely distributed, and even invasive species, but also endemic taxa with small ranges and limited knowledge concerning their ecology and evolution. Among poorly studied species belong endemics of the southwestern Balkans, namely Pelophylax shqipericus, P. epeiroticus and P. kurtmueller...

One of the most frequently translocated species outside their native range in Europe are water frogs of the genus Pelophylax . Recently, water frogs belonging to the same genus have also been recorded on the island of Gozo in Malta. To trace their origin, we genetically examined 17 individuals from three Gozitan localities where water frogs have be...

Parasites might represent a helpful tool in understanding the historical dispersion and phylogeography of their hosts. In order to reveal whether the migration routes and diversification of hosts can be traceable in the genetic structures of their parasites, we investigated the diversity of paramphistomoid trematodes of Pelophylax frogs in 2 geogra...

The genetic structure of parasite populations is affected by various factors such as host–parasite interactions, life-history strategies, and the evolutionary histories of both interacting organisms. In this study, we investigated the distribution, prevalence, and population-genetic structure of Icosiella neglecta (Spirurida, Onchocercidae), a nema...

In a world of metazoans, where sexual reproduction vastly predominates, asexual organisms are nonetheless very important. The aim of this review is to show that asexuals can have general effects on other species, ecosystems and biological networks via mechanisms that deserve more attention. These include 1) impact on the genepool of coexisting sexu...

The slow-worm lizards (Anguis) comprise five species occurring throughout most of the Western Palearctic. Although these species are relatively uniform morphologically – with the exception of A. cephallonica, which exhibits a quite unique morphology – they are genetically deeply divergent. Here, we provide detailed distribution maps for each species...

Species distribution models (SDMs) are frequently used to characterise current, past or future realised environmental niches. Two recent studies applied different approaches to infer range dynamics in eastern subspecies of the spur-thighed tortoise Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758. We discuss differences in the conclusions of the two papers and use mu...

The Levant represents one of the most important reptile diversity hotspots and centers of endemism in the Western Palearctic. The region harbored numerous taxa in glacial refugia during the Pleistocene climatic oscillations. Due to the hostile arid conditions in the warmer periods they were not always able to spread or come into contact with popula...

Hybridogenesis is a reproductive tool for sexual parasitism. Hybridogenetic hybrids use gametes from their sexual host for their own reproduction, but sexual species gain no benefit from such matings as their genome is later eliminated. Here, we examine the presence of sexual parasitism in water frogs through crossing experiments and genome-wide da...

The monozoic tapeworm Caryophyllaeus laticeps has been characterized by five markedly different morphotypes largely corresponding to different fish hosts. Recently, the most distinct morphotype 4 from the common nase Chondrostoma nasus was studied in more details resulting in description of a new species Caryophyllaeus chondrostomi. The molecular s...

Abstract Reproductive isolation barriers maintain the integrity of species by preventing interspecific gene flow. They involve temporal, habitat or behavioral isolation acting before fertilization, and postzygotic isolation manifested as hybrid mortality or sterility. One of the approaches of how to study reproductive isolation barriers is through...

Bibliographies provide basic scientific information, illustrate quality and intensity of research in a particular topic, area, or time, and thus help build a cultural-historical perspective of society’s appreciation of knowledge and education. Here we provide a bibliography of herpetological research in the region of Slovakia between the years 1791...

In temperate regions of the Earth Pleistocene, climatic fluctuations significantly influenced distribution of species. However, little is known on how glacial and interglacial cycles affected range dynamics of the species occupying lower latitudes. In this study, we investigated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation and reconstructed the potential cu...

Interspecific competition is a fundamental process affecting community structure and evolution of interacting species. Besides direct competition, this process is also mediated by shared enemies, which can change the outcome of competition dramatically. However, previous studies investigating interactions between competing species and their parasit...

The range dynamics of species distributed in temperate zones was significantly influenced by climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene. However, little is known on how glacial and interglacial cycles affected the distribution of species occupying lower latitudes. The aim of this study was to assess Quaternary range dynamics of the spur-thighed t...

Background Fascioloides magna (Trematoda: Fasciolidae) is an important liver parasite of a wide range of free-living and domestic ruminants; it represents a remarkable species due to its large spatial distribution, invasive character, and potential to colonize new territories. The present study provides patterns of population genetic structure and...

We investigated the recent evolutionary history of the Danube crested newt, Triturus dobrogicus through reconstructions of: (1) the number and position of refugia at the last glacial maximum, (2) the role of major central European rivers in pattern of post-glacial dispersal, and (3) the present-day distribution pattern. We analysed sequences of mit...

Background Genetic architecture of a species is a result of historical changes in population size and extent of distribution related to climatic and environmental factors and contemporary processes of dispersal and gene flow. Population-size and range contractions, expansions and shifts have a substantial effect on genetic diversity and intraspecif...

Complete mitochondrial genome of the Peloponnese endemic lizard species Anguis cephallonica is presented in this study. The complete sequence is 17 208 bp long and consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes and one control region. The gene order is same as in the relative species Anguis fragilis. Length of the 22 tRNA genes...

The distribution of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in Slovakia represents one of the marginal parts of its overall occurrence. Despite numerous historical records, only two autochthonous and reproducing populations are currently known from two localities (Tajba National Nature Reserve and Poľany) in the southeastern part of the country...

Polyploidization is a rare yet sometimes successful way for animals to rapidly create geno- and phenotypes that may colonize new habitats and quickly adapt to environmental changes. In this study, we use water frogs of the Pelophylax esculentus complex, comprising two species (Pelophylax lessonae, genotype LL; Pelophylax ridibundus, RR) and various...

Polyploidization is a rare yet sometimes successful way for animals to rapidly create geno- and phenotypes that may colonize new habitats and quickly adapt to environmental changes. In this study, we use water frogs of the Pelophylax esculentus complex, comprising two species (Pelophylax lessonae, genotype LL; Pelophylax ridibundus, RR) and various...

A complex wide-range study on the haemoproteid parasites of chelonians was carried out for the first time. Altogether 811 samples from four tortoise species from an extensive area between western Morocco and eastern Afghanistan and between Romania and southern Syria were studied by a combination of microscopic and molecular-genetic methods. Altoget...

The Tatra chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica) is an endangered endemic subspecies living exclusively in the Tatra Mountains (Slovakia and southern Poland). In order to protect this evolutionary significant unit, a back-up population was established in the nearby Low Tatra Mts. in the 1970s. Before the subspecific status of Tatra chamois had been...

Distribution pattern, prevalence and intensity of parasitaemia of heteroxenous apicomplexan blood parasite Hemolivia mauritanica and its vector tick Hyalomma aegyptium have been studied in 264 tortoises (212 Testudo graeca and 52 T. horsfieldii) throughout the Iranian territory. In T. graeca the highest prevalence and intensity of parasitaemia for...

The scarcity of parthenogenetic vertebrates is often attributed to their ‘inferior’ mode of clonal reproduction, which restricts them to self-reproduce their own genotype lineage and leaves little evolutionary potential with regard to speciation and evolution of sexual reproduction. Here, we show that for some taxa such uniformity does not hold. By...

Caryophyllaeus laticeps (Pallas 1781) (Cestoda: Caryophyllidea) is a monozoic tapeworm of cyprinid fishes with a distribution area that includes Europe, most of the Palaearctic Asia and northern Africa. Broad geographic distribution, wide range of definitive fish hosts and recently revealed high morphological plasticity of the parasite, which is no...

Coexistence of sperm-dependent asexual hybrids with their sexual progenitors depends on genetic and ecological interactions between sexual and asexual forms. In this study, we investigate genotypic composition, modes of hybridogenetic gametogenesis and habitat preferences of European water frogs (Pelophylax esculentus complex) in a region of sympat...

Besides several exceptions, asexual metazoans are usually viewed as ephemeral sinks for genomes, which become 'frozen' in clonal lineages after their emergence from ancestral sexual species. Here, we investigated whether and at what rate the asexuals are able to introgress their genomes back into the parental sexual population, thus more or less im...

Crested newts (Triturus cristatus superspecies) are a group of closely related species with parapatric distributions that are likely to interbreed where their ranges meet. Coexistence of three species of the complex (Triturus cristatus, T. dobrogicus and T. carnifex) has been recently confirmed in central Europe. In this study we aim to elucidate t...

Urbanization is a pervasive process causing habitat fragmentation, spatial isolation of populations, and reduction of biological diversity. In this study, we applied 11 microsatellite loci and Bayesian analyses to investigate genetic diversity and population structure in marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) living in two types of environment—highly...

Hyalomma aegyptium ticks were collected from tortoises, Testudo graeca, at localities in northern Africa, the Balkans, and the Near and Middle East. The intensity of infestation ranged from 1-37 ticks per tortoise. The sex ratio of feeding ticks was male-biased in all tested populations. Larger tortoises carried more ticks than did the smaller tort...

We investigated the genomic constitution and the reproduction mode of Rana esculenta from two pure hybrid populations found in western Slovakia, using cytomorphological, karyological and allozyme electrophoretic methods. Both populations were composed of diploid R. esculenta females and diploid and triploid R. esculenta males. A single subadult R....

Natural hybridization and introgression is recorded between the newt species Triturus vulgaris and T. montandoni in Slovakia. To confirm a hybrid status of two putative hybrids, morphological and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers specific for T. vulgaris and T. montandoni were used. The individuals found in Zbojská (Veporské vrchy M...

In the area between south-eastern Bavaria (Germany) and Upper Austria the distribution ranges of northern (Triturus cristatus) and Italian crested newts (T. carnifex) are narrowly sympatric and a hybrid zone has been suggested on the basis of morphological data. In our study of 35 autochthonous populations in this region, we compared distribution p...

Theoretical and empirical studies revealed that fast evolving microsatellite markers might be successfully employed in phylogenetic reconstruction. In this study we used seven highly polymorphic microsatellite loci and six different genetic distances to infer the performance of microsatellites in estimation of phylogenetic relationships between clo...

The population of white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Czech Republic declined dramatically during the twentieth century. None were observed in the area for more than 60years until population recoveries were observed beginning in the 1980s. It is currently estimated that 25–30 breeding pairs of white-tailed sea eagles nest in the C...

Biting midges of the genus Leptoconops, subgenus Leptoconops (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) were repeatedly found parasitizing on spur-thighed tortoises Testudo graeca in western Syria and Lebanon. Collected females were assigned to the species L. bezzii according to their morphological characteristics. Tortoises parasitized by midges were observed thr...

We recorded natural hybridization and limited bidirectional introgression of nuclear markers between the newts Triturus cristatus and Triturus dobrogicus in Slovakia using sixteen species-specific RAPD markers. Hybrid index scores divided individuals into two categories, genetically similar to either one or the other parental species. Specimens wit...

A specimen of the bat Myotis mystacinus was found in the stomach of the frog Rana esculenta. It is the first record from Slovakia of a bat preyed by water frogs.