Siberian weasel, Mustela sibirica is a widespread carnivora mammal in Eurasia. In Taiwan, it inhabits a variety of environments restricted to altitude above 800 m. Based on mitochondrial control region sequences, I constructed phylogeography and analyzed population interflow about the species in Taiwan. The mean length of D-loop in Siberian weasel is 1038.9 bp. The D-loop structure can be divided into ETAS, CD and CSB domain. Among these, CD is the most conserved region while the two flank domains are variable. There are tandem repeat sequences in CSB domain, common in other carnivores. In phylogenetic analyses, three major lineages were found in phylogenetic trees and MSN topology. In general, haplotypes in clades are correlated to geographic distribution. The haplotypes of clade I were sampled from southern Taiwan, while the majority of those clade II and clade III were from northern Taiwan. The gene flow among clades were low. However no significant geographic boundaries existed between clades. It is speculated that the genetic isolation among clades may have been resulted from bottleneck effect, like other high altitude mammals in Taiwan, and not from geographic barriers mainly.

ABSTRACT The epidemiological study of intestinal helminths and ticks of Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica) was conducted from June 2001 to May 2002 in Shan-Ping, southern Taiwan. Nine helminths were found, including seven nematodes, Filaroides sp. (prevalence 94.4%), Ancylostoma sp. (77.4%), Uncinaria sp. (35.5%), Trichuris sp. 1 (35.5%), Trichuris sp. 2 (19.3%), Capillaria sp. (6.5%) and Physaloptera sp. (3.2%); one trematode, Platynosomum sp. (74.1%) and one acanthocephalans, Macracanthorhynchus sp. (10%). There was a significant seasonal difference of intensity of the Platynosomum sp. Two species of ticks were observed, Ixodes ovatus (prevalence 55.56%) and Haemaphysalis sp. Seasonal differences were significant in the prevalence and intensity of the Ixodes ovatus infection. The intensities of ticks and helminths in different sampling area were similar. The diet composition was possibly the factor affecting the seasonal change of intensity of the Platynosomum sp. and host availability affecting the seasonal change of ticks, Ixodes ovatus.