Multilocus analysis was for the first time used to study the phylogeny of the Crocidura suaveolens s. l. species complex. Sequencing data for 16 nuclear genes indicated that several distinct forms exist within the species complex. The structure of the complex did generally not contradict its mitochondrial phylogeny. Siberian shrew showed certain specificity of the nuclear genome, but the degree of its genetic differentiation did not correspond to the species level. Relationships of Crocidura aff. suaveolens from South Gansu and Sichuan with other forms of the species complex were clarified. Shrews from Buryatia and Khentei also belong to this form, but their mtDNA apparently introgressed from C. shantungensis in the past. Hybridization of C. suaveolens s. str. with C. aff. suaveolens and C. güeldenstaedtii occurred recently. Due to multiple introgression events in the history of C. suaveolens s. l., a far larger set of loci is necessary for the analysis of the phylogenetic relationships between its forms.

We studied the polymorphism of the cytb gene in two forms of the Lesser White-toothed Shrew species complex: Crocidura suaveolens s. stricto and C. sibirica. The haplotypes of C. sibirica are found to be very similar to those of Crocidura suaveolens. They do not belong to a distinct haplogroup. The molecular diversity of the populations in the Asian part of the range is higher than in Eastern Europe. For the combined sample from Asia and Europe together, we revealed a significant signal of population expansion. Analysis of the expansion time showed that the Asian territory was colonized earlier (before the last glacial maximum) than the Eastern Europe (at the very end of the Late Pleistocene and in the early Holocene). The results of the ancestral area reconstruction are consistent with the hypothesis of a Middle Asian origin of the C. suaveolens/C. sibirica group, recent colonization of Inner Asia and later penetration into Eastern Europe.

— Natal dispersal of young common shrews ( Sorex araneus ) was studied in field conditions in the southern part of Tver oblast, in central European Russia. Total individual marking of shrews was conducted over an area of 22 ha. The places of birth of the young were determined by the home ranges of relative overwintered females. The animals were genotyped by ten microsatellite loci: L62, L68, L45, C117, L69, C5, B30, D106, D103, and D138. Family analysis was carried out using the Cervus 3.07 software. In 2013, with the population density in October being 6.5 individuals/ha, 33 mother‒pup dyads were identified for 229 yearlings and 20 females. The share of yearlings born within the study area was 14.8%, while the core of the population consisted of animals that had arrived from outside the plot. In 2014, with the population density in October reaching only 2.6 individuals/ha, nine mother‒pup dyads were found for 58 yearlings and nine mature females. The share of the animals born within the plot boundaries was 15.5%. Within the plot, dispersal from the natal ranges varied from 0 to 610 m, Me = 224, in 2013, and from 45 to 410 m, Me = 297, in 2014. The data obtained fail to confirm a meaningful year-to-year difference. Taking into account the corrections for the proportion of territory under control, the majority of young animals appear to have dispersed over a range of more than 400 m both during the high fall population density and during its decrease the next year.