Abstract
We present preliminary results of a phylogeographic analysis of Rhyacophila tristis, a wide-spread European caddisfly. Mitochondrial sequence data (the second part of the mtCOI gene) of 52 of specimens were used to investigate large-scale population genetic patterns of Central European populations of the study species. The results show strong genetic differences between a western and an eastern lineage. The deep split most probably indicates that the identified lineages of R. tristis survived in independent Pleistocene refugia in the Alps and in the Carpathians, emphasizing the importance of these areas in the Pleistocene survival of aquatic mountain organisms