Fig. 1

a The sandy deserts (active dune fields) and sandy lands (fields of stabilized dunes) in northern China are indicated with numbers.1. Taklimakan 2. Gurbantunggut 3. Kumtag 4. Chaidamu 5. Badain Jaran 6. Tengger 7. Wulanbuhe 8. Kubuqi 9. Maowusu 10. Hunshandake. The blue dots represent the Lepus yarkandensis present distribution localities in Taklimakan Desert. The blue line over the desert indicates the geographic range of L. yarkandensis based on the IUCN Red List assessment. b The distribution of oases and sampling localities of L. yarkandensis in Taklimakan desert. The black dots indicating the sampling localities of Yarkand hare. The circle sizes represent the number of samples used in this study. The four sampled populations are coloured as follows: southern = dark blue, eastern = green, northern = ribbon blue and western = orange. The yellow star indicates the locations of L. yarkandensis hybridized with the L. capensis (i. Shule, ii. Wushi, iii. Yanqi) based on [29]. The ancient (a) Qiemo, (b) Andir, (c) Niya, (d) Karadun, (e) Dandanwulik, (f) Mazatag oasis marked on the map based on [30]. The dashed black lines indicating the oval shaped distribution of Yarkand hares in the desert. The yellow symbol (+) indicates the very old evolutionary history location (Pishan) of L. yarkandensis in the Taklimakan desert based on [31]. The map was processed in ArcGIS version 10.2 (ESRI, Redlands, California, USA) (http://www.esri.com/)