Genes Fail to Reveal Evolutionary Pattern in European Mammals

One would think an examination of DNA from fossils would track the animal’s geographical distribution as they evolved.  However, a study reported in PNAS¹ failed to find any correlation in European mammals after the last glaciation.  Hofreiter et al. report:

Here, we analyze mtDNA sequences from cave bears, brown bears, cave hyenas, and Neandertals in Europe before the last glacial maximum and fail to detect any phylogeographic patterns similar to those observed in extant species.  We suggest that at the beginning of the last glacial maximum, little phylogeographic patterns existed in European mammals over most of their geographical ranges and that current phylogeographic patterns are transient relics of the last glaciation.

In other words, it may be impossible to deduce the animal’s geographic ranges from their assumed evolution, because “Cycles of retreat of species in refugia during glacial periods followed by incomplete dispersal from one refugium into other refugia during interglacial periods is likely to be responsible for the deep genetic divergences between phylogeographic clusters of mtDNA seen today.”

¹Hofreiter et al., “Evolution: Lack of phylogeography in European mammals before the last glaciation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 10.1073/pnas.0403618101, published online Aug 18, 2004.

Put on your thinking cap.  Could this evidence (or lack of it) be interpreted another way?  Does Darwinian theory provide any usefulness to story, other than to patch up an unmet expectation?