Advanced search
Start date
Betweenand
Related content
(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

New species boundaries and the diversification history of marsh rat taxa clarify historical connections among ecologically and geographically distinct wetlands of South America

Full text
Author(s):
do Prado, Joyce Rodrigues [1] ; Knowles, L. Lacey [2] ; Percequillo, Alexandre Reis [1]
Total Authors: 3
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Ciencias Biol, Escola Super Agr Luiz Queiroz, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil
[2] Univ Michigan, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Ann Arbor, MI - USA
Total Affiliations: 2
Document type: Journal article
Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; v. 155, FEB 2021.
Web of Science Citations: 0
Abstract

Taxa with broad geographic ranges that occur in different biomes and exhibit plastic morphological traits and/or adaptations to particular habitats make inferences about species boundaries especially challenging. However, technological and conceptual advances in the generation and analysis of genomic data have advanced the description of biodiversity. Here we address the outstanding questions about the delimitation of species in the genus Holochilus, a rodent with morphological specializations to wetland habitats distributed throughout the South America, using genome-wide SNP and morphometric data. Specifically, we apply a Bayesian model-based species delimitation that revealed significant re-arrangements of species boundaries based on consideration of both morphometric and genomic data alone, or in combination. With these shifts in species boundaries, our results provide an insightful framework for inferring the group's biogeographic history and considering possible connections between disjoint biomes in South America. Because of the ecological constraints of the marsh rats, and with the proposed taxonomic re-arrangements, the significance of our findings extends beyond systematics and suggests how diversification might be associated with past ecological/environmental changes during the Pleistocene. Overall, this study highlights how genomic data can provide phylogenetic information for resolving relationships among species of Holochilus, but also the importance of integrative approaches to identify evolutionary independent species. For the relatively understudied vast wetlands of South America, a robust species delimitation framework therefore becomes a critical source of data relevant to hypotheses about the history of the biomes themselves. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 09/16009-1 - Systematics, evolution and diversification of the subfamily Sigmodontinae in South America: the tribe Oryzomyini
Grantee:Alexandre Reis Percequillo
Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
FAPESP's process: 14/22444-0 - The clade D of tribe Oryzomyini and the phylogenetic relationships elucidation of genus Holochilus Brandt, 1835 (Rodentia, Sigmodontinae, Oryzomyini)
Grantee:Joyce Rodrigues Do Prado
Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
FAPESP's process: 12/24099-3 - Systematic of the genus Holochius Brandt, 1835 (Rodentia, Sigmodontinae, Oryzomyini)
Grantee:Joyce Rodrigues Do Prado
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate