The evolution of ecomorphological traits within the Abrothrichini (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae): a Bayesian phylogenetics approach.
The generally accepted hypothesis regarding the origin of fossorial mammals proposes adaptive convergence from open environments towards the use of subterranean environments. We evaluated this hypothesis for South American mole-mice using conventional and Bayesian frameworks, with independent evidence. By using a molecular approach based on Cytochrome b and IRBP sequences, we evaluated phylogenetic relationships, time of origin, the ancestral trait of fossoriality, and ancestral distributions of species belonging to the Andean Clade (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae). Our results indicate that the Andean Clade is highly sustained; with one clade grouping all fossorial forms and another grouping all cursorial species. We hypothesized that fossoriality originated in the Miocene/Pliocene transition, in the Temperate Forests of southern South America. We conclude that the origin of fossorial ecomorphological traits did not necessarily occur under a general model of open environments, the origin of these traits depends on the ecological-historical relationship of the taxon with the environment.
Laboratorio de Biología Evolutiva, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, and Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology & Biodiversity, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago 6513677, Chile.
Enrique
E
Rodríguez-Serrano
R Eduardo
RE
Palma
Cristián E
CE
Hernández
D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005075:Biological Evolution; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012377:Rodentia / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D045303:Cytochromes b