Abstract

CARABALLO, Diego A; TOMASCO, Ivanna H; CAMPO, Denise H  and  ROSSI, María Susana. Phylogenetic relationships between tuco-tucos (Ctenomys, Rodentia) of the Corrientes group and the C. pearsoni complex. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2016, vol.23, n.1, pp.39-49. ISSN 0327-9383.

Lineage delimitation is of extreme importance in evolutionary biology and constitutes an essential tool in basic and applied fields including conservation. We addressed the delimitation of two closely related species complexes of South American rodents of the genus Ctenomys (tuco-tucos), namely the C. pearsoni and Corrientes groups, whose relationships have been unclear or conflicting in previous phylogenetic studies. We performed a molecular phylogenetic analysis, increasing the number of representatives of each group and includ­ing sequences of three mitochondrial loci (the complete cytochrome b coding sequence, and partial regions of the cytochrome oxydase I gene and the D-loop of the control region). The trees obtained using Bayesian Infer­ence and Maximum Parsimony methods show the Corrientes group and the C. pearsoni complex as reciprocally monophyletic sister clades, with higher values of intergroup compared to intragroup genetic distances. These results indicate that the Corrientes group and the C. pearsoni complex are differentiated lineages. The resulting tree topology is in agreement with a scenario of independent chromosomal rearrangements from the ancestral karyomorph (2n = 70 FN = 84), leading to the considerable chromosomal diversity that characterizes both groups.

Keywords : Corrientes group; Ctenomys pearsoni; Mitochondrial phylogeny.