Molecular Relationships of New Guinean Three-Striped Dasyures, (Myoictis, Marsupialia: Dasyuridae)

Complete nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b and 12S rRNA genes and partial sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene and the nuclear ɛ-globin gene were obtained from multiple exemplars of the New Guinean dasyurid, Myoictis. Allozyme data were also obtained from most of the same animals. The molecular data show that the genus comprises a number of genetically distinct lineages which correspond with groups proposed by Woolley (2005) on the basis of a number of morphological traits, including the form of the tail i.e. Myoictis leucura (sp. nov.), M. melas, M. wallacei and M. wavicus (new status). Divergence dates estimated from the weighted-average distances for the combined cytochrome b and 12S rRNA data, calibrated with a dasyurid-thylacine divergence 25 million years ago, suggest that the early cladogenic events separating Myoictis took place in the late Miocene. Subsequent separation of M. wavicus and M. leucura from a common ancestor as well as some genetic differentiation within M. melas, took place in the medial Pliocene.