DNA sequencing reveals unexpected Recent diversity and an ancient dichotomy in the American marsupial genus Marmosops (Didelphidae: Thylamyini) |
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Authors: | Juan F. Díaz‐Nieto Sharon A. Jansa Robert S. Voss |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA;2. J.F. Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA;3. Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA |
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Abstract: | To assess species‐level diversity in the didelphid marsupial genus Marmosops, we obtained sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b (CYTB) gene from > 200 specimens, including exemplars of every currently recognized species together with multiple specimens of all geographically widespread forms. Analyses of these data using the general mixed Yule coalescent (GMYC) model suggest that the genus could be twice as speciose as currently recognized, but putative species identified by the GMYC criterion require careful evaluation using other data. To assess phylogenetic relationships within Marmosops, we additionally sequenced a large fragment of the breast cancer activating 1 (BRCA1) gene from one specimen each of the putative species identified by the GMYC analyses of CYTB. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of a concatenated gene (CYTB + BRCA1) matrix revealed a basal dichotomy between two ancient, morphologically diagnosable clades with apparently distinct distributions and adaptive phenotypes. We describe those clades as subgenera and assign 12 nominal taxa to Sciophanes subgen. nov. (with type species Marmosops parvidens) and 27 nominal taxa to the nominotypical subgenus (with type species Marmosops incanus). |
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Keywords: | BRCA1 cytochrome b Didelphimorphia GMYC species delimitation taxonomy |
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