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New records of a lost species and a geographic range expansion for sengis in the Horn of Africa.

ABSTRACT: The Somali Sengi or Somali Elephant-shrew ('Elephantulus' revoilii, Macroscelidea, Mammalia) has been considered a "lost species" and is primarily known from about 39 museum specimens, with no new vouchered occurrence records since the early 1970s. The scientific literature contains no data concerning living Somali Sengi individuals and the species' current Data Deficient conservation status is attributable to an absence of modern information. Almost everything that has been published about the species is derived from anatomical examinations of historic specimens, gleaned from museum collection notes, or inferred from the known habits and ecology of other sengi taxa. Here we report new evidence that the Somali Sengi is currently extant. These data include voucher specimens, georeferenced occurrence localities, body measurements, habitat parameters, and DNA sequences. While the species is historically documented as endemic to Somalia, these new records are from the neighboring Republic of Djibouti and thus expand the Somali Sengi's known range in the Horn of Africa. Furthermore, Djiboutian locality data near international borders suggests that the Somali Sengi is also a current inhabitant of both Somalia and Ethiopia. Criteria that inform conservation status assessments (e.g., suitable habitat contiguity and occurrence in wildlife protected areas) can be positively characterized in Djibouti and therefore bode well for the survival of the Somali Sengi species. New data also inform previously undocumented substrate and sheltering affiliations. DNA analyses indicate that the Somali Sengi is a descendant of the Macroscelidini lineage and therefore reveal that the species' referral to the genus Elephantulus is incompatible with sengi phylogeny. This taxonomic issue is resolved by recognizing a new genus replacement and recombinant binomial that redesignates the Somali Sengi as Galegeeska revoilii (gen. nov., nov. comb). An analysis of ancestral biogeography suggests that the Somali Sengi has inhabited the Horn of Africa for more than 5.4 million years-and the recognition of the species' phylogenetic ancestry appends the already remarkable biogeographic story of the Macroscelidini tribe.

SUBMITTER: Heritage S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7441985 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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New records of a lost species and a geographic range expansion for sengis in the Horn of Africa.

Heritage Steven S Rayaleh Houssein H Awaleh Djama G DG Rathbun Galen B GB

PeerJ 20200818

The Somali Sengi or Somali Elephant-shrew (<i>'Elephantulus' revoilii</i>, Macroscelidea, Mammalia) has been considered a "lost species" and is primarily known from about 39 museum specimens, with no new vouchered occurrence records since the early 1970s. The scientific literature contains no data concerning living Somali Sengi individuals and the species' current Data Deficient conservation status is attributable to an absence of modern information. Almost everything that has been published abo ...[more]

PMID: 32879790

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Project description:BackgroundAfrican catfishes of the families Bagridae and Clariidae are known to be parasitized with monogeneans of Quadriacanthus Paperna, 1961 (Dactylogyridae). The genus remains taxonomically challenging due to its speciose nature and relatively wide host range representing two fish orders, i.e. Siluriformes and Osteoglossiformes, in Africa and Asia. Here, we investigated diversity of Quadriacanthus spp. parasitizing Clarias gariepinus (Burchell), Heterobranchus bidorsalis Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and Bagrus docmak (Forsskål) collected in the Lake Turkana (Kenya) and Nile River Basin (Sudan). The interspecific relationships among Quadriacanthus spp. parasitizing catfishes inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences were investigated for the first time.MethodsA combined morphological and molecular approach was used for description of the new species and for a critical review of the previously described Quadriacanthus spp., by means of phase contrast microscopic examination of sclerotized structures, and assessing the genetic divergence among the species found using rDNA sequences.ResultsSeven species (including four new) of Quadriacanthus were identified. These were as follows: Quadriacanthus aegypticus El-Naggar & Serag, 1986, Quadriacanthus clariadis Paperna, 1961, Quadriacanthus fornicatus n. sp., Quadriacanthus pravus n. sp., and Quadriacanthus zuheiri n. sp. from Clarias gariepinus (Clariidae); Quadriacanthus mandibulatus n. sp. from Heterobranchus bidorsalis (Clariidae); and Quadriacanthus bagrae Paperna, 1979 from Bagrus docmak (Bagridae). For both 18S-ITS1 and 28S rDNA regions, Q. clariadis from a clariid fish was found to be most closely related to Q. bagrae from a bagrid host. Quadriacanthus mandibulatus n. sp. was observed to be the most distant species from the others. The separation of Q. mandibulatus n. sp. from the other species corresponds with the different morphology of its copulatory tube. The copulatory tube is terminally enlarged in Q. mandibulatus n. sp., while the tube in all other congeners studied is comparatively small and with an oblique tapering termination.ConclusionsThis study contributes to a better understanding of African dactylogyrid diversity and provides the first molecular characterization of Quadriacanthus spp. The observed interspecific genetic relationships among Quadriacanthus spp. from clariids and Q. bagrae from a bagrid host suggest a possible host-switching event in the evolutionary history of the genus. Our records extend the currently known geographical range for Quadriacanthus spp. to Kenya and Sudan.

Dataset Information

New records of a lost species and a geographic range expansion for sengis in the Horn of Africa.

Publications

New records of a lost species and a geographic range expansion for sengis in the Horn of Africa.

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