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Mitogenome and phylogenetic analyses support rapid diversification among species groups of small-eared shrews genus Cryptotis (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae).

ABSTRACT: The small-eared shrew genus Cryptotis is the third largest in the family Soricidae and occurs in North, Central, and northern South America. In Mexico and Central and South America, most species inhabit geographically isolated moist, montane habitats at middle and high elevations in a typical sky-island pattern. The 49 recognized species have been partitioned into as many as six species groups based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies. The relationships among these species groups are poorly resolved, and their evolutionary histories, including migration patterns and locomotor adaptations, remain unclear. Herein, we provide a new phylogeny incorporating complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) and supermatrix approach. We compared different evolutionary scenarios using approximately unbiased (AU), Kishino-Hasegawa (KH), and Shimodaira-Hasegawa (SH) statistical tests. The phylogenetic hypothesis based on mitogenomes revealed novel relationships supporting a basal position for the Cryptotis parvus-group in the genus, and a close relationship between C. gracilis and one clade of the C. thomasi-group. The former relationship is consistent with the least derived humerus morphology and northern distribution of the species. The latter relationship implies multiple migrations between Central and South America. The lack of fine resolution for the species group relationships may be due partly to the lack of taxon sampling. In contrast, multi-approach analyses suggest that the unresolved relationships may be a result of rapid diversification during the early stages of Cryptotis evolution.

SUBMITTER: He K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8645885 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Crocidura, the most speciose mammalian genus, occurs across much of Asia, Europe and Africa. The taxonomy of Chinese representatives has been studied primarily based on cursory morphological comparisons and their molecular phylogenetic analyses remain unexplored. In order to understand the phylogeny of this group in China, we estimated the first multilocus phylogeny and conducted species delimitation, including taxon sampling throughout their distribution range. RESULTS:We obtained one mitochondrial gene (cytb) (~?1, 134?bp) and three nuclear genes (ApoB, BRCA1, RAG1) (~?2, 170?bp) for 132 samples from 57 localities. Molecular analyses identified at least 14 putative species that occur within two major well-supported groups in China. Polyphyletic C. wuchihensis appears to be composed of two putative species. Two subspecies, C. rapax rapax and C. rapax kurodai should be elevated to full species status. A phylogenetic tree based on mitochondrial gene from Asian Crocidura species showed that the C. rapax rapax is embedded within C. attenuata, making the latter a paraphyletic group. Three strongly supported undescribed species (C. sp.1, C. sp.2 and C. sp.3) are revealed from Zada County of Tibet (Western China), Hongjiang County of Hunan Province (Central China) and Dongyang County of Zhejiang Province (Eastern China), Motuo County of Tibet, respectively. The divergence time estimation suggested that China's Crocidura species began to diversify during the late Pliocene (3.66?Ma) and the Early Pleistocene (2.29?Ma), followed by a series of diversifications through the Pleistocene. CONCLUSIONS:The cryptic diversity found in this study indicated that the number of species is strongly underestimated under the current taxonomy. We propose that the three undescribed species should be evaluated using extensive taxon sampling and comprehensive morphological and morphometric approaches. Climate change since the late Pliocene and the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau may result in the diversification and speciation of China's Crocidura species. In short, the underestimated diversity underlines the need for a taxonomic revision of Chinese Crocidura species.

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Mitogenome and phylogenetic analyses support rapid diversification among species groups of small-eared shrews genus Cryptotis (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae).

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