Comparative mitogenome phylogeography of two anteater genera (<i>Tamandua</i> and <i>Myrmecophaga</i>; Myrmecophagidae, Xenarthra): Evidence of discrepant evolutionary traits

Abstract

The species within Xenarthra (sloths, anteaters, and armadillos) are quintessential South American mammals. Of the three groups, Vermilingua (anteaters) contains the fewest extant and paleontological species. Here, we sampled and sequenced the entire mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of two Tamandua species ( Tamandua tetradactyla and T. mexicana ) ( n =74) from Central and South America, as well as Myrmecophaga tridactyla ( n =41) from South America. Within Tamandua , we detected three different haplogroups. The oldest (THI) contained many specimens with the T. tetradactyla morphotype (but also several with the T. mexicana morphotype) and originated in southeastern South America (currently Uruguay) before moving towards northern South America, where the THII haplogroup originated. THII primarily contained specimens with the T. mexicana morphotype (but also several with the T. tetradactyla morphotype) and was distributed in Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador. THI and THII yielded a genetic distance of 4%. THII originated in either northern South America or “ in situ ” in Central America with haplogroup THIII, which consisted of ~50% T. mexicana and 50% T. tetradactyla phenotypes. THIII was mostly located in the same areas as THII, i.e., Central America, Ecuador, and Colombia, though mainly in the latter. The three haplogroups overlapped in Colombia and Ecuador. Thus, T. tetradactyla and T. mexicana were not reciprocally monophyletic. For this reason, we considered that a unique species of Tamandua likely exists, i.e., T. tetradactyla . In contrast to Tamandua , M. tridactyla did not show different morphotypes throughout its geographical range in the Neotropics. However, two very divergent genetic haplogroups (MHI and MHII), with a genetic distance of ~10%, were detected. The basal haplogroup, MHI, originated in northwestern South America, whereas the more geographically derived haplogroup, MHII, overlapped with MHI, but also expanded into central and southern South America. Thus, Tamandua migrated from south to north whereas Myrmecophaga migrated from north to south. Our results also showed that temporal mitochondrial diversification for Tamandua began during the Late Pliocene and Upper Pleistocene, but for Myrmecophaga began during the Late Miocene. Furthermore, both taxa showed elevated levels of mitochondrial genetic diversity. Tamandua showed more evidence of female population expansion than Myrmecophaga . ...

Engaging with the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing: recommendations for noncommercial biodiversity researchers

“…Museu Nacional (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), for example, the largest natural history collection in Brazil, went from exchanging or loaning between 50 and 100 specimen or tissue loans internationally per year (estimate for 2010-2015) to 0 in the aftermath of the new legal framework, and to less than 5 currently (2020-2022), due to lack of legal framework and delay in the international bureaucratic process. As a result, natural history museums and community of biodiversity scientists in Brazil were largely excluded from participation in international collaboration on biodiversity research during this period (e.g., Ruiz-García et al 2021;Byrne et al 2022). Due to the changing legal framework, only in 2018 did the current model for MTAs become established (CGENs Resolution nº 12; Ministério do Meio Ambiente 2018).…”

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“…Although the iNaturalist catellus; Table 1). The genera Myrmecophaga and Tamandua were studied using the entire mitochondrial genome, but the authors found no changes affecting the species present in Bolivia (Ruiz-García et al, 2021). The genus Cyclopes was revised by Miranda et al (2018) using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, species delimitation analysis, skull morphology, and pelage color and structure.…”