Cryptic speciation in the southern African vlei rat<i>Otomys irroratus</i>complex: evidence derived from mitochondrial cyt<i>b</i>and niche modelling

Engelbrecht, Adriaan; Taylor, Peter J.; Daniels, Savel R.; Rambau, Ramugondo V.

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01696.x

Cited by 29 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…; Engelbrecht et al . ; Willows‐Munro & Matthee ; Montgelard & Matthee ) support the premise that the geographic pattern observed in both P. arvicanthis lineages, and Rhabdomys is the result of vicariance and emphasizes a strong influence of biogeography.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Biogeography and host‐related factors trump parasite life history: limited congruence among the genetic structures of specific ectoparasitic lice and their rodent hosts

et al. 2013

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Parasites and hosts interact across both micro- and macroevolutionary scales where congruence among their phylogeographic and phylogenetic structures may be observed. Within southern Africa, the four-striped mouse genus, Rhabdomys, is parasitized by the ectoparasitic sucking louse, Polyplax arvicanthis. Molecular data recently suggested the presence of two cryptic species within P. arvicanthis that are sympatrically distributed across the distributions of four putative Rhabdomys species. We tested the hypotheses of phylogeographic congruence and cophylogeny among the two parasite lineages and the four host taxa, utilizing mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. Despite the documented host-specificity of P. arvicanthis, limited phylogeographic correspondence and nonsignificant cophylogeny was observed. Instead, the parasite-host evolutionary history is characterized by limited codivergence and several duplication, sorting and host-switching events. Despite the elevated mutational rates found for P. arvicanthis, the spatial genetic structure was not more pronounced in the parasite lineages compared with the hosts. These findings may be partly attributed to larger effective population sizes of the parasite lineages, the vagility and social behaviour of Rhabdomys, and the lack of host-specificity observed in areas of host sympatry. Further, the patterns of genetic divergence within parasite and host lineages may also be largely attributed to historical biogeographic changes (expansion-contraction cycles). It is thus evident that the association between P. arvicanthis and Rhabdomys has been shaped by the synergistic effects of parasite traits, host-related factors and biogeography over evolutionary time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Biogeography and host‐related factors trump parasite life history: limited congruence among the genetic structures of specific ectoparasitic lice and their rodent hosts

et al. 2013

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“…Genetic diversification among regional populations of a number of southern African rodent species have now been examined and strong genetic differentiation is nearly always detected (Matthee & Robinson, ; Rambau et al ., ; Russo et al ., ; Engelbrecht et al ., ; du Toit et al ., ). The initial predictions of finding similar mtDNA structures in Mastomys are however not supported by this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). In addition to these influences, climatic oscillations are also regularly put forward as contributing factor for the diversification of mammals in southern Africa (Matthee & Robinson, 1996;Russo, Chimimba & Bloomer, 2010;Engelbrecht et al, 2011;du Toit et al, 2012;Montgelard & Matthee, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of life history and climate driven diversification on the mtDNA phylogeographic structures of two southern AfricanMastomysspecies (Rodentia: Muridae: Murinae)

Sands

Matthee

Mfune

et al. 2014

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

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The phylogeographic patterns of small mammals in southern Africa are frequently disjunct. This pattern is predominately attributed to vicariant geographical barriers coupled to climate driven diversification. To gain further insights into this hypothesis, we embarked on a comparative mtDNA phylogeographic study of two common rodent species in southern Africa, Mastomys natalensis and Mastomys coucha. Parsimony haplotype networks and SplitsTrees of mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I data showed a large degree of haplotype sharing throughout the sampling range. Within southern Africa, we found no conclusive evidence to support geographic vicariance as a contributing factor towards Mastomys speciation. We proposed that the regional phylogeographic structures detected for M. natalensis and M. coucha are the result of weak isolation by distance coupled to repeated expansions and contractions of suitable habitat. Both species probably survived in multiple refugia during unfavourable periods and mismatch distributions show signs of population expansion. Mitochondrial DNA nucleotide diversity values (π) show marked differences between the two species (M. natalensis: 0.003 and M. coucha: 0.468), and M. coucha also shows a higher level of population differentiation in AMOVA analyses. These differences are most likely due to life history discrepancies between the two species. Mastomys coucha is regarded to be more of a habitat specialist when compared to M. natalensis, and this probably places a higher constraint on M. coucha dispersal abilities. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 114, 58–68.

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“…Seven species of small mammals were captured at ASNR and the most abundant species were M. varius, R. pumilio and Otomys auratus (Taylor et al 2009;Engelbrecht et al 2011; Table 2). The species accumulation curve for ASNR showed signs of reaching an asymptote.…”

Section: Asnrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life on high: the diversity of small mammals at high altitude in South Africa

2012

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The Great Escarpment is the major mountain system in South Africa, yet very few biological surveys have been conducted outside of the well-known Drakensberg section. This is surprising given the important role that mountains play in local and global biodiversity patterns. In this study, small mammal diversity and community composition were estimated at three high altitude ([1,700 m) sites within the Sneeuberg Mountain Complex (SMC) of the Great Escarpment, South Africa from June 2009 to May 2010. The influences of selected environmental variables on diversity were also tested. Of 423 livecaptures, a total of 292 unique individuals of 12 small mammal species (one shrew, one elephant shrew and 10 rodents) were identified during 5,280 trap nights. No single environmental variable could account for the variation observed in diversity measurements but vegetation height appeared to be the most important factor to influence the number of individuals captured. It is hypothesised that the high species richness and diversity of small mammals observed in the SMC compared to other parts of the Great Escarpment is due to the SMC being located in a transition zone of the Grassland and Nama-Karoo biomes. Our results suggest that the SMC could be important in conserving small mammal species from western and eastern assemblages across South Africa.

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Cryptic speciation in the southern African vlei ratOtomys irroratuscomplex: evidence derived from mitochondrial cytband niche modelling

Cited by 29 publications

References 65 publications

Biogeography and host‐related factors trump parasite life history: limited congruence among the genetic structures of specific ectoparasitic lice and their rodent hosts

Biogeography and host‐related factors trump parasite life history: limited congruence among the genetic structures of specific ectoparasitic lice and their rodent hosts

The influence of life history and climate driven diversification on the mtDNA phylogeographic structures of two southern AfricanMastomysspecies (Rodentia: Muridae: Murinae)

Life on high: the diversity of small mammals at high altitude in South Africa

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