On the phylogenetic position of a rare Iberian endemic mammal, the Pyrenean desman (Galemys pyrenaicus)

The evolution of female mole ovotestes evidences high plasticity of mammalian gonad development

“…We mapped the presence or absence of ovotestes on three alternative phylogenetic hypotheses for talpids using the software Mesquite (Maddison and Maddison, 2006), depicted below: the supertree of Grenyer and Purvis (2003), the comprehensive morphological phylogeny of Sánchez-Villagra et al (2006) and the phylogram based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of Cabria et al (2006;see also Shinohara et al, 2003see also Shinohara et al, , 2004.…”

“…More recent works, molecular (Shinohara et al, 2003;Cabria et al, 2006) and morphological (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2006), have argued for the paraphyly of Urotrichini. The most comprehensive study in terms of analyzed taxa places the Asian shrew moles up the tree from Uropsilus and basal to all other talpids (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2006).…”

“…The most comprehensive study in terms of analyzed taxa places the Asian shrew moles up the tree from Uropsilus and basal to all other talpids (Sánchez-Villagra et al, 2006). Significant molecular systematic works performed on talpids during recent years have not been comprehensive in genes or taxa studied, but concerning the position of Urotrichus, the results suggest that this genus is either in a clade that includes the fossorial Scalopini (Parascalops, Scapanulus, Scalopus, and Scapanus) plus Neurotrichus (Cabria et al, 2006) or in a clade with Eurasian fossorial forms (Talpini) plus desmans in the analyses showing more resolution (Shinohara et al, 2003). Talpid molecular phylogenies are thus highly incongruent and the study of additional traits will be useful to shed light on the evolution of these mammals.…”

Extraordinarily preserved talpids (Mammalia, Lipotyphla) and the evolution of fossoriality

“…Other studies suggest some level of convergence between these two strikingly similar groups (Hutchison, 1976;Yates and Moore, 1990;Motokawa, 2004;Piras et al, 2012). This view is also supported by the relatively small molecular systematic data sets available for the group (Shinohara et al, 2003(Shinohara et al, , 2004Cabria et al, 2006;Crumpton and Thompson, 2013); however, the low level of genetic coverage in current family-level molecular data sets makes this hypothesis far from conclusive. Despite our poor understanding of their evolution, there has been little recent focus on the fossil record of the Talpidae, and what this can reveal about the evolution of fossoriality.…”

A sex determination protocol for the Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) based on a three primer amplification of DBX and DBY fragments with non-invasive samples

“…It is taxonomically classified within the family Talpidae, being, with the Russian Desmana moschata, the only representatives of the the subfamily Desmaninae (Cabria et al 2006). In Spain, populations are in regression and it is considered endangered (Palomo et al 2007).…”