Origin of the Japanese Land Mammal Fauna: Allocation of Extant Species to Historically-based Categories.

Abstract

Consideration of the historical development of the mammal fauna on the major Japanese Islands allows six categories of species to be recognised, on the basis of their origins and current geographical distribution within Japan, which are modified from the original seven categories of Dobson (1994). The six categories are clearly defined, but allocation of species within them requires a full understands ing of taxonomic relationships and a good fossil record and is , therefore, tentative for certain species. We here attempt to allocate the recent terrestrial non-flying mammals of Japan to the six categories. In cases where allocation is uncertain, due to a lack of appropriate evidence, we provide our reasoning for decisions made. We have, therefore, been able to highlight gaps in the knowledge of the biogeographical history of the Japanese mammal fauna.

Phylogeography of East Asian Lespedeza buergeri (Fabaceae) based on chloroplast and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence variations

“…In the late Pleistocene (c.a. 0.200-0.015 mya), the ECS land bridge was re-exposed twice, during the Riss and Würm periods (Dobson and Kawamura 1998;Keally 2005). However, newer migrations might have been relatively constrained when compared with earlier episodes.…”

Diversification ofCercopithifilariaspecies (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Japanese wild ruminants with description of two new species

“…This basal species would have arrived with its cervid host over southern bridges established with the Eurasiatic continent during the late PliocenePleistocene (Soma et al, 1987;Kawamura, 1998). The arrival of the serow seems to be dated to the Middle Pleistocene, 500,000-250,000 years ago (Dobson & Kawamura, 1998), when capture of Cercopithifilaria species from cervids could have occurred.…”

The influence of climatic oscillations during the Quaternary Era on the genetic structure of Asian black bears in Japan

“…The black bear is thought to have migrated from the Asian continent into Japan across the Korea-Kyushu land bridge 0.5 or 0.3 My BP, or possibly in both periods (Dobson and Kawamura, 1998). Black bear lineages in Japan are very different from that in the Korean Peninsula, and haplotypes within the Asian continent and Taiwan were three times more divergent than those in Japan.…”

“…We adopted the following assumed divergence times as calibration points: 2.0 and 3.5 My BP between the black bear of the Asian continent and the brown bear (Waits et al, 1999), and 0.5 My BP among all lineages of the black bear in Japan (Dobson and Kawamura, 1998). Other parameters were the same as for the phylogenetic analysis.…”

“…The black bear is thought to have migrated from the Asian Continent to Japan during the glacial periods that occurred 0.5 and 0.3 My BP (Dobson and Kawamura, 1998). During these glacial periods, the Korean Peninsula was continuous with Kyushu Island; thus, black bears could cross the Korea-Kyushu land bridge.…”