Phylogenetic Relationships Between Zokors Myospalax (Mammalia, Rodentia) Determined on the Basis of Morphometric and Molecular Analyses

Abstract

Phylogenetic relationships between zokors living in different territories of Russia: Altai zokors Myospalax myospalax from “Altai” (Altai Republic and Altaiskii Krai) and “Priobie” from the River Ob zone (Tomsk oblast and Novosibirsk oblast) and subspecies M. m. tarbagataicus from Kazakhstan (ridge Tarbagatai) and M. aspalax and M. psilurus from Zabaikalskii Krai were determined on the basis of craniometrical and molecular analysis of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene. The comparison of the craniometrical and molecular data revealed significant differences between the Altai zokors of the “Priobie” (the River Ob zone) and “Altai” populations. The importance of geographic isolation to the formation of morphometric and genetic differentiation of distinct geographic forms of the investigated zokors is shown. Specific ecological and morphological adaptations and distinct genetic features of two forms of zokors indicate the existence of separate subspecies of the species M. myospalax.

Natural foraging selection and gut microecology of two subterranean rodents from the Eurasian Steppe in China

“…Unlike generalized herbivorous rodents, zokors are specialized herbivorous rodents adapted to living underground, which feed on the underground parts of grassland plants [21]. The subfamily Myospalax contains two genera, Myospalax and Eospalax [22]. There are two species of the genus Myospalax in China: one is the North China Zokor (M. psilurus), which inhabits meadow grasslands and forest edge areas, and the other is the Steppe Zokor (M. aspalax), which inhabits typical grassland areas.…”

Pleistocene and modern distribution of the subterranean rodent Myospalax myospalax (Rodentia, Myospalacidae) in response to environmental factors

“…In the second half, the areas inhabited by M. myospalax became the object of agrarian program of the Soviet Union (Makhmutov 1983;Shmygleva 2017). These factors led to the degradation and fragmenta tion of the range of this species (Galkina et al 1969;Makhmutov 1983;Butkauskas et al 2020). In some areas, information about the presence of M. myospalax is outdated and has remained only as historical data (Ognev 1947;Laptev and Losev 1949).…”

Characterization of the West Siberian lineage of zokors (Mammalia, Rodentia, Spalacidae, Myospalacinae) and divergence in molar development

“…To resolve this puzzle, we analyzed samples of modern zokors from Russia, Mongolia, and China, as well as fossil material from 10 West Siberian localities, using linear morphometrics and geometric morphometrics. Previously, these methods have been used to study only the skulls of modern zokor species, not individual molars and fragmented fossil specimens (Puzachenko et al, 2009(Puzachenko et al, , 2013Butkauskas et al, 2020;Kang et al, 2021Kang et al, , 2023. Geometric morphometric analyses of isolated teeth have been widely used for species identification in other groups of rodents (McGuire, 2011;Calede and Glusman, 2017;Smith and Wilson, 2017;Wyatt et al, 2021;Vitek and Chen, 2022).…”

“…These analyses did not consider either Myospalax myospala x Laxmann, 1769 (Liu et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2022) or the genus Eospalax (Puzachenko et al, 2013). In studies where two genera have been compared (Tsvirka et al, 2011; Pavlenko et al, 2014; Butkauskas et al, 2020), including Myospalax myospalax , the phylogenetic trees were unrooted and contradicted each other, which only raised further questions about the phylogenetic systematics of Myospalacinae.…”