Speciation Within the Genus Ctenomys: An Attempt to Find Models

A new species of the highly polytypic South American rodent Ctenomys increases the diversity of the magellanicus clade

“…talarum by Pardiñas (2001). They were interpreted as an independent lineage belonging to the mendocinus species group by De Santi et al (2018, 2021, Verzi et al (2021), andDe Santi (2022).…”

“…As pointed out by D' Elía et al (2021), the systematics of Ctenomys remains in a state of flux due to both intrinsic aspects of its evolutionary process and the patchy history of its study. Concerning the first factor, the very recent and accelerated diversification process of Ctenomys (De Santi et al 2021;Upham et al 2021) has resulted in evolving populations that are at different stages of morphological, genetic and/or ecological differentiation (review in Freitas 2021). Thus, species boundaries may often be difficult to define.…”

“…In addition, remarkable morphological homogeneity is frequent even among long-standing differentiated species (D'Elía et al 2021). In such a still largely inconclusive scenario, however, major systematic and phylogenetic knowledge has been generated in just over two decades (e.g., Lessa and Cook 1998;D'Elía et al 1999;Mascheretti et al 2000;Slamovits et al 2001;Castillo et al 2005;Parada et al 2011;Gardner et al 2014;Bidau 2015;Freitas 2016Freitas , 2021Caraballo and Rossi 2018;Fornel et al 2018;Leipnitz et al 2020;Teta and D'Elía 2020;D'Elía et al 2021;De Santi et al 2021). One of the most significant advances is the recognition of informal groups of species based on increasingly well-supported clades (Parada et al 2011;Freitas et al 2012;Gardner et al 2014;Caraballo and Rossi 2018;Londoño-Gaviria et al 2018;Leipnitz et al 2020;De Santi et al 2020, 2021Carnovale et al 2021).…”

“…Because advances in the systematics of the genus Ctenomys have encompassed its diversity in a sectorized and disparate manner, the current taxonomic knowledge of Ctenomys remains uneven among species groups and geographic areas. While for some species or clades, their alpha taxonomy, phylogeny, and geographic variation are relatively well studied, others are known only through original descriptions, which are often insufficient for making taxonomic decisions (see reviews in Freitas 2021 andD'Elía et al 2021). In this context, the populations of Ctenomys distributed in the coastal area of central Argentina have been extensively studied through different approaches and disciplines, including alpha taxonomy and morphology (Thomas 1898(Thomas , 1912Rusconi 1934;Contreras and Reig 1965;Reig et al 1965Reig et al , 1990Contreras 1972;Vitullo et al 1988;De Santis et al 1998;Zenuto et al 2003;Justo et al 2003;Medina et al 2007;García Esponda et al 2009), cytogenetics and genetics (Kiblisky and Reig 1966;Massarini et al 1991Massarini et al , 1995Massarini et al , 2002Cutrera et al 2005), phylogeography (Mora et al 2006(Mora et al , 2010, ecology and behavior (Contreras and Reig 1965;Pearson et al 1968;Antinuchi and Busch 1992;Zenuto and Busch 1995;Zenuto and Fanjul 2002;Busch et al 2000;Justo et al 2003;Busch 2002a, 2002b;Cutrera et al 2006;Antinuchi et al 2007;Vassallo 2006), functional morph...…”

Geographic Mosaic of Extensive Genetic Variations in Subterranean Mole Voles Ellobius alaicus as a Consequence of Habitat Fragmentation and Hybridization

“…The most chromosomally diverse genera (such as Ctenomys, Oryzomys, Fukomys, Nannospalax, Ellobius , etc.) are highly specialized; underground habitations limit their dispersal and shape foraging, mating, and breeding patterns [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. The ranges of subterranean species are commonly represented as systems of isolated populations, which are characterized by high variability in the spatial genetic structure, small effective population sizes, low dispersal rates, high inbreeding, recurrent “bottleneck” events, limitations of genetic drift, etc.…”