Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 15, 35-49, Copyright © 1998 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
SR Engel, KM Hogan, JF Taylor and SK Davis
The murid rodent subfamily Sigmodontinae contains 79 genera which are
distributed throughout the New World. The time of arrival of the first
sigmodontines in South America and the estimated divergence time(s) of the
different lineages of South American sigmodontines have been controversial
due to the lack of a good fossil record and the immense number of extant
species. The "early-arrival hypothesis" states that the sigmodontines must
have arrived in South America no later than the early Miocene, at least 20
MYA, in order to account for their vast present-day diversity, whereas the
"late-arrival hypothesis" includes the sigmodontines as part of the
Plio-Pleistocene Great American Interchange, which occurred approximately
3.5 MYA. The phylogenetic relationships among 33 of these genera were
reconstructed using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from the ND3,
ND4L, arginine tRNA, and ND4 genes, which we show to be evolving at the
same rate. A molecular clock was calibrated for these genes using published
fossil dates, and the genetic distances were estimated from the DNA
sequences in this study. The molecular clock was used to estimate the dates
of the South American sigmodontine origin and the main sigmodontine
radiation in order to evaluate the "early-" and "late-arrival" scenarios.
We estimate the time of the sigmodontine invasion of South America as
between approximately 5 and 9 MYA, supporting neither of the scenarios but
suggesting two possible models in which the invading lineage was either (1)
ancestral to the oryzomyines, akodonts, and phyllotines or (2) ancestral to
the akodonts and phyllotines and accompanied by the oryzomyines. The
sigmodontine invasion of South America provides an example of the advantage
afforded to a lineage by the fortuitous invasion of a previously
unexploited habitat, in this case an entire continent.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Molecular systematics and paleobiogeography of the South American sigmodontine rodents [published erratum appears in Mol Biol Evol 1998 Feb;15(2):224]
Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, USA. stacia.engel@ejgallo.com
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