Abstract
Arvicolinae is one of the most impressive placental radiations with over 150 extant and numerous extinct species that emerged since the Miocene in the Northern Hemisphere. The phylogeny of Arvicolinae has been studied intensively for several decades using morphological and genetic methods. Here, we sequenced 30 new mitochondrial genomes to better understand the evolutionary relationships among the major tribes and genera within the subfamily. The phylogenetic and molecular dating analyses based on 11,391 bp concatenated alignment of protein-coding mitochondrial genes confirmed the monophyly of the subfamily. While Bayesian analysis provided a high resolution across the entire tree, Maximum Likelihood tree reconstruction showed weak support for the ordering of divergence and interrelationships of tribal level taxa within the most ancient radiation. Both the interrelationships among tribes Lagurini, Ellobiusini and Arvicolini, comprising the largest radiation and the position of the genus Dinaromys within it also remained unresolved. For the first time complex relationships between genus level taxa within the species-rich tribe Arvicolini received full resolution. Particularly Lemmiscus was robustly placed as sister to the snow voles Chionomys in the tribe Arvicolini in contrast with a long-held belief of its affinity with Lagurini. Molecular dating of the origin of Arvicolinae and early divergences obtained from the mitogenome data were consistent with fossil records. The mtDNA estimates for putative ancestors of the most genera within Arvicolini appeared to be much older than it was previously proposed in paleontological studies.
Highlights
The subfamily Arvicolinae Gray, 1821 (Rodentia: Cricetidae), voles, lemmings and muskrats, is a highly diverse, young and fast-evolving group within the order Rodentia
Complete mitochondrial genomes for 30 Arvicolinae species were sequenced in the current study (including 15 species belonging to the Arvicolini tribe, one for Dicrostonychini, two for Lagurini, three for Lemmini, six species belonging to Clethrionomyini and three crucial species without stable taxonomic position: Prometheomys schaposchnikowi Satunin, 1901 (Prometheomyini), Dinaromys bogdanovi Martino, 1922 and Lemmiscus curtatus Cope, 1868)
The assembled mitogenomes, circular double-stranded DNA of the same organization as in other mammals, contained 13 protein coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs, two ribosomal RNAs, and a non-coding region corresponding to the control region (D-loop)
Summary
The subfamily Arvicolinae Gray, 1821 (Rodentia: Cricetidae), voles, lemmings and muskrats, is a highly diverse, young and fast-evolving group within the order Rodentia. Representatives of the subfamily occupy most of the temperate and cold-climate terrestrial habitats across the Northern Hemisphere. Modern global fauna of Arvicolinae consists of more than 150 recent species grouped into 28 genera, with new species being constantly discovered and described [1,2]. Mitochondrial genome phylogeny of voles and lemmings
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