Abstract
BackgroundGolden moles (Chrysochloridae) are small, subterranean, afrotherian mammals from South Africa and neighboring regions. Of the 21 species now recognized, some (e.g., Chrysochloris asiatica, Amblysomus hottentotus) are relatively common, whereas others (e.g., species of Chrysospalax, Cryptochloris, Neamblysomus) are rare and endangered. Here, we use a combined analysis of partial sequences of the nuclear GHR gene and morphological characters to derive a phylogeny of species in the family Chrysochloridae.ResultsAlthough not all nodes of the combined analysis have high support values, the overall pattern of relationships obtained from different methods of phylogeny reconstruction allow us to make several recommendations regarding the current taxonomy of golden moles. We elevate Huetia to generic status to include the species leucorhinus and confirm the use of the Linnean binomial Carpitalpa arendsi, which belongs within Amblysominae along with Amblysomus and Neamblysomus. A second group, Chrysochlorinae, includes Chrysochloris, Cryptochloris, Huetia, Eremitalpa, Chrysospalax, and Calcochloris. Bayesian methods make chrysochlorines paraphyletic by placing the root within them, coinciding with root positions favored by a majority of randomly-generated outgroup taxa. Maximum Parsimony (MP) places the root either between chrysochlorines and amblysomines (with Chlorotalpa as sister taxon to amblysomines), or at Chlorotalpa, with the former two groups reconstructed as monophyletic in all optimal MP trees.ConclusionsThe inclusion of additional genetic loci for this clade is important to confirm our taxonomic results and resolve the chrysochlorid root. Nevertheless, our optimal topologies support a division of chrysochlorids into amblysomines and chrysochlorines, with Chlorotalpa intermediate between the two. Furthermore, evolution of the chrysochlorid malleus exhibits homoplasy. The elongate malleus has evolved just once in the Cryptochloris-Chrysochloris group; other changes in shape have occurred at multiple nodes, regardless of how the root is resolved.
Highlights
Golden moles (Chrysochloridae) are small, subterranean, afrotherian mammals from South Africa and neighboring regions
The Chrysochloridae and several clades within it are recovered with high support from our Bayesian and Maximum Parsimony (MP) analyses of the combined morphology-Growth Hormone Receptor (GHR) dataset (Fig. 2), including the genera Amblysomus, Neamblysomus, Chlorotalpa, and Chrysospalax
The genus Chrysochloris, including both C. stuhlmanni from near Lake Victoria and C. asiatica from the Western Cape, is supported as monophyletic with high Bayesian but low MP support (Fig. 2). Both MP and Bayesian analyses support the sister taxon status of Cryptochloris and Chrysochloris, again with Bayesian support higher than that from MP. In agreement with both Simonetta and Bronner [17], “Calcochloris” leucorhinus does not form a clade with Calcochloris obtusirostris in either the Bayesian or MP analyses (Fig. 2), making Calcochloris paraphyletic
Summary
Golden moles (Chrysochloridae) are small, subterranean, afrotherian mammals from South Africa and neighboring regions. Bronner and Jenkins [1] divide the group into nine genera and 21 species, most of which are recorded from South Africa They have been dubbed “spectacularly autapomorphic” [2] and are among the most unusual of mammals, showing three long bones in the forearm [3], hypertrophied middle ear ossicles [4,5,6], and a hyoid-mandible articulation [7], among other features. They converge in many ways on the phenotype of other subterranean mammals, such as lipotyphlan moles (Talpidae), burrowing rodents (Bathyergidae), certain armadillos (Chlamyphorus), and marsupial moles (Notoryctidae), but lack a close phylogenetic relationship with these other groups. Uncertainty surrounding difference among previous taxonomic treatments are likely the result of emphasis on of different types of characters that vary in phylogenetic signal
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