Molecular Evidence of an African Phiomorpha–South American Caviomorpha Clade and Support for Hystricognathi Based on the Complete Mitochondrial Genome of the Cane Rat (Thryonomys swinderianus)

Abstract

The complete mitochondrial genome of an African cane rat, Thryonomys swinderianus (Rodentia, Hystricognathi), was included in a phylogenetic analysis along with 4 rodents, 14 additional eutherians, and 3 noneutherian outgroups. Monophyly of the suborder Hystricognathi, represented by the cane rat and the South American guinea pig, Cavia porcellus, was strongly supported by maximum-parsimony, neighbor-joining, and maximum-likelihood methods. The molecular-based estimate of the divergence time of Old and New World Hystricognathi (approximately 85 million years before present, MYBP) is consistent with an hypothesis of vicariance divergence due to the rifting of the African and South American continents 86–100 MYBP. Monophyly of Rodentia or the superordinal clade Glires (Rodentia and Lagomorpha) were not supported.