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Systematics of the Neotoma mexicana species group (Mammalia: Rodentia: Cricetidae) in Mesoamerica: New molecular evidence on the status and relationships of N. ferruginea Tomes, 1862

Abstract:

Analyses of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene were used to determine levels of genetic differentiation and patterns of relationship among members of the Neotoma mexicana (Mexican woodrat) species group in Mesoamerica. Three well-supported clades were obtained that conform to the species N. ferruginea Tomes, 1862, N. mexicana Baird, 1855, and N. picta Goldman, 1904. Neotoma ferruginea is the senior name for the clade that contains samples from southern Mexico and Nuclear Central America previously identified as N. isthmica Goldman, 1904, or as subspecies of N. mexicana (chamula Goldman, 1909; vulcani Sanborn, 1935). The phylogeographic pattern observed within the N. mexicana species group resembles that reported for other vertebrates co-distributed in mountains to the west (Trans-Mexican Neovolcanic Belt, Oaxacan sierras) and east (highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, and Nuclear Central America) of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.