Reconciling taxonomy with phylogeny in zokors, root rats, and bamboo rats (Myospalacinae and Rhizomyinae: Spalacidae)
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Date
2025-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Muroid mole-rats (family Spalacidae) are a group of burrowing rodents from the Old World. Norris (2017) divided Spalacidae into the subfamilies Myospalacinae (zokors), Rhizomyinae (root rats and bamboo rats), and Spalacinae (blind mole rats, which are not part of my study). Norris (2017) recognized six species in Rhizomyinae and eleven species in Myospalacinae; however, he argued that there are additional unrecognized species. The focus of my project is to use available genetic data to determine the number of species present in Rhizomyinae and Myospalacinae and the boundaries between these species. I analyzed a large dataset of the cytochrome b gene downloaded from GenBank that consisted of Rhizomyinae individuals (n=87) and Myospalacinae individuals (n=46). I aligned the data by hand in PAUP*4a and constructed a phylogenetic tree using BEAST. I evaluated the different taxonomic hypotheses with regard to monophyly, genetic distance, divergence time, and formal species delimitation analyses. The existing taxonomy of bamboo rats, Rhizomys and Cannomys, and zokors, Myospalax and Eospalax, appears to align with my results. I resolved the inconsistency between the phylogeny and taxonomy in root rats (Tachyoryctes). Norris (2017) recognized two species, T. macrocephalus and T. splendens, but my results indicate there should be at least four. I recognize T. splendens s.s. from northwest Ethiopia, T. annectens from southern Ethiopia and other East African countries T. macrocephalus from the Bale Mountains, and a species of Tachyoryctes from the Chercher Mts, which may be part of a broader T. somalicus from northeast Ethiopia and Somaliland. The Ethiopian highlands appear to be the cradle of diversity in this genus.
Description
Charles River Laboratories Outstanding Student Research Award, Lima Forum, 2025
Keywords
Spalacidae, Ethiopian highlands