Open AccessAn underground burst of diversity – a new look at the phylogeny and taxonomy of the genus Talpa L innaeus, 1758 ( M ammalia: T alpidae) as revealed by nuclear and mitochondrial genes
Author(s) -
Bannikova Anna A.,
Zemlemerova Elena D.,
Colangelo Paolo,
Sözen Mustafa,
Sevindik M.,
Kidov Artem A.,
Dzuev Ruslan I.,
Kryštufek Boris,
Lebedev Vladimir S.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
zoological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1096-3642
pISSN - 0024-4082
DOI - 10.1111/zoj.12298
Subject(s) - biology , zoology , phylogenetics , phylogenetic tree , taxonomy (biology) , genus , evolutionary biology , genetics , gene
Using both nuclear and mitochondrial sequences, we demonstrate high genetic differentiation in the genus Talpa and confirm the existence of cryptic species in the C aucasus and A natolia, namely, T. talyschensis V ereschagin, 1945, T. ognevi S troganov, 1948, and Talpa ex gr. levantis . Our data support four clades in the genus Talpa that showed strong geographical associations. The ‘europaea’ group includes six species from the western portion of the genus' range ( T. europaea , T. occidentalis, T. romana , T. caeca , T. stankovici , and T. levantis s.l.); another three groups are distributed further east: the ‘caucasica’ group ( C aucasus), the ‘davidiana’ group (eastern A natolia and E lburz) and T . altaica ( S iberia). The phylogenetic position of T. davidiana was highlighted for the first time. The order of basal branching remains controversial, which can be attributed to rapid diversification events. The molecular time estimates based on nuclear concatenation estimated the basal divergence of the crown Talpa during the latest M iocene. A putative scenario of Talpa radiation and issues of species delimitation are discussed. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London