Open AccessMolecular relationships of the bear cuscus, Ailurops ursinus (Marsupialia: Phalangeridae)
Author(s) -
Jaw Kirsch,
MA Wolman
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australian mammalogy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.432
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1836-7402
pISSN - 0310-0049
DOI - 10.1071/am01023
Subject(s) - vicariance , biology , cladogenesis , cladistics , zoology , subfamily , sister group , marsupial , biological dispersal , taxon , evolutionary biology , ecology , phylogenetics , clade , genetics , population , demography , sociology , gene
DNA-hybridisation experiments, involving seven species of Phalangeridae and two outgroup taxain a complete 9 x 9 matrix, unequivocally placed the bear cuscus, Ailurops ursinus, nearest to thePhalangerini (Phalanger and Spilocuscus), with Trichosurini (Trichosurus) sister to both; andconfirmed earlier molecular studies indicating that the ground cuscus, Strigocuscus gymnotis, isnot a trichosurin but is closest to Phalanger. Our results thus conflict with the most thoroughcladistic-anatomical study of phalangerids, which placed the bear cuscus outside all otherPhalangeridae as the sole living member of Subfamily Ailuropinae; instead, we suggest thatAilurops should be considered representative of a tribe of Phalangerinae, Ailuropini, whileTrichosurus (and presumably Wyulda, which was not examined here, as well as fossilStrigocuscus) would be removed from Phalangerinae and be considered a second subfamily ofPhalangeridae, Trichosurinae, limited to Australia. Our estimate of the time of divergence ofAilurops and other phalangerines is about 16 myrbp; of Trichosurinae and Phalangerinae, about 21myrbp. Thus, a single Early Miocene vicariant event between Australia and Papua New Guinea,which isolated phalangerines in the latter region, followed by dispersal of the included ailuropinsto (or vicariant separation on) Sulawesi, would be sufficient to account for family-levelcladogenesis in Phalangeridae.