TY - JOUR
T1 - Systematics of Brucepattersonius Hershkovitz, 1998 (Rodentia, Sigmodontinae)
T2 - molecular species delimitation and morphological analyses suggest an overestimation in species diversity
AU - Abreu, Edson Fiedler
AU - Jung, Diego Marques Henriques
AU - Christoff, Alexandre Uarth
AU - Valiati, Victor Hugo
AU - Jansa, Sharon A.
AU - Percequillo, Alexandre Reis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London 2021. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The genus Brucepattersonius currently includes eight valid species from the Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil and north-eastern Argentina. Most of those species were described in the past 20 years, based on very small sample sizes: four species are known only from their type localities. Concerns on the taxonomic validity of some Brucepattersonius species have been raised in the recent literature. In this study, we present a phylogenetic hypothesis including samples throughout the distribution of the genus (among them the holotypes of two species) and employed single-locus molecular species delimitation analyses to provide a new hypothesis for species limits within Brucepattersonius. We also analysed intra- and interpopulation morphological and morphometric variation to apply an integrative taxonomic approach to species delimitation. Our phylogenetic inference of molecular data recovered four strongly supported clades within Brucepattersonius, which were recognized as distinct operational taxonomic units in all species delimitation analyses. The first two clades represent the Caparaó mountain range endemic B. griserufescens and its sister-group, the recently described species B. nebulosus. The third clade comprises several specimens assigned to B. soricinus but also includes the holotype of B. igniventris; we revise these species limits accordingly. The last clade is composed of samples from southern Brazil assigned to B. iheringi. Based on morphological and morphometric analyses, we find no clear structure among the three described species from Misiones Province, Argentina (B. guarani, B. misionensis and B. paradisus) and B. inheringi from southern Brazil, suggesting that those samples represent a single species. Therefore, in the present study we propose that the genus Brucepattersonius comprises only four diagnosable species: B. griserufescens (including B. albinasus), B. nebulosus, B. soricinus (including B. igniventris) and B. iheringi (including B. guarani, B. misionensis and B. paradisus).
AB - The genus Brucepattersonius currently includes eight valid species from the Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil and north-eastern Argentina. Most of those species were described in the past 20 years, based on very small sample sizes: four species are known only from their type localities. Concerns on the taxonomic validity of some Brucepattersonius species have been raised in the recent literature. In this study, we present a phylogenetic hypothesis including samples throughout the distribution of the genus (among them the holotypes of two species) and employed single-locus molecular species delimitation analyses to provide a new hypothesis for species limits within Brucepattersonius. We also analysed intra- and interpopulation morphological and morphometric variation to apply an integrative taxonomic approach to species delimitation. Our phylogenetic inference of molecular data recovered four strongly supported clades within Brucepattersonius, which were recognized as distinct operational taxonomic units in all species delimitation analyses. The first two clades represent the Caparaó mountain range endemic B. griserufescens and its sister-group, the recently described species B. nebulosus. The third clade comprises several specimens assigned to B. soricinus but also includes the holotype of B. igniventris; we revise these species limits accordingly. The last clade is composed of samples from southern Brazil assigned to B. iheringi. Based on morphological and morphometric analyses, we find no clear structure among the three described species from Misiones Province, Argentina (B. guarani, B. misionensis and B. paradisus) and B. inheringi from southern Brazil, suggesting that those samples represent a single species. Therefore, in the present study we propose that the genus Brucepattersonius comprises only four diagnosable species: B. griserufescens (including B. albinasus), B. nebulosus, B. soricinus (including B. igniventris) and B. iheringi (including B. guarani, B. misionensis and B. paradisus).
KW - Atlantic Forest
KW - morphology
KW - morphometry
KW - phylogeny
KW - rodents
KW - species limits
KW - synonym
KW - taxonomic inflation
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U2 - 10.1080/14772000.2021.1890270
DO - 10.1080/14772000.2021.1890270
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103578711
SN - 1477-2000
VL - 19
SP - 544
EP - 570
JO - Systematics and Biodiversity
JF - Systematics and Biodiversity
IS - 6
ER -