Multilocus phylogeny of talpine moles (Talpini, Talpidae, Eulipotyphla) and its implications for systematics

The tribe Talpini is a group of strictly subterranean moles distributed across the Eurasian Continent whose phylogenetic relationships and taxonomy remain unresolved. Here we report a multi-locus nuclear-mitochondrial DNA dataset (9468 bp) from 11 talpine species encompassing all five recognized genera, together with analyses of their divergence times and evolutionary affinities inferred from maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. Our results finely resolved all relationships except the root of the four recognized Asian genera, which was placed sister to the genus Talpa. With respect to the Asian clade, we moreover provide the first molecular support for a sister-taxon relationship between Parascaptor and Scaptochirus and confirm that the genus Euroscaptor is paraphyletic. Further, and despite a relatively small sample size (22 specimens), our species delimitation analyses support the existence of at least two genetically distinct, and hence potentially cryptic species. Taken together, these findings argue that generic status should be given to E. mizura and illustrate that the taxonomic diversity of the tribe Talpini in mountainous regions of southwestern China and Southeast Asia is underestimated. Finally, results of our divergence time analyses support a rapid radiation of the endemic Asian genera in the late-Miocene, which temporally corresponds with enhanced aridity and cooling arising from a significant uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan plateau.

Spatial and temporal aspects of occurrence of Mogera species in the Japanese islands inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences

We assessed dispersal and vicariant events in four species of Japanese moles in the genera Mogera and Euroscaptor to better understand the factors shaping intra- and interspecific differentiation in Japanese moles. We used the combined viewpoints of molecular phylogeny and historical geology using nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial (cytochrome b; Cytb) and nuclear (A2ab, Bmp4, Tcf25, vWf) genes. The divergence times estimated from the molecular data were verified with available geological data on the chronology of fluctuations in sea level in the Korea Strait, assuming sequential migration and speciation events. This produced possible migration times of 5.6, 3.5, 2.4, and 1.3 million years ago for four species of Japanese moles, Euroscaptor mizura, Mogera tokudae, M. imaizumii, and M. wogura, respectively. For the western Japanese mole M. wogura, Cytb sequences revealed four major phylogroups with strong geographic affinities in southwestern Central Honshu (I), western Honshu/Shikoku (II), Kyushu/westernmost Honshu (III), and Korea/Russian Primorye (IV). The nuclear gene sequences supported the distinctiveness of phylogroups I and IV, indicating long, independent evolutionary histories. In contrast, phylogroups II and III were merged into a single geographic group based on the nuclear gene data. Intraspecific divergences in M. imaizumii and M. tokudae were rather apparent in Cytb but not in nuclear gene sequences. The results suggest that repeated dispersal events have occurred between the Asian continent and the Japanese Islands, and intensive vicariant events associated with abiotic and biotic factors have created higher levels of species and genetic diversities in moles occurring on the Japanese Islands.