No abstract

The elegant water shrew (Nectogale elegans) belongs to the family Soricidae, and distributes in northern South Asia, central and southern China and northern Southeast Asia. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of N. elegans was sequenced. It was determined to be 17,460 bases, and included 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and one non-coding region, which is similar to other mammalian mitochondrial genomes. Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods were used to construct phylogenetic trees based on 12 heavy-strand concatenated PCGs. Phylogenetic analyses further confirmed that Crocidurinae diverged prior to Soricinae, and Sorex unguiculatus differentiated earlier than N. elegans.

The classification and phylogenetic relationships of the genus Blarinella have been traditionally based on morphologicalcharacteristics, and there have been no studies published about the molecular phylogenetic relationships and biogeographyfor this genus. Here, we reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships of the genus Blarinella based on one nuclear (ApoB)and two mitochondrial (cyt-b, 16S rRNA) genes. Our results supported the monophyly of the genus Blarinella and thevalid species status of Blarinella wardi. Nevertheless, two morphologically defined Blarinella species, B. quadraticaudaand B. griselda, were poorly differentiated by molecular data; B. quadraticauda was found embedded within B. griseldamaking the latter a paraphyletic group. These results indicate that B. quadraticauda might be under a budding speciationscenario or is a restricted geographical subspecies of B. griselda. Phylogeographic analyses suggest that diversificationand speciation of Blarinella might have been promoted by vicariance events associated to the complex topography of Southwest China. Further morphological, genetic and ecological studies are necessary to examine these hypotheses.

No abstract

The avian genera Calidris and Tringa are the largest of the widespread family of Scolopacidae. The phylogeny of members of the two genera is still a matter of controversial. Mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) can serve as a fast and accurate marker for the identification and phylogeny of animal species. In this study, we analyzed the COI barcodes of thirty-one species of the two genera. All the species had distinct COI sequences. Two hundred and twenty-one variable sites were identified. Kimura two-parameter distances were calculated between barcodes. Neighbor-joining and maximum likelihood methods were used to construct phylogenetic trees. All the species could be discriminated by their distinct clades in the phylogenetic trees. The phylogenetic trees grouped all the species of Calidris and Tringa into different monophyletic clade, respectively. COI data showed a well-supported phylogeny for Calidris and Tringa species.