Karyosystematic Analysis of Japanese Talpine Moles in the Genera Euroscaptor and Mogera (Insectivora, Talpidae)

Evolution and Biogeography of Talpid Moles from Continental East Asia and the Japanese Islands Inferred from Mitochondrial and Nuclear Gene Sequences

“…This relationship supports the suggestion that the ancestors of M. tokudae, M. imaizumii, and M. wogura, which exhibit a north to south distribution in Japan, respectively, evolved on the continent and entered Japan from the Korean Peninsula (where today only M. wogura is found) in this order during separate Pleistocene glacial periods . This finding is in contrast to the phylogenetic hypothesis of Kawada et al (2001) that suggested a parapatric divergence of M. tokudae from M. imaizumii in northern Japan. Judging from our molecular evidence, the pericentric inversion of chromosome No.…”

“…Judging from our molecular evidence, the pericentric inversion of chromosome No. 11 found in M. imaizumii and M. tokudae but not seen in M. wogura or other outgroup taxa (Kawada et al, 2001), should be considered to be an example of homoplasy (karyotypic orthoselection) as speculated by Kawada (2002). This, in turn, suggests that inversions near the terminal portions of chromosomes may have occurred in high incidence during the course of talpid evolution, as is found in humans (see Mefford and Trask, 2002 for review).…”

“…We were unable to obtain RAG-1 gene sequences from Eulipotyphlan outgroups, and thus employed U. gracilis as an outgroup for both the RAG-1 and concatenated gene trees; Uropsilus is invariably found to the basal talpid lineage in phylogenetic analyses (Hutchison, 1976;Yates and Moore 1990;Whidden, 2000;Shinohara et al, 2003;this study). To test the conflicting hypotheses relating to the phylogenetic position of M. tokudae within the Japanese mole clade Kawada et al, 2001), we employed the Kishino-Hasegawa test (K-H test; Kishino and Hasegawa, 1989) with RELL distribution settings on all alterative phylogenetic trees constructed from individual and concatenated gene data sets with our ML criteria. Finally, to assess talpid phylogeny from the large (19 species) cyt b data set, we constructed a strict consensus tree from our NJ, MP, ML and NJ-ML analyses.…”

“…Additionally, interrelationships among the three large-sized Asian mole species are controversial. Mitochondrial sequence data support a sister-taxon relationship for M. wogura and M. imaizumii (Okamoto, 1999;Tsuchiya et al ., 2000), whereas chromosomal banding analyses place M. imaizumii together with M. tokudae to the exclusion of M. wogura (Kawada et al ., 2001). The former phylogenetic hypothesis suggests a series of migration events occurred from the Asian mainland to Japan, with M. tokudae , M. imaizumii , and M. wogura independently entering Japan from the continent in this order.…”

Phylogenetic position of the Malaysian mole, Euroscaptor micrura (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla), inferred from three gene sequences

“…Although the phylogenetic relationships within the genus Mogera have been well established on the basis of morphology (Motokawa 2004), chromosome analysis (Kawada et al 2001), and DNA sequences (Okamoto 1999;Tsuchiya et al 2000;Shinohara et al 2003), little is known about the evolution and radiation of the genus Euroscaptor. In fact, the Japanese mountain mole Euroscaptor mizura is the only member of this genus studied in detail Kawada et al 2001;Shinohara et al 2003). These studies suggest that Euroscaptor is a relic East Asian species group closely aligned with the genus Mogera.…”