Karyotypes of two endemic species of hare from Ethiopia, Lepus habessinicus and L. starcki (Lagomorpha, Leporidae). A comparison with L. europaeus

Puccetti, M. L. Azzaroli; Corti, Marco; Scanzani, A.; Civitelli, Maria Vittoria; Capanna, Ernesto

doi:10.1515/mamm.1996.60.2.223

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Previous studies have suggested that Lepus experienced rapid radiation [67,68]. The lack of chromosomal structural changes supports such a model of relatively recent, and rapid, diversification in this clade [69,70]. Low levels of genetic diversification between species could result in relatively fertile F 1 hybrids providing a bridge for further hybridization and thus introgression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Reticulate evolution: frequent introgressive hybridization among chinese hares (genus lepus) revealed by analyses of multiple mitochondrial and nuclear DNA loci

Liu

Arnold

et al. 2011

BMC Evol Biol

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BackgroundInterspecific hybridization may lead to the introgression of genes and genomes across species barriers and contribute to a reticulate evolutionary pattern and thus taxonomic uncertainties. Since several previous studies have demonstrated that introgressive hybridization has occurred among some species within Lepus, therefore it is possible that introgressive hybridization events also occur among Chinese Lepus species and contribute to the current taxonomic confusion.ResultsData from four mtDNA genes, from 116 individuals, and one nuclear gene, from 119 individuals, provides the first evidence of frequent introgression events via historical and recent interspecific hybridizations among six Chinese Lepus species. Remarkably, the mtDNA of L. mandshuricus was completely replaced by mtDNA from L. timidus and L. sinensis. Analysis of the nuclear DNA sequence revealed a high proportion of heterozygous genotypes containing alleles from two divergent clades and that several haplotypes were shared among species, suggesting repeated and recent introgression. Furthermore, results from the present analyses suggest that Chinese hares belong to eight species.ConclusionThis study provides a framework for understanding the patterns of speciation and the taxonomy of this clade. The existence of morphological intermediates and atypical mitochondrial gene genealogies resulting from frequent hybridization events likely contribute to the current taxonomic confusion of Chinese hares. The present study also demonstrated that nuclear gene sequence could offer a powerful complementary data set with mtDNA in tracing a complete evolutionary history of recently diverged species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Reticulate evolution: frequent introgressive hybridization among chinese hares (genus lepus) revealed by analyses of multiple mitochondrial and nuclear DNA loci

Liu

Arnold

et al. 2011

BMC Evol Biol

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“…timidus , may nevertheless show marked mtDNA divergence, indicative of “good species”. He hypothesized that geographic, ecological, or behavioural isolation mechanisms may be driving speciation in the genus Lepus rather than genetic incompatibility, also in view of the very little chromosomal variation within the genus (e.g., Robinson et al[131,132], Azzaroli-Puccetti et al[133]). Later studies are not incongruent with this hypothesis (e.g., Alves et al[8], Liu et al[9], Wu et al[27], Melo-Ferreira et al[10,11], see also Thulin et al[7], and Robinson and Matthee[127]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA reveals reticulate evolution in hares (Lepus spp., Lagomorpha, Mammalia) from Ethiopia

et al. 2017

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For hares (Lepus spp., Leporidae, Lagomorpha, Mammalia) from Ethiopia no conclusive molecular phylogenetic data are available. To provide a first molecular phylogenetic model for the Abyssinian Hare (Lepus habessinicus), the Ethiopian Hare (L. fagani), and the Ethiopian Highland Hare (L. starcki) and their evolutionary relationships to hares from Africa, Eurasia, and North America, we phylogenetically analysed mitochondrial ATPase subunit 6 (ATP6; n = 153 / 416bp) and nuclear transferrin (TF; n = 155 / 434bp) sequences of phenotypically determined individuals. For the hares from Ethiopia, genotype composition at twelve microsatellite loci (n = 107) was used to explore both interspecific gene pool separation and levels of current hybridization, as has been observed in some other Lepus species. For phylogenetic analyses ATP6 and TF sequences of Lepus species from South and North Africa (L. capensis, L. saxatilis), the Anatolian peninsula and Europe (L. europaeus, L. timidus) were also produced and additional TF sequences of 18 Lepus species retrieved from GenBank were included as well. Median joining networks, neighbour joining, maximum likelihood analyses, as well as Bayesian inference resulted in similar models of evolution of the three species from Ethiopia for the ATP6 and TF sequences, respectively. The Ethiopian species are, however, not monophyletic, with signatures of contemporary uni- and bidirectional mitochondrial introgression and/ or shared ancestral polymorphism. Lepus habessinicus carries mtDNA distinct from South African L. capensis and North African L. capensis sensu lato; that finding is not in line with earlier suggestions of its conspecificity with L. capensis. Lepus starcki has mtDNA distinct from L. capensis and L. europaeus, which is not in line with earlier suggestions to include it either in L. capensis or L. europaeus. Lepus fagani shares mitochondrial haplotypes with the other two species from Ethiopia, despite its distinct phenotypic and microsatellite differences; moreover, it is not represented by a species-specific mitochondrial haplogroup, suggesting considerable mitochondrial capture by the other species from Ethiopia or species from other parts of Africa. Both mitochondrial and nuclear sequences indicate close phylogenetic relationships among all three Lepus species from Ethiopia, with L. fagani being surprisingly tightly connected to L. habessinicus. TF sequences suggest close evolutionary relationships between the three Ethiopian species and Cape hares from South and North Africa; they further suggest that hares from Ethiopia hold a position ancestral to many Eurasian and North American species.

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“…All species of Lepus that have been karyotyped have 2n = 48 (Robinson, Elder & Chapman, 1983b and references therein; Azzaroli Pucetti et al ., 1996; González & Cervantes, 1996; Lorenzo, Cervantes & Vargas, 2003), and differ only slightly in the amounts of pericentromeric heterochromatin. Karyotypic stability in this species may be a reflection of life history patterns, the recent radiation of species within the major evolutionary clades, genome stability and the species’ greater propensity for movement (and hence gene flow).…”

Section: Phylogenetic Arrangementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeny and evolutionary origins of the Leporidae: a review of cytogenetics, molecular analyses and a supermatrix analysis

Robinson

Matthee

2005

Mammal Review

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1. We review current knowledge of the evolutionary relationships among species of Leporidae drawing on molecular, cytogenetic and morphological data. We highlight problems associated with retrieving phylogenetic information under conditions of a rapid radiation and the lack of phylogenetically informative cytogenetic and mitochondrial DNA characters. Most morphological features underpinning generic distinctions are subtle and prone to reversal and convergence and as a consequence, they generally provide little basis for assessing phylogenetic affinity. 2. We report the results of a supermatrix analysis that combines published nucleotide sequence data, unique insertion/deletion events, morphological characters and presumed geographical centres of origin of each genus. This represents the most comprehensive intergeneric comparison of the Leporidae thus far undertaken. 3. The monophyly of the 11 leporid genera is unambiguously supported. There is support for an Afroasian assemblage that comprises Poelagus , Pronolagus and Nesolagus, a primitive Lepus, with the problematic Bunolagus, Oryctolagus , Caprolagus and Pentalagus as derived species in a clade that also includes the closely related Brachylagus and Sylvilagus as sister taxa . 4.There is no support for the Palaeolaginae, although Romerolagus is an ancient lineage within the extant Leporidae. 5. We hold that of the polytypic genera Lepus remains the most problematic, and provide a working hypothesis that will hopefully encourage future research on the various hare species.

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Karyotypes of two endemic species of hare from Ethiopia, Lepus habessinicus and L. starcki (Lagomorpha, Leporidae). A comparison with L. europaeus

Cited by 8 publications

References 10 publications

Reticulate evolution: frequent introgressive hybridization among chinese hares (genus lepus) revealed by analyses of multiple mitochondrial and nuclear DNA loci

Reticulate evolution: frequent introgressive hybridization among chinese hares (genus lepus) revealed by analyses of multiple mitochondrial and nuclear DNA loci

Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA reveals reticulate evolution in hares (Lepus spp., Lagomorpha, Mammalia) from Ethiopia

Phylogeny and evolutionary origins of the Leporidae: a review of cytogenetics, molecular analyses and a supermatrix analysis

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