Molecular assessment of the phylogeny and biogeography of a recently diversified endemic group of South American canids (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae)

Abstract

To investigate the evolution and biogeography of an endemic group of South American foxes, we examined mitochondrial DNA control region sequences for 118 individuals belonging to all six extant species of the genus Lycalopex. Phylogenetic and molecular dating analyses supported the inference that this genus has undergone a very recent and rapid radiation, stemming from a common ancestor that lived ca. 1 million years ago. The Brazilian endemic L. vetulus was supported as the most basal species in this genus, whereas the most internal group is comprised by the recently diverged (ca. 350,000 years ago) Andean/Patagonian species L. griseus and L. culpaeus. We discuss the inferred phylogenetic relationships and divergence times in the context of the current geographic distributions of these species, and the likely effects of Pleistocene climatic changes on the biogeography of this group. Furthermore, a remarkable finding was the identification of multiple individuals classified as L. gymnocercus bearing mtDNA haplotypes clearly belonging to L. griseus, sampled in regions where the latter is not known to occur. At a minimum, this result implies the need to clarify the present-day geographic distribution of each of these fox species, while it may also indicate an ongoing hybridization process between them. Future testing of this hypothesis with in-depth analyses of these populations is thus a priority for understanding the history, evolutionary dynamics and present-day composition of this endemic Neotropical genus.

Functional myology of the thoracic limb in Pampas fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus): a descriptive and comparative analysis

“…The genus Lycalopex includes at least three other species of foxes that evolved and spread throughout South America (Tchaicka et al. ).…”

“…They live up to 14 years in captivity, but only a few years in the wild (Crespo, 1971). The genus Lycalopex includes at least three other species of foxes that evolved and spread throughout South America (Tchaicka et al 2016).…”

High‐resolution melting of the cytochrome B gene in fecal DNA: A powerful approach for fox species identification of the Lycalopex genus in Chile

“…The use of molecular methods, such as the bar code of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the genotyping of nuclear DNA, has made it possible to reduce errors in the identification of species, as well as to resolve phylogenetic relationships by revealing distribution patterns of wild canids. (Ochoa, ; Tchaicka et al, ; Torés, ) to the more recent use of barcode regions of cytochrome B (Behrens‐Chapuis et al, ; Fernandes, Costa, Oliveira, & Mafra, ; Jeon, Anderson, Won, Lim, & Suk, ; Wang et al, ; Yacoub, Fathi, & Mahmoud, ).…”

A forest‐specialist carnivore in the middle of the desert?Comments on Anabalon et al. 2019

“…We lack evidence to suggest that the putative Darwin's fox-like cytb haplotype collected in Atacama was recovered from the feces of a culpeo or a South American gray fox introgressed with Darwin's fox mitochondrial genome; but certainly, it is noteworthy that this possibility was dismissed by Anabalon et al when they state "There are no reports on hybridization between species of the Lycalopex genus, only observations and stories of local people in the field…". We argue this hypothesis should not be ruled out in view of evidence of potential hybridization processes in Lycalopex foxes (Silva, 2015;Tchaicka et al, 2016). In addition, incomplete sorting of ancestral polymorphisms, a fairly common process, is a major source of incongruence between gene trees and species trees (Pamilo & Nei, 1988).…”

“…Although the genetic differentiation among Lycalopex species are not fully understood, the available literature suggests that their variation is geographically structured (D'Elía et al, 2013;Tchaicka et al, 2016). For example, the northern Chilean population of culpeo fox has both genetic (Yahnke et al, 1996) and morphological differences respect to those of central and southern Chile, which have led some authors to hypothesize that both forms correspond to different subspecies (Guzmán, D'Elía, & Ortiz, 2009).…”