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Journal of Heredity Advance Access published online on December 9, 2008
Journal of Heredity, doi:10.1093/jhered/esn105
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© The American Genetic Association. 2008. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Divergence in Zygodontomys (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) and Distribution of Amazonian Savannas

Cibele R. Bonvicino, Pablo R. Gonçalves, João A. de Oliveira, Luiz Flamarion B. de Oliveira, and Margarete S. Mattevi

From the Programa de Genética, Instituto Nacional de Câncer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Bonvicino and Gonçalves); the Laboratory de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Reservatórios Sivestres, IOC-FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Bonvicino); the Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Gonçalves); the Setor de Mamíferos, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Oliveira and de Oliveira); and the Laboratory de Pesquisa em Biodiversidade Animal, Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA), Programa de Pós-graduação em Genética, Canoas, Brazil (Mattevi)

Address correspondence to Cibele R. Bonvicino at the address above, or e-mail: cibelerb{at}inca.gov.br.

Northern South America presents a diverse array of nonforest or savanna-like ecosystems that are patchily distributed. The distribution of these open habitats has been quite dynamic during Quaternary glacial–interglacial cycles; yet, the relevance of climatically driven vicariance events to the diversification of nonforest Amazonian vertebrates remains poorly known. We analyzed karyologic and mitochondrial DNA sequence data of the genus Zygodontomys, a small cricetid rodent distributed throughout nonforest habitats of northern Amazonia. Samples analyzed represented 4 Brazilian Amazonian localities and 2 French Guiana localities. Karyologic variation among Amazonian Brazilian Zygodontomys populations is high, with, at least, 3 karyomorphotypes. Molecular phylogenetic analyses recovered 3 major clades congruent with known karyotypes, a finding that suggests the existence of 3 species, 2 of which currently undescribed. The French Guiana and Surumú clade, identified as Zygodontomys brevicauda microtinus, is characterized by 2n = 86 and is sister to the clade formed by the 2 nondescribed forms. The Rio Negro–Rio Branco form is characterized by 2n = 82, and the Ferreira Gomes–Itapoá form is characterized by 2n = 84. The distribution of the 3 Zygodontomys lineages identified is in accordance with the geography of the open vegetation patches in Northern Amazonia, and divergence time estimates relate speciation events to the middle-upper Pleistocene, supporting the prominent role of Quaternary climatically driven vicariance events in the diversification of the genus.

Key Words: amazonian savanna • phylogeography • Zygodontomys

Corresponding Editor: William Modi

Received June 3, 2008
Revised November 12, 2008
Accepted November 17, 2008


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