Faculty Publications

Phylogeographic Variation in Two Central American Pocket Gophers (Orthogeomys)

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Central America, mtDNA, Orthogeomys, phylogeography, Rodentia

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Mammalogy

Volume

77

Issue

4

First Page

917

Last Page

927

Abstract

Restriction-site data for mitochondrial DNA were used to test the isolation-by-distance model of genetic variation in two species of Central American pocket gophers, Orthogeomys cherriei and O. underwoodi. Maximum- likelihood and parsimony analyses yielded trees with topologies concordant with predictions based on physiography. Relationships within O. cherriei reveal probable effects of a partial geographic barrier in the form of the CordiLlera de Tilaran in northcentral Costa Rica. The phylogenetic tree for O. underwoodi branches in a ladder-like fashion from south to north suggesting the absence of obstructions to gene flow. Results of Mantel tests indicated that variation of mtDNA within O. cherriei is not consistent with a hypothesis of isolation-by-distance, whereas variation within O. underwoodi shows a statistically significant association with geographic distance. Estimates of intraspecific sequence divergence indicate that the present distributions of these two species resulted from climatic shifts in the Pleistocene.

Department

Department of Biology

Original Publication Date

1-1-1996

DOI of published version

10.2307/1382774

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