Diversification of the arboreal mice of the genus Habromys (Rodentia : Cricetidae : Neotominae) in the Mesoamerican highlands

Abstract

within the latter, the southernmost clade (Oaxaca to Central America) is sister to the Transmexican Volcanic Belt clade. Four major clades are clearly distinguished: H. simulatus freom the Sierra Madre Oriental and the closely associated Sierra Mazateca

H. delicatulus and H. schmidlyi freom the Transmexican Volcanic Belt

H. lepturus, H. chinanteco, and H. ixtlani freom the northern Oaxacan highlands

and H. lophurus freom Nuclear Central America. Within species, the analyses suggest that H. simulatus and H. lophurus are each composed by two different taxa. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The arboreal mice of the genus Habromys (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Neotominae) are among the most poorly known Neotropical rodents. We investigated specieslevel phylogenetic relationships among the seven described Habromys species using 1331 aligned bases freom the mitochondrial ND3 and ND4 regions. Sequences were obtained freom 30 specimens of the seven known species of Habromys and we performed maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian probabilities analyses. The monophyly of the genus Habromys within the Neotomines was verified. The northernmost H. simulatus is sister to the remaining species of the group