MOLECULAR EVIDENCE CONCERNING THE PHYLOGENETIC INTEGRITY OF THE MURINAE

ABSTRACT

Amino acid and DNA sequence data are used to infer the phylogenetic position of Acomys within or outside the Murinae, as well as to determine the evolutionary relationships of the Murinae with other murid subfamilies. Acomys and the non-murine murids Mesocricetus and Cricetulus possess a single preproinsulin gene, in contrast to Rattus and Mus, which possess two nonallelic genes. Moreover, both chains A and? of the insulins are identical in their amino acid sequences in Acomys, Mesocricetus, and Cricetulus, and differ from both insulins I and II of Rattus and Mus. Therefore, Acomys does not seem to belong to the Murinae. The genus Praomys is most probably paraphyletic, but the various species that have been tested molecularly seem to belong to the Murinae. The murine affiliations of Stochomys, Arvicanthis, Apodemus and Conilurus are confirmed, but Uranomys and Lophuromys may have been misassigned to the Murinae. The closest phylogenetic relatives of the Murinae are the Microtinae, the Cricetinae, and the Dipodinae. Neither the Murinae nor the Muridae is monophyletic.