The naked mole-rat is the only eusocial species among mammals, which is a unique model object for a number of areas of evolutionary and medical biology. For the first time, the staff of the Mammalian Microevolution Laboratory of the IEE RAS carried out a comprehensive molecular genetic analysis of this species from geographic localities covering a significant part of its range. The results of the study revealed a high degree of genetic differentiation between the two main evolutionary lineages of the naked mole-rat (eastern and southern) and showed that H. glaber has a pronounced phylogeographic structure. The taxonomic status of these two forms (species or subspecies?) is still uncertain. Based on the obtained genetic data and the results of modeling of ecological niches, a potential scenario of the formation of the modern range of the naked mole-rat has been created. It has been shown that the most important bioclimatic parameters that determine its distribution are the annual amount of precipitation and the amount of precipitation of the wettest season.
Zemlemerova E.D., Kostin D.S., Lebedev V.S., Martynov A.A., Gromov A.R., Alexandrov D.Yu., Lavrenchenko L.A., 2021. Genetic diversity of the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 59(1): 323-340. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12423