The Praomyini tribe is one of the most numerous and diverse groups of African rodents. The species of this group are reservoirs of many pathogenic microorganisms, as well as agricultural pests. An international team of researchers, including the head of the laboratory of microevolution of mammals, IEE RAS, Doctor of Biological Sciences Lavrenchenko L.A., carried out the phylogenomic analysis of Praomyini. For the first time, a fully resolved phylogenetic tree of this tribe has been obtained. Numerous taxonomic changes have been proposed, and four new genera have been identified (Montemys, Congomys, Ochromyscus, Serengetimys). A deeply divergent lineage found in southwestern Ethiopia is described from the only known specimen as a new genus and species, Chingawaemys rarus (Lavrenchenko, Mikula & Bryja, 2021). Divergence dating results suggest that the radiation of the Praomyini tribe began during the Messinian Crisis salinity (~ 7 million years ago) and was probably associated with the fragmentation of African forests in the Miocene. It is shown that some of its lines, like their common ancestor, continued to live in evergreen rainforests, while many others adapted to open and mountainous habitats that arose at the beginning of the Pliocene.
Figure 1. Chingawa forest (southwestern Ethiopia) - type locality of Chingawaemys rarus.
Figure 2. Holotype (skin and skull) of the new genus and species Chingawaemys rarus Lavrenchenko, Mikula & Bryja, 2021.
Figure 3. Reconstruction of ancestral habitats of individual evolutionary lineages of Praomyini.
The work was carried out within the framework of the joint Russian-Czech project (RFBR no. 19-54-26003, Czech Scientific Foundation no. 20-07091J).
Original publication:
Nicolas V., Mikula O., Lavrenchenko L.A., Šumbera R., Bartáková V., Bryjová A., Meheretu Y., Verheyen E., Missoup A.D., Lemmon A.R., Moriarty Lemmon E., Bryja J., 2021. Phylogenomics of African radiation of Praomyini (Muridae: Murinae) rodents: First fully resolved phylogeny, evolutionary history and delimitation of extant genera. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 163(1): 107263.
Link to article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107263