Molecular phylogenetic analysis of nuclear genes suggests a Cenozoic over-water dispersal origin for the Cuban solenodon

• DOI: 10.1038/srep31173
• Publication Date: 2016-08-08T09:12:30Z
• Authors: Jun J. Sato; Satoshi D. Ohdachi; Lazaro M. Echeniq...; Rafael Borroto-Páez; Gerardo Begué-Quiala; Jorge L. Delgado-...; Jorgelino Gámez-Díez; José Alvarez-Lemus; Son Truong Nguyen; Nobuyuki Yamaguchi; Masaki Kita
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; Cuba; Nuclear Proteins; Eulipotyphla; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; Insectivore; Endangered species; Article; Evolution, Molecular; Animals; Phylogeny; Caribbean biota

AbstractThe Cuban solenodon (Solenodon cubanus) is one of the most enigmatic mammals and is an extremely rare species with a distribution limited to a small part of the island of Cuba. Despite its rarity, in 2012 seven individuals ofS. cubanuswere captured and sampled successfully for DNA analysis, providing new insights into the evolutionary origin of this species and into the origins of the Caribbean fauna, which remain controversial. We conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses of five nuclear genes (Apob,Atp7a,Bdnf,Brca1andRag1; total, 4,602 bp) from 35 species of the mammalian order Eulipotyphla. Based on Bayesian relaxed molecular clock analyses, the family Solenodontidae diverged from other eulipotyphlan in the Paleocene, after the bolide impact on the Yucatan Peninsula, andS. cubanusdiverged from the Hispaniolan solenodon (S. paradoxus) in the Early Pliocene. The strikingly recent divergence time estimates suggest thatS. cubanusand its ancestral lineage originated via over-water dispersal rather than vicariance events, as had previously been hypothesised.