Are Rates of Diversification in Subterranean South American Tuco-Tucos (Genus Ctenomys, Rodentia: Octodontidae) Unusually High?
Cook, J.A.; Lessa, E.P.
Evolution; international journal of organic evolution 52(5): 1521-1527
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 1558-5646 PMID: 28565377 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1998.tb02035.x
Accession: 059397902
Subterranean rodents have been used frequently as examples of explosive speciation in mammals. We tested for differential rates of diversification by using information from molecular phylogenies to focus primarily on tuco-tucos (Rodentia: Octodontidae), the most speciose lineage of subterranean rodents. Tuco-tucos were not significantly more diverse than their sister taxon (octodontines); however, a lineages-through-time analysis suggests an increase in diversification at the base of the tuco-tuco clade.