Phylogenomics reveals the evolution, biogeography, and diversification history of voles in the Hengduan Mountains.

The Hengduan Mountains (HDM) of China are a biodiversity hotspot whose temperate flora and fauna are among the world's richest. However, the origin and evolution of biodiversity in the HDM remain poorly understood, especially in mammals. Given that the HDM shows the highest richness of vole species in the world, we used whole-exome capture sequencing data from the currently most comprehensive sampling of HDM voles to investigate their evolutionary history and diversification patterns.

Out of Tibet: Genomic Perspectives on the Evolutionary History of Extant Pikas.

Pikas are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere and are highly adapted to cold and alpine environments. They are one of the most complex and problematic groups in mammalian systematics, and the origin and evolutionary history of extant pikas remain controversial. In this study, we sequenced the whole coding sequences of 105 pika samples (29 named species and 1 putative new species) and obtained DNA data for more than 10,000 genes.

Reassessment of the taxonomic status of Craseomys and three controversial species of Myodes and Alticola (Rodentia: Arvicolinae).

The genera Myodes (red-backed voles) and Alticola (mountain voles) appear to be sister taxa based on morphological similarities, but molecular analyses fail to resolve them as monophyletic genera owing to the uncertain taxonomic status of Craseomys and Phaulomys. As a result of incomplete sampling of related specimens, ongoing controversies on the taxonomic positions of several generic and specific taxa necessitate further clarifications. Herein, we combined molecular, morphometric, and geometric morphometric approaches to analyze 217 specimens of 10 taxa of Myodes and Alticola systematically.

How many species of and occur in China? A survey based on mitochondrial cyt b and morphological analyses.

(mice) and (rats) are the top rodent reservoirs for zoonoses in China, yet little is known about their diversity. We reexamined the alpha diversity of these two genera based on a new collection of specimens from China and their cyt sequences in GenBank. We also tested whether species could be identified using external and craniodental measurements exclusively.