10.5061/DRYAD.V2T5N
Pečnerová, Patrícia
Masaryk University
Moravec, Jiří C.
Institute of Vertebrate Biology
Martínková, Natália
Institute of Vertebrate Biology
Data from: A skull might lie: modelling ancestral ranges and diet from
genes and shape of tree squirrels
Dryad
dataset
2015
Ancestral Range Reconstruction
Sciurini
Multilocus phylogeny
diet modelling
geometric morphometry
2015-08-12T14:52:14Z
2015-08-12T14:52:14Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syv054
2135018 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Tropical forests of Central and South America represent hotspots of
biological diversity. Tree squirrels of the tribe Sciurini are an
excellent model system for the study of tropical biodiversity as these
squirrels disperse exceptional distances, and after colonizing the tropics
of the Central and South America, they have diversified rapidly. Here, we
compare signals from DNA sequences with morphological signals using
pictures of skulls and computational simulations. Phylogenetic analyses
reveal step-wise geographic divergence across the Northern Hemisphere. In
Central and South America, tree squirrels form two separate clades, which
split from a common ancestor. Simulations of ancestral distributions show
western Amazonia as the epicenter of speciation in South America. This
finding suggests that wet tropical forests on the foothills of Andes
possibly served as refugia of squirrel diversification during Pleistocene
climatic oscillations. Comparison of phylogeny and morphology reveals one
major discrepancy: Microsciurus species are a single clade morphologically
but are polyphyletic genetically. Modeling of morphology–diet
relationships shows that the only group of species with a direct link
between skull shape and diet are the bark-gleaning insectivorous species
of Microsciurus. This finding suggests that the current designation of
Microsciurus as a genus is based on convergent ecologically driven changes
in morphology.
SI_figures_Pecnerova_etalSI_tables_Pecnerova_etalSI_legends_Pecnerova_2015_SystBiol