0000000000446947
AUTHOR
Mark Gligor
Hybridization of mouse lemurs: different patterns under different ecological conditions
Abstract Background Several mechanistic models aim to explain the diversification of the multitude of endemic species on Madagascar. The island's biogeographic history probably offered numerous opportunities for secondary contact and subsequent hybridization. Existing diversification models do not consider a possible role of these processes. One key question for a better understanding of their potential importance is how they are influenced by different environmental settings. Here, we characterized a contact zone between two species of mouse lemurs, Microcebus griseorufus and M. murinus, in dry spiny bush and mesic gallery forest that border each other sharply without intermediate habitats…
Range Shifts of Mouse Lemurs in South-Eastern Madagascar: Evidence from Mitochondrial Genetic Data
The gray mouse lemur, Microcebus murinus, occurs mainly in dry forests in western Madagascar, but its distribution extends into humid littoral forests in the south-eastern Anosy Region. We sequenced the mitochondrial hypervariable region 1 for 282 M. murinus individuals from 13 south-eastern study sites. The spatial distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes and the varying genetic distances within two haplotype clades indicated a trend of decreasing genetic diversity towards the south-eastern margin of the range. Rufous mouse lemurs, Microcebus cf. rufus, have a complementary distribution in south-eastern Madagascar which does not overlap with that of M. murinus. Taken together, the spatial …
Hybridization between mouse lemurs in an ecological transition zone in southern Madagascar
Hybrid zones in ecotones can be useful model systems for the study of evolutionary processes that shape the distribution and discreteness of species. Such studies could be important for an improved understanding of the complex biogeography of Madagascar, which is renowned for its outstanding degree of small-scale endemism. Certain forest remnants in central Madagascar indicate that transitional corridors across the island could have connected microendemics in different forest types in the past. Evolutionary processes in such corridors are difficult to study because most of these corridors have disappeared due to deforestation in central Madagascar. We studied a hybrid zone in one of the few…