Looking under stones: A new Ctenomys species from the rocky foothills of the Sierras Grandes of central Argentina

MAPELLI, FERNANDO; TETA, PABLO ; CONTRERAS, FACUNDO; PEREYRA VILLAURRETA, M.D.R; PRIOTTO, JOSÉ; CODA, JOSÉ A.

JOURNAL OF MAMMALIAN EVOLUTION

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2022

1064-7554

Ctenomys (tuco-tucos) is one of the most speciose genera of mammals, and the number of species that compose it continuesto increase. Of the 65 species currently recognized for the genus, 15% have been described in the last 10 years. In this work,based on morphological and molecular evidence, we describe a new species of tuco-tuco for Central Argentina. This newspecies inhabits stony soils in the foothills of Sierras Grandes in Cordoba province and is distinguished from its congenersby a combination of anatomical characters, including a unique morphology of the posterolateral extension of the palatine.The molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene showed that this new species does not belong to anyspecies complex described for Ctenomys. On the contrary, this new taxon shows a high genetic divergence with the rest ofthe species and species groups of Ctenomys and was recovered as an independent lineage within the phylogeny of the genus.This finding increases the richness of Ctenomys to 66 species. Our results highlight the need to increase the geographicsampling of studies in this genus to achieve a more complete understanding of its diversity.