INVESTIGADORES
LUCHERINI Mauro
artículos
Título:
Taxonomic revision of genus Galictis (Carnivora: Mustelidae): species delimitation, morphological diagnosis and refined mapping of geographic distribution
Autor/es:
BORNHOLDT R.; HELGEN K.M.; KOEPFLI K.P.; DE OLIVEIRA L.R.; LUCHERINI M.; EIZIRIK E.
Revista:
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
Editorial:
WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013 vol. 167 p. 449 - 472
ISSN:
0024-4082
Resumen:
Although critical for enabling in-depth evolutionary, ecological or conservation-oriented studies, taxonomic knowledge is still scarce for many groups of organisms, including mammals of the order Carnivora. For some of these taxa, even basic aspects such as species limits and geographic distribution are still uncertain. This is the case of the Neotropical mustelid genus Galictis, considered one of the least studied carnivoran genera in the Americas. To address this issue, we performed a comprehensive assessment of morphological and molecular characters to test the number of species within Galictis, and to characterize their distinctiveness and evolutionary history. In addition, we review and consolidate the available information on the taxonomy of this genus, so as to provide a historical framework upon which we could interpret our data. Our analyses demonstrated that two Galictis species can be clearly delimited and diagnosed using metric and non-metric morphological characters as well as DNA sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear gene segments. On the basis of this clarified species-level delimitation, we reassessed the geographic range of each Galictis taxon, identifying possible areas of sympatry between them. These results provide a solid taxonomic framework for Galictis, enabling the development of additional studies focusing on this poorly known taxon.