ASSESSING THE PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF THE SOUTHERN-THREE BANDED ARMADILLO (TOLYPEUTES MATACUS) IN ARGENTINA

FERREIRO, A.M.; POLJAK, S.; SOIBELZON, E.; CHIAPPERO, M.

Macae

Congreso; I CONGRESSO INTERNACIONAL DE CONSERVAÇÃO DE XENARTHRA; 2020

IntroductionThe southern three-banded armadillo is currently distributed in xeric areas of the Chacoan Region(Eastern Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay) and it extends its distribution to the Pantanal Region(south-western Brazil). However, extensive paleontological studies have recorded the species southof this area until not long ago, reaching the southeast of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. Todate, no study has focused on trying to understand how the populations of this species evolved toreach the distributional range that we are seeing nowadays.ObjectiveTo contribute with knowledge that helps recognize conservation priorities for the species, here weshare preliminary results from a phylogeographic study aimed to better understand the patternsand processes that rule the evolutionary history of this species? populations.MethodologyWe obtained tissue samples from 18 localities during field trips and others collected by colleagues.We obtained sequences from the control region of the mitochondrial genome and generated ahaplotype network and a haplotype frequency map using PopArt v 1.7. We estimated the number ofgenetic clusters and their limits using Geneland v. 4.9.2 and calculated several genetic diversityindices for each one using Arlequin v. 3.5.ResultsThe haplotype network for the 44 sequences obtained showed a complex pattern with most of thehaplotypes being connected to their neighbors by only one mutational step. The exceptions weretwo haplotypes from northern Argentina that were connected with their neighboring haplotypes byfour to six mutational steps. The most frequent haplotype is present in southern localities, beingalmost the only haplotype in this region. Geneland analysis detected two genetic clusters (K=2):the northern cluster includes localities from Salta, Formosa, Chaco, Tucuman, Santiago del Estero,and northern of Cordoba provinces, whereas the southern cluster includes localities from westernCordoba, La Rioja, San Juan, and San Luis. Diversity indices were in general higher for northernlocalities.Discussion and ConclusionThe haplotype network suggests low genetic structuring of T. matacus populations. However, ourdata allows the recognition of two genetic groups. Lower genetic variability in the southern clustermay be associated with their proximity to glaciers and expansion of the Patagonian steppe duringPleistocene glacial periods. Also, the northern region, where we find the highest diversity values,are in concordance with climatic refugia proposed for a chacoan tree. Despite our results allow todetect general phylogeographic patterns for the species, a further step to a better understanding ofthe evolutionary patterns of the species would be to include localities in the most northern regionsof its range from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. The information generated from thisphylogeographic study will contribute to the knowledge of the species and establish the bestconservation strategies.