蹶鼠古老支系在喜马拉雅地区发现揭示了蹶鼠科的进化及其一新属和两新种描记
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Birch mice (family Sicistidae) are small dipodoid rodents distributed in regions surrounding the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and extending across the Palearctic. In China, members of the genus Sicista are rarely recorded, and their systematics remain poorly resolved. As part of the Second Xizang Plateau Expedition by the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, systematic surveys conducted in southern Xizang and the western Tianshan Mountains yielded two previously unrecognized species. Two specimens from southern Xizang were found to occupy a deeply divergent phylogenetic position within Sicistidae. Morphological assessments and molecular phylogenetic analyses of both extant and fossil Sicistidae, along with total-evidence dating and ancestral distribution reconstruction, identified these specimens as representatives of an ancient extant lineage that diverged from Sicista approximately 20.38 million years ago. This lineage is designated as a new genus, defined by the new species Breviforamen shannanensis gen. et sp. nov. Furthermore, 11 specimens from the Tianshan Mountains are described as a second new species, Sicista brevicauda sp. nov., based on diagnostic morphological and genetic features. Ancestral distribution reconstructions, combined with fossil records, indicate an early Miocene origin for Sicistidae across a broad region spanning the “Gobi” Desert to parts of North America. Climatic deterioration and increasing desertification during the mid-Miocene likely drove southward dispersal of Breviforamen gen. nov. into southern Xizang prior to the complete formation of the Yarlung Zangbo River. Overall, these findings broaden current understanding of Sicistidae diversity, elucidate the origin and dispersal patterns of the family, and highlight the presence of an ancient relict lineage in China.
Source: 动物学研究
Authors: Zhu Zhong-Xu, 中国科学院昆明动物研究所遗传进化与动物模型全国重点实验室, 云南省高黎贡山生物多样性重点实验室, 云南 昆明 650223, 中国, Li Quan, Song Wen-Yu, Li Xue-You, Lissovsky Andrey, Wang Mu-Yang, Pei Xiao-Xin, Luo Kang, Luo Jing, Pu Ming-Jin, Pu Chang-Zhe, Wang Hong-Jiao, Liu Zhu, Chen Zhong-Zheng, Jiang Xue-Long, 中国科学院大学昆明生命科学学院, 北京 100101, 中国, 大理大学病原与媒介生物研究所, 云南省自然疫源性疾病防控技术重点实验室, 云南 大理 671000, 中国, 中国科学院新疆生态与地理研究所, 荒漠与绿洲生态国家重点实验室, 干旱区生态安全与可持续发展全国重点实验室, 新疆 乌鲁木齐 830011, 中国, 牡丹江师范学院生命科学与技术学院, 黑龙江 牡丹江 157011, 中国, 安徽师范大学生态与环境学院, 皖江流域退化生态系统的恢复与重建省部共建协同创新中心, 安徽 芜湖 241002, 中国
Institutions: Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dali University, Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Mudanjiang Normal University, Anhui Normal University
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4412653279