Phylogeography and karyotypic description of the Ethiopian striped mouse (Mus imberbis)
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Aleksey A. Martynov
,
Elena V. Cherepanova
,
Anton R. Gromov
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that Mus imberbis, formerly known as Muriculus imberbis, is an internal lineage of the African subgenus Nannomys. Due to differences in coloration between specimens from the Abyssinian Plateau and Harar Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands, populations from the Harar Plateau have been given subspecies status. Nonetheless, available data have been insufficient to assess phylogenetic structure of this species. In this work, we reconstruct phylogeographic structure of M. imberbis on the basis of molecular data. The obtained results refute the division of M. imberbis into two subspecies. We also describe for the first time the karyotype of this species.
Award Identifier / Grant number: 075-15-2024-649
Acknowledgments
We are very grateful to the Gullele Botanic Garden administration for permission and comprehensive support during the fieldwork.
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Research ethics: All the fieldwork complied with laws and regulations of Ethiopia, and the sampling was carried out with the permission of the Gullele Botanic Garden administration (Ref. G.B.G./691/2023).
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Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study, or their legal guardians or wards.
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Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of the submitted manuscript and have approved it.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: Financial support of this study was provided by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of agreement no. 075-15-2024-649.
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Data availability: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the GenBank repository, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank.
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