Data for "Phylogenomics reveals the evolution, biogeography, and diversification of voles in the Hengduan Mountains"

Published: 30 August 2022| Version 2 | DOI: 10.17632/mwyj4m963h.2
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The Hengduan Mountains (HDM) of Southwest China are a biodiversity hotspot whose temperate flora and fauna are among the world's richest. However, the origin and evolution of biodiversity in the HDM region remain poorly understood, especially in mammals. Given that the HDM region shows the highest richness of vole species in the world, we used whole-exome capture sequencing data from the most comprehensive sampling of HDM voles performed to date to investigate their evolutionary history and diversification patterns. We reconstructed a robust species phylogeny and re-estimated the divergence times of the HDM voles. We found that all HDM vole species could be divided into a western lineage (Volemys, Proedromys, and Neodon) and an eastern lineage (Caryomys and Eothenomys), and the two lineages originated from two migration events from North Eurasia to the HDM approximately 9 million years ago (Mya). Both vole lineages underwent a significant acceleration of net diversification from 8-5 Mya, which was temporally congruent with the orogeny of the HDM region. We also identified strong intertribal gene flow among the HDM voles and hypothesized that frequent gene flow might have facilitated the speciation burst of the HDM voles. Our study highlights the importance of both environmental and biotic factors in shaping the biodiversity of mammals in mountain ecosystems.

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Tree, Coding (DNA)

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