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Evolutionary Genetics of Three Semispecies of Wood Rats--Neotoma Albigula, Neotoma Micropus, and Neotoma Floridana

Electrophoretic variation in 18 proteins encoded by 20 autosomal loci was used to compare the genetic relationships of 19 natural populations representing three species of the subgenus Neotoma. Of the 20 loci examined nine were monomorphic and fixed for the same allele in all populations. No more than seven loci were polymorphic within a single population. Genetic variability was expressed as the proportion of loci heterozygous in the average individual of a population. Heterozygosity in the three species of Neotoma studied averaged 0.078, a value within the range reported for other rodents. Although the levels of heterozygosity seen in Neotoma could not readily be explained, the variation may be attributed to ecological factors. The three species of Neotoma were compared on the basis of genetic similarity and found to form a close taxonomic unit, probably semispecies. Divergence times were obtained for the three species and found to compare well with divergence times obtained from fossil data. In general, the three species have diverged within the last 112,000 years during the Wisconsin glacial period.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc663448
Date12 1900
CreatorsNejtek, Michael E.
ContributorsZimmerman, Earl G., Stewart, Kenneth W., Busbee, David L.
PublisherNorth Texas State University
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvi, 74 leaves: ill., maps, Text
RightsPublic, Nejtek, Michael E., Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights

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