Metlholo Andries Phukuntsi, Teresa Kearney, Helene Brettschneider, Desiré Lee Dalton, Maria Oosthuizen, Gerhard Goldner, Jacqueline Badenhorst and Antoinette Kotze
The recent taxonomy and phylogeny of Otomyinae has been in a state of flux as new systematic revisions combining molecular, karyotypic and morphometric information have identified changes at various taxonomic levels. Currently two genera of Otomyinae and eight species of Otomys are recognized in South Africa. However, the position of Otomys sloggetti on the phylogeny of Otomyinae has not been resolved, and since this species was not well represented in recent revisions it may also reveal multiple cryptic evolutionary species. In this study four mitochondrial and one nuclear gene regions and external morphological characters were analysed to elucidate relationships within O. sloggetti, as well as between O. sloggetti and other Otomys species occurring in South Africa. The data from this study suggested O. sloggetti belongs to neither the Otomys, nor the Parotomys genera. Instead, we propose returning to the classification of Otomyinae and recognize Myotomys as the valid genus for O. sloggetti. Within O. sloggetti, our data does not support the traditional view of the distribution and intraspecific variation of the species, and invites a new hypothesis. Specimens identified in the field as O. sloggetti were found to represent two different clades. One of the clades was genetically and morphologically consistent with the description for O. sloggetti, while the other was distinct from O. sloggetti and other Otomys species known to occur in South Africa. Our data suggests that this is a novel species within the Otomys genus.
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