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20 April 2016 Alpha taxonomy of Dromiciops (Microbiotheriidae) with the description of 2 new species of monito del monte
Guillermo D'Elía, Natalí Hurtado, Alejandro D'Anatro
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Abstract

A previous study showed that Dromiciops gliroides has deep phylogeographic structure, with 3 allopatric and highly differentiated groups. Here, we constructed on that study by assessing the morphologic variation of D. gliroides. Our results show that along its distribution Dromiciops is morphologically highly variable and that the geographic pattern of morphologic variation matches the phylogeographic pattern. Taken together, morphological and molecular data indicate the existence of 2 unrecognized and unnamed species of monito del monte, which are here named and described. Cranial and dental features can easily distinguish species of Dromiciops. One of the new species is endemic of Chile, and the other new species occurs in Argentina and Chile. D. gliroides s.s. is restricted to the southern part of the genus distribution including Chiloé Island. We comment on the conservation significance of our findings and on the need of continuing with field- and collection-based research in order to characterize the richness of the Chilean mammal assemblage.

© 2016 American Society of Mammalogists, www.mammalogy.org
Guillermo D'Elía, Natalí Hurtado, and Alejandro D'Anatro "Alpha taxonomy of Dromiciops (Microbiotheriidae) with the description of 2 new species of monito del monte," Journal of Mammalogy 97(4), 1136-1152, (20 April 2016). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw068
Received: 30 November 2015; Accepted: 8 March 2016; Published: 20 April 2016
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