Pliocene Forest Fragmentation Shaped Speciation in Tropical Asia's Giant Squirrels (Ratufa).

ABSTRACT: Tropical Asia's complex, dynamic geological and climatic history, coupled with its diverse topography, provides a fascinating setting to study evolutionary processes driving high biodiversity. This phylogenomic research reconstructs the evolutionary history of the strictly arboreal and forest-dependent Oriental Giant Squirrels (Ratufa) to gain insights into the interplay between paleo-forest distribution and regional diversification. By analysing genomic data (complete mitochondrial genomes and approximately 4000 nuclear ultraconserved elements) from historic museum specimens and conducting divergence time estimation and niche modelling, we uncover how global paleoclimate cooling, the uplift of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, and habitat fragmentation led to allopatric speciation in ref

SUBMITTER: Hinckley A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12717977 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature