Ancient mitogenomics elucidates diversity of extinct West Indian tortoises.

ABSTRACT: We present 10 nearly complete mitochondrial genomes of the extinct tortoise Chelonoidis alburyorum from the Bahamas. While our samples represent morphologically distinct populations from six islands, their genetic divergences were shallow and resembled those among Galápagos tortoises. Our molecular clock estimates revealed that divergence among Bahamian tortoises began ~ 1.5 mya, whereas divergence among the Galápagos tortoises (C. niger complex) began ~ 2 mya. The inter-island divergences of tortoises from within the Bahamas and within the Galápagos Islands are much younger (0.09-0.59 mya, and 0.08-1.43 mya, respectively) than the genetic differentiation between any other congeneric pair of tortoise species. The shallow mitochondrial divergences of the two radiations on the Bahamas and th

SUBMITTER: Kehlmaier C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7873039 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature