Phylogeography of two sympatric species of spiny rats from the Western Amazon

Abstract

Proechimys is a genus of the family Echimyidae widely distributed in the Amazon. Although it is abundant and widely distributed this genus is rarely studied, and there are few published data about its evolution and natural history. Therefore, the objective of this proposal is to investigate the phylogeographic pattern of two sympatric species of Proechimys from the Western Amazon. For this I will generate three genomic libraries with 180 samples using the ddRAD-Seq technique. The SNPs will be aligned and processed for phylogeographic and population analyzes. In addition, species distribution models will be created for the two target species, for the Last Glacial Maximum, Middle Holocene and for the present, in order to analyze whether environmental changes over time could explain the genetic variability. Genetic diversity indexes will be calculated for the populations and the relationships of this diversity with the geography will be analyzed through a Procrustes analyzes. Also, a phylogeny hypothesis for the genus Proechimys will be created to verify the phylogenetic relationship between target species. Thus, the expectation is to increase knowledge about the population dynamics of these species, as well as to increase information about its natural and evolutionary history of the genus. These data will help studies on ecology, taxonomy, evolution and conservation of Proechimys species.