Multiple loci and complete taxonomic sampling resolve the phylogeny and biogeographic history of tenrecs (Mammalia: Tenrecidae) and reveal higher speciation rates in Madagascar’s humid forests

The family Tenrecidae (tenrecs) is one of only four extant terrestrial mammal lineages to have colonized and diversified on Madagascar. Over the past 15 years, several studies have disagreed on relationships among major tenrec lineages, resulting in multiple reinterpretations of the number and timing of historical transoceanic dispersal events between Africa and Madagascar. We reconstructed the phylogeny of Tenrecidae using multiple loci from all recognized extant species and estimated divergence timing using six fossil calibrations within Afrotheria. All phylogenetic analyses strongly support monophyly of the Malagasy tenrecs, and our divergence timing analysis places their colonization of the island at 30-56 Ma. Our comprehensive phylogeny supports three important taxonomic revisions that reflect the evolutionary history of tenrecs: (1) we formally elevate the African otter shrews to their own family Potamogalidae, thereby rendering extant Tenrecidae entirely endemic to Madagascar, (2...