Data from: 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) we subsume the semiaquatic genus <i>Limnogale</i> within the shrew-tenrec genus <i>Microgale</i>, and (3) we re-elevate the two largest-bodied shrew tenrecs, <i>Microgale dobsoni</i> and <i>M. talazaci</i>, to the genus <i>Nesogale</i> Thomas 1918. Finally, we use recently summarized habitat data to test the hypothesis that diversification rates differ between humid and arid habitats on Madagascar, and we compare three common methods for ancestral biogeographic reconstruction. These analyses suggest higher speciation rates in humid habitats and reveal a minimum of three and more likely five independent transitions to arid habitats. Our results resolve the relationships among previously recalcitrant taxa, illuminate the timing and mechanisms of major biogeographic patterns in an extraordinary example of an island radiation, and permit the first comprehensive, phylogenetically consistent taxonomy of Madagascar’s tenrecs.马岛猬科（Tenrecidae）是仅有的4支成功定居并在马达加斯加岛上完成辐射演化的现生陆生哺乳动物支系之一。过去15年间，多项研究对马岛猬主要支系间的系统发育关系存在争议，由此导致学界对非洲与马达加斯加之间历史跨洋扩散事件的次数与时间节点产生了多种不同解读。本研究利用所有已确认现生马岛猬物种的多基因位点重构其系统发育关系，并基于非洲兽总目（Afrotheria）内的6个化石校准点估算分化时间。所有系统发育分析均强烈支持马达加斯加马岛猬为单系群，本研究的分化时间分析显示其定居该岛的时间为30~56 Ma。本研究构建的全面系统发育树支持三项契合马岛猬演化历史的重要分类学修订：（1）正式将非洲獭鼩提升为独立的獭鼩科（Potamogalidae），由此使现生马岛猬科完全成为马达加斯加特有类群；（2）将半水生的沼猬属（Limnogale）并入鼩猬属（Microgale）；（3）将体型最大的两种鼩形马岛猬——道森鼩猬（Microgale dobsoni）与塔拉扎西鼩猬（M. talazaci）——重新提升至内猬属（Nesogale Thomas, 1918）。最后，本研究利用近期汇总的栖息地数据，检验马达加斯加岛上湿润与干旱生境间物种分化速率存在差异这一假说，并对比了三种常用的祖先生物地理重建方法。上述分析显示湿润生境中的物种形成速率更高，同时揭示马岛猬至少发生过3次、大概率为5次独立的向干旱生境的扩散事件。本研究结果厘清了此前存在争议的类群间的系统发育关系，阐明了这一极具代表性的岛屿辐射演化事件中主要生物地理格局的形成时间与机制，并首次构建了契合系统发育关系的马达加斯加马岛猬综合分类体系。