Phylogenetic regionalization of the Palearctic rodent family Dipodidae (Rodentia)

Phylogenetic regionalization is a novel methodology integrating data on the current geographical distribution of a given taxon and phylogenetic information associated with this taxon. This integration results in identification of areas of unique evolutionary histories (=phyloregions). We applied phylogenetic regionalization to the Palearctic rodents of the family Dipodidae (jerboas) taking into account 54 of 56 known species. Six phyloregions were identified, five of which were easily interpreted geographically and were each associated with several phylogenetic lineages. Five of the six phyloregions were in the eastern part of the Palearctic Desert Belt, while only one was located mainly in its western part, though a small portion was also in the eastern part. The higher subdivision of phyloregions in the east could be the result of jerboas’ geographical origin and the speciation of most of their phylogenetic lineages in the eastern Palearctic. The phylogenetic uniqueness of the phyloregions corresponded well to previous knowledge of the historical biogeography of Dipodidae. There was no statistically significant congruence of phyloregions with terrestrial biomes. In general, phyloregions differed significantly in climate, vegetation, and topographic variables, although pairwise differences were significant in some, but not other, phyloregion pairs.