Mitogenomic analysis of Rüppell's fox (Vulpes rueppellii) confirms phylogenetic placement within the Palaearctic clade shared with its sister species, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Basuony, Ali Elsayed, Saleh, Mostafa and Hailer, Frank ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2340-1726 2024. Mitogenomic analysis of Rüppell's fox (Vulpes rueppellii) confirms phylogenetic placement within the Palaearctic clade shared with its sister species, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Mitochondrial DNA Part A 10.1080/24701394.2024.2332320 Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

The Rüppell’s fox (Vulpes rueppellii) inhabits desert regions across North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and southwestern Asia. Its phylogenetic relationship with other fox species, especially within the phylogeographic context of its sister species, V. vulpes, remain unclear. We here report the sequencing and de-novo assembly of the first annotated mitogenome of V. rueppellii, analysed with data from other foxes (tribe Vulpini, subfamily Caninae). We used four bioinformatic approaches to reconstruct the V. rueppellii mitogenome, obtaining identical sequences except for the incompletely assembled tandem-repeat region within the D-loop. The mitogenome displayed an identical organization, number and length of genes as V. vulpes. We found high support for clustering of both known subclades of V. rueppellii within the Palearctic clade of V. vulpes, rendering the latter species paraphyletic, consistent with previous analyses of shorter mtDNA fragments. More work is needed for a full understanding of the evolutionary drivers and consequences of hybridization in foxes.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Biosciences
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis
ISSN:	2470-1394
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 March 2024
Date of Acceptance:	15 March 2024
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2024 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/167288

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