Evaluating Diversification Hypotheses in the South American Cricetid Thaptomys nigrita (Lichtenstein, 1829) (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae): An Appraisal of Geographical Variation Based on Different Character Systems

Molecular surveys using mtDNA sequences have been used to identify cryptic species in sigmodontine rodents. However, where sampling is uneven, a critical appraisal of further evidence is pivotal to test whether genetic discontinuity represents different species. In order to investigate geographical variation in the Neotropical rodent Thaptomys nigrita, we analyzed patterns of morphological variation in qualitative and morphometric data, and compared our results with recent information on karyological and molecular diversity reported for the monotypic genus. Two subtle morphometric groups of populations, corresponding to karyomorphs 2n = 50 and 2n = 52, were revealed, but no qualitative aspect of craniodental morphology unambiguously distinguished them. A positive and significant association between geographical and both morphological and genetic distances suggest that the distinction between the two groups of population follows an isolation by distance model. This result, coupled with phylogeographic and karyotypic breaks coincident to a sampling gap extending for 540 km, and with the low phylogenetic resolution of molecular clades, does not allow rejecting the hypothesis that the divergent samples constitute polymorphic populations of a widely distributed species. We discuss possible determinants of these patterns and emphasize the need for an integrative approach in future efforts to disclose the evolutionary relationships of small mammals in situations of uneven sampling.