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Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae)

Dissertation (MS)--University of Pretoria, 2011.

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Other Authors: Bastos, Armanda D.S.
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Bastos, Armanda D.S.
author_browse Bastos, Armanda D.S.
author_facet Bastos, Armanda D.S.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2007, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MS)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/26152
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:10.429Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/26152 Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae) Bastos, Armanda D.S. Chimimba, Christian Timothy lsrotherham@zoology.up.ac.za Rotherham, Lia Suzanne Subspecies Southern African hedgehog Atelerix frontalis Allopatric populations UCTD Hedgehogs Dissertation (MS)--University of Pretoria, 2011. The near-threatened southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (A. Smith, 1831) is divided into two subspecies based on its disjunct distribution of two allopatric populations. This is despite reservations because its nature and extent of geographic variation remains virtually unknown. The present study, therefore, represents the first analysis of geographic variation within A. frontalis and is based on a multidisciplinary approach involving traditional and two-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis of the cranium and mandible, and molecular data in order to test the validity of the subspecies designations. The results of all univariate and multivariate analyses of both traditional and geometric morphometric data were congruent and provide evidence for a north-westerly–south-easterly clinal pattern of variation with cranial configuration being positively correlated with both latitude and longitude. These results are supported by Neighbour-joining, Maximum Likelihood, and Maximum Parsimony analyses of Cyt-b and ND2 data that revealed no variation across a 377 bp and 1034 bp region sequenced for each gene, respectively, while a 377 bp control region sequenced revealed low levels of variation between representatives of the two recognized subspecies (0.54 % pairwise sequence divergence). These results together with the lack of pronounced steps in the clinal pattern of variation suggest that the recognition of subspecies within A. frontalis may be untenable such that its disjunct distribution may represent a recent divergence event. If this is the case, then the results in this study may have implications in the conservation management strategies for A. frontalis, since it could be argued that one disjunct population could act as a source population for the other. However, it is recommended that prior to the implementation of conservation management plans for the species, further studies involving a wide range of alternative systematic techniques need to be undertaken first in order to gain a better understanding of the nature and extent of geographic variation within A. frontalis. These suggested studies should focus on comprehensive sampling and analyses involving a range of environmental and/or climatic variables in an attempt to identify factors that may explain the disjunct distribution and the clinal pattern of variation within the southern African hedgehog. Zoology and Entomology unrestricted 2013-09-07T02:52:48Z 2008-08-13 2013-09-07T02:52:48Z 2007-04-20 2011-02-15 2008-07-09 Dissertation Rotherham, LS 2007, Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae), MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26152 > E590/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26152 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07092008-121809/ © 2007, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Subspecies
Southern African hedgehog
Atelerix frontalis
Allopatric populations
UCTD
Hedgehogs
Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae)
title Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae)
title_full Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae)
title_fullStr Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae)
title_full_unstemmed Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae)
title_short Morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalis (Eulipotyphla : Erinaceidae)
title_sort morphometric and molecular analysis of variation in the southern african hedgehog atelerix frontalis eulipotyphla erinaceidae
topic Subspecies
Southern African hedgehog
Atelerix frontalis
Allopatric populations
UCTD
Hedgehogs
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26152
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07092008-121809/