The phylogenetic relationships of the bilby, Macrotis lagotis (Peramelimorphia: Thylacomyidae), to the bandicoots- DNA sequence evidence

Abstract

Partial sequencing of the 12S ribosomal RNA gene was used to test two competing hypotheses concerning the phylogenetic relationship of the bilby (Macrotis lagotis) to the Australian and New Guinean species of bandicoot. The first hypothesis proposes that the Australian and New Guinean bandicoots are in a monophyletic clade to the exclusion of the bilbies, whereas the second hypothesis proposes that the bilby is monophyletic with the Australian bandicoots to the exclusion of the New Guinean bandicoots. Phylogenies determined by both maximum-likelihood and neighbour-joining approaches supported the first hypothesis in which the bilby is excluded from the clade represented by the Australian and New Guinean bandicoots. Monophyly of the Australian and New Guinean bandicoots is consistent with the biogeographical scenario in which Australia and Papua New Guinea have undergone repeated connection and disconnection over the last 20 million years.