Molecular Phylogeny Of Mouse Hare (Ochotona: Lagomorpha) Using Cytochrome B Gene As A Phylogenetic Marker

Mouse hare (Ochotonidae) is small, short and rounded ears, small limbs and non-ostensible tail. In present study total, 402 bp sequences of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene have been taken for 31 species of Ochotona family. In each sequence having length 402bp coded 134 amino acids, and initial codon is ATG in maximum species. In present analysis Neighbor-joining, minimum evolution and maximum likelihood methods strongly indicated five major groups. The first group comprises fourteen animals (the surrounding Qinghai?Tibet Plateau group) includes present study animal (Ochotona spp.) with O. macrotis, O. roylei, O. koslowi, O. iliensis, O. rutila, O. himalayana, O. forresti, O. rufescens, O. ladacensis, O. erythrotis, O. gloveri, O. muliensis, and O. brookei. The second (the northern group) is composed of eight animals i.e. O. collaris, O. princeps, O. mantchurica, O. hyperborea, O. coreana, O. turuchanensis, O. pallasi, and O. alpine. The third group (the Huanghe group) comprises only one species, O. huangensis. The fourth group comprises seven animals included O. daurica, O. thibetana, O. thomasi. O. annectens, O. cansus, O. curzoniae and O. nubrica. The fifth group the Central Asia comprises only one species, and is O. pusilla.