Mitochondrial genome of critically endangered enigmatic Kazakhstan endemic desert dormouse Selevinia betpakdalaensis (Rodentia: Gliridae) and its phylogenetic relationships with other dormice species

Dormice (family Gliridae), is an ancient group, in the Oligocene and Early Miocene it was the entirely dominant rodent family, and current diversity is represented with few extant species. The Kazakhstan endemic, desert dormouse Selevinia betpakdalaensis is one of the most enigmatic dormouse species. The lack of genetic data did not allow Selevinia to be included in the previous molecular phylogenetic analysis. In the current study we report the first genetic data for S. betpakdalaensis as well as mitochondrial genomes for several other species of the Gliridae family ( Myomimus roachi and Glirulus japonicus ) retrieved from the museum specimens and Graphiurus murinus assembled from SRA data. The assembled mitochondrial genomes were combined with available mitochondrial data from the Genbank to reconstruct the mitochondrial phylogeny of Gliridae. Taking into account the distortion of the phylogeny as a result of the analysis of the saturated third codon position, we obtained for the first time a resolved phylogeny of the subfamily. The first split within Gliridae (separation time of the Leithiinae subfamily) is estimated as an average of 34.6 Mya, while Graphiurinae and Glirinae subfamilies divergence time is assessed about 32.67 Mya. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the relationship between Selevinia and the mouse-tailed dormouse genus Myomimus previously shown based on cranial and mandibular morphology.