Аннотация:Eastern Afromontane region is a well-known hotspot of biodiversity and endemism; however, the relationships betweengroups of organisms inhabiting different highland areas are still poorly understood. Herein, the phylogenetic relationshipbetween endemic Crocidura from Ethiopia and Tanzania was assessed using mitochondrial and nuclear data. At the genusscale, all analyses supported the monophyly of the Eastern Afromontane clade. Within this clade, most of the Ethiopianendemics form a group, which is paraphyletic relative to a more compact Tanzanian clade. The Ethiopian C. macmillani wasfound to be closely related to Tanzanian species. In fact, according to the mitochondrial DNA data, it may be a descendantof the C. montis–C. luna clade. The molecular dating results suggest that the Ethiopian–Tanzanian clade diverged at ca. 3.4Mya while the onset of radiation within the clade corresponds to Early Pleistocene (ca. 2 Mya). The inferred phylogeneticpattern is consistent with the scenario that has Ethiopia as the primary centre of diversification for the Eastern Afromontaneclade. The areas southwards from Ethiopia were found to be colonized through a single dispersal event at 1.3–0.7 Mya; thedistribution of C. macmillani might be explained by a secondary re-colonization of Ethiopia. Collectively, the nuclear andmitochondrial data revealed a low divergence between morphologically distinct and elevationally parapatric C. thalia andC. glassi, thereby aligning with the gradient model of speciation.
