Baboon phylogeny as inferred from complete mitochondrial genomes

Abstract

Baboons (genus Papio) are an interesting phylogeographical primate model for the evolution of savanna species during the Pleistocene. Earlier studies, based on partial mitochondrial sequence information, revealed seven major haplogroups indicating multiple para- and polyphylies among the six baboon species. The most basal splits among baboon lineages remained unresolved and the credibility intervals for divergence time estimates were rather large. Assuming that genetic variation within the two studied mitochondrial loci so far was insufficient to infer the apparently rapid early radiation of baboons we used complete mitochondrial sequence information of ten specimens, representing all major baboon lineages, to reconstruct a baboon phylogeny and to re-estimate divergence times. Our data confirmed the earlier tree topology including the para- and polyphyletic relationships of most baboon species; divergence time estimates are slightly younger and credibility intervals narrowed substantially, thus making the estimates more precise. However, the most basal relationships could not be resolved and it remains open whether (1) the most southern population of baboons diverged first or (2) a major split occurred between southern and northern clades. Our study shows that complete mitochondrial genome sequences are more effective to reconstruct robust phylogenies and to narrow down estimated divergence time intervals than only short portions of the mitochondrial genome, although there are also limitations in resolving phylogenetic relationships. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Distribution of Mitochondrial Clades and Morphotypes of BaboonsPapiospp. (Primates: Cercopithecidae) in Eastern Africa

“…Phylogenetic reconstructions, based on parts or even complete mt-genomes, reveal several mt-haplogroups or clades. These, however, are only marginally concordant with the morphological variation or taxa (Newman et al, 2004;Zinner et al, 2009aZinner et al, , 2011Zinner et al, , 2013. (Kingdon,1971).…”

“…The deepest split in the phylogenetic tree of Papio divides the genus into two main mtDNA clades, a northern clade and a southern clade (Burrell, 2008;Zinner et al, 2009aZinner et al, , 2013. The northern clade includes Guinea baboon P. papio (Desmarest, 1820) from West Africa, hamadryas baboon P. hamadryas (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Horn of Africa and southwest Arabia, P. anubis from central and northeast Africa, and P. cynocephalus from Somalia and southeast Kenya, as well as east and central Tanzania.…”

The Biogeography of the Papio Baboons: A GIS-Based Analysis of Range Characteristics and Variability

“…Zinner et al [2009Zinner et al [ , 2013) or as subspecies of P. hamadryas . Their common names, used here, are the Guinea, hamadryas, olive, yellow, kinda and chacma baboons.…”

Potential human impact on the environmental central niche of the chacma baboon

“…18,44,45 It is possible that species interaction could limit chacma baboon access to the central niche areas north of the Zambesi. However, assuming competitive exclusion, any contact should occur at the edges of the whole distribution, thus it is unlikely to occur at the edges of the central niche.…”