Genetic Structure and Phylogeography of the Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) Inferred from Mitochondrial Genomes

Patel, Riddhi P.; Wutke, Saskia; Lenz, Dorina; Mukherjee, Shomen; Ramakrishnan, Uma; Veron, Géraldine; Fickel, Jörns; Wilting, Andreas; Förster, Daniel W.

doi:10.1093/jhered/esx017

Cited by 37 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Southern red muntjac split around 1.1 Mya with the Indochinese mainland population. This divergence estimation is congruent with the lineages diversi cation in Amphibians [33]; Birds [34]; Mammals [32]; bats [35] and Leopard cat [36] that occurred in Indochinese and Sundaic region. Faunal diversi cation between the Indochinese and Sundaic region might be the result of uctuation in Indian summer [37], due to the rise in sea level [38,32].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Phylogeography and Population Genetic Structure of Red Muntjacs: Evidence of Enigmatic Himalayan Red Muntjac From India

Singh

Kumar

Uniyal

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BackgroundWe investigated the phylogeographic pattern of red muntjac across its distribution range, intending to address the presence of distinct lineages from Northwest India. The Complete mitogenome analysis revealed that India holds three mitochondrial lineages of red muntjac, whereas four were identified from its entire distribution range: Himalayan red muntjac (M. (m.) aureus), Northern red muntjac (M. vaginalis), Srilankan+Western Ghat India (M. malabaricus) and Southern red muntjac (M. muntjak) from Sundaland. ResultsOur mitogenome analysis revealed that India holds three mitochondrial lineages of red muntjac whereas four were identified from its distribution range: Himalayan red muntjac (M. (m.) aureus), Northern red muntjac (M. vaginalis), Sri-Lankan+Western Ghat India (M. malabaricus) and Southern red muntjac (M. muntjak) from Sundaland. The newly identified Himalayan red muntjac was found in the Northwestern part of India, which was previously described based on their morphological differences. Estimates of the divergence timing indicated that the Northwest lineages and Northern lineage split during the late Pleistocene approximately 0.83 Myr (CI95%:0.53–1.26), which is the younger lineages; whereas, M. malabaricus is the most primitive lineage among all the red muntjac. Microsatellite results also supported the mitochondrial data and evident the presence of three distinct genetic clusters within India. Conclusions The pronounced climate fluctuation during the Quaternary period is regarded as the most important factor influencing the current spatial distribution of forest-dwelling species to restrict themselves in north-west areas. Our finding provided evidence of new lineages within the red muntjac group from India, and it should be managed as an evolutionary significant unit (ESUs). There is a need for taxonomic revision for Himalayan red muntjac (M. (m.) aureus) and also suggested its conservation status under IUCN Red List.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Phylogeography and Population Genetic Structure of Red Muntjacs: Evidence of Enigmatic Himalayan Red Muntjac From India

Singh

Kumar

Uniyal

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…A loss of genetic diversity during the Pleistocene as suggested by recent mitogenome coalescence times has also been found for other carnivores (e.g. 151 Ka for leopard cats, 95% CI: 87–215; [ 50 ]), suggesting that this pattern may be detectable across other Asian carnivores. Considering the deeper coalescence time of all modern African mtDNA lineages (600 Ka), the African leopards are not likely to have experienced a bottleneck to the same extent as Asian leopards.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…Due to this position as sister lineage to all Asian leopards, it has been suggested that the Javan leopard represents a relict population founded from a Middle Pleistocene leopard population from the South East Asian mainland, after which it became isolated on the Sundaic islands [ 19 , 22 ]. Deep divergence between mainland and Sundaic species or populations has also been found in a range of other animals including terrestrial mammals [ 48 ] such as tigers [ 49 ] and leopard cats [ 50 ], but also birds [ 51 ], bats [ 52 ], and frogs [ 53 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and its extinct Eurasian populations

et al. 2018

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BackgroundResolving the historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) is a complex issue, because patterns inferred from fossils and from molecular data lack congruence. Fossil evidence supports an African origin, and suggests that leopards were already present in Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene. Analysis of DNA sequences however, suggests a more recent, Middle Pleistocene shared ancestry of Asian and African leopards. These contrasting patterns led researchers to propose a two-stage hypothesis of leopard dispersal out of Africa: an initial Early Pleistocene colonisation of Asia and a subsequent replacement by a second colonisation wave during the Middle Pleistocene. The status of Late Pleistocene European leopards within this scenario is unclear: were these populations remnants of the first dispersal, or do the last surviving European leopards share more recent ancestry with their African counterparts?ResultsIn this study, we generate and analyse mitogenome sequences from historical samples that span the entire modern leopard distribution, as well as from Late Pleistocene remains. We find a deep bifurcation between African and Eurasian mitochondrial lineages (~ 710 Ka), with the European ancient samples as sister to all Asian lineages (~ 483 Ka). The modern and historical mainland Asian lineages share a relatively recent common ancestor (~ 122 Ka), and we find one Javan sample nested within these.ConclusionsThe phylogenetic placement of the ancient European leopard as sister group to Asian leopards suggests that these populations originate from the same out-of-Africa dispersal which founded the Asian lineages. The coalescence time found for the mitochondrial lineages aligns well with the earliest undisputed fossils in Eurasia, and thus encourages a re-evaluation of the identification of the much older putative leopard fossils from the region. The relatively recent ancestry of all mainland Asian leopard lineages suggests that these populations underwent a severe population bottleneck during the Pleistocene. Finally, although only based on a single sample, the unexpected phylogenetic placement of the Javan leopard could be interpreted as evidence for exchange of mitochondrial lineages between Java and mainland Asia, calling for further investigation into the evolutionary history of this subspecies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-018-1268-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Due to this position as sister lineage to all Asian leopards, it has been suggested that the Javan leopard represents a relict population founded from a Middle Pleistocene leopard population from the South East Asian mainland, after which it became isolated on the Sundaic islands (Uphyrkina et al, 2001;Wilting et al, 2016). Deep divergence between mainland and Sundaic species or populations has also been found in a range of other animals including terrestrial mammals [48] such as tigers [49] and leopard cats [50]…”

Section: Java and The Asian Leopardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and its extinct Eurasian populations

Paijmans

Barlow

Foerster

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Background: Resolving the historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) is a complex issue, because patterns inferred from fossils and from molecular data lack congruence. Fossil evidence supports an African origin, and suggests that leopards were already present in Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene. Analysis of DNA sequences however, suggests a more recent, Middle Pleistocene shared ancestry of Asian and African leopards. These contrasting patterns led researchers to propose a two-stage hypothesis of leopard dispersal out of Africa: an initial Early Pleistocene colonisation of Asia and a subsequent replacement by a second colonisation wave during the Middle Pleistocene. The status of Late Pleistocene European leopards within this scenario is unclear: were these populations remnants of the first dispersal, or do the last surviving European leopards share more recent ancestry with their African counterparts?Results: In this study, we generate and analyse mitogenome sequences from historical samples that span the entire modern leopard distribution, as well as from Late Pleistocene remains. We find a deep bifurcation between African and Eurasian mitochondrial lineages (~710 Ka), with the European ancient samples as sister to all Asian lineages (~483 Ka). The modern and historical mainland Asian lineages share a relatively recent common ancestor (~122 Ka), and we find one Javan sample nested within these. Conclusions:The phylogenetic placement of the ancient European leopard as sister group to Asian leopards suggests that these populations originate from the same out-of-Africa dispersal which founded the Asian lineages. The coalescence time found for the mitochondrial lineages aligns well with the earliest undisputed fossils in Eurasia, and thus encourages a re-evaluation of the identification of the much older putative leopard fossils from the region. The relatively recent ancestry of all mainland Asian leopard lineages suggests that these populations underwent a severe population bottleneck during the Pleistocene. Finally, although only based on a single sample, the unexpected phylogenetic placement of the Javan leopard could be interpreted as evidence for exchange of mitochondrial lineages between Java and mainland Asia, calling for further investigation into the evolutionary history of this subspecies.

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Genetic Structure and Phylogeography of the Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) Inferred from Mitochondrial Genomes

Cited by 37 publications

References 55 publications

Phylogeography and Population Genetic Structure of Red Muntjacs: Evidence of Enigmatic Himalayan Red Muntjac From India

Phylogeography and Population Genetic Structure of Red Muntjacs: Evidence of Enigmatic Himalayan Red Muntjac From India

Historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and its extinct Eurasian populations

Historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and its extinct Eurasian populations

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