Phylogeography and population history of Leopardus guigna, the smallest American felid

Abstract

Artículo de publicación ISIThe guigna (Leopardus guigna) is the smallest and most-restricted New World cat species, inhabiting only around 160,000 km2 of temperate rain forests in southern South America and is currently threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation and human persecution. We investigated phylogeographic patterns of genetic diversity, demographic history and barriers to gene flow with 116 individuals sampled across the species geographic range by analyzing 1,798 base pairs of the mtDNA (496 bp HVSI region, 720 bp NADH-5 gene, 364 bp from 16S gene and 218 bp from ATP-8 gene) and 15 microsatellite loci. Mitochondrial DNA data revealed a clear phylogeographic pattern with moderate separation between northern and southern Chilean populations supporting recognized subspecific partitions based on morphology. A recent demographic expansion was inferred for the southern-most group (San Rafael Lake), presumably due to the complete coverage of this area during the last glacial period, 28000–16000 years BP. Geographical barriers such as the Andes Mountains and the Chacao Channel have partially restricted historic and more-recent gene flow and the Chiloe´ Island population has diverged genetically since being separated from the mainland 7000 years BP. This is the first study of the genetic structure of this threatened species throughout its whole geographic range

Historical dimensions of population structure in a continuously distributed marine species: The case of the endemic Chilean dolphin

“…The interpretation of the structure and distribution patterns of genetic diversity is one of the research objectives of fields including molecular ecology, population genetics and landscape genetics 37 . These patterns become more predictable in cases when the genetic structure pattern is concordant with geographic structure 38 as has been described for example in the mammal Leopardus guigna in southern South America, where geographical barriers such as the presence of the Andes Mountains and the Chacao Channel have shaped its current genetic population structure 39 , and in the fish, Orestias ascotanis , endemic to the Altiplano, where population structure reflects a long-term consequence of habitat fragmentation 40 .…”

Differentiation and multipotential characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue of an endangered wild cat (Leopardus guigna)

“…The potential of these MSCs is of great relevance for the treatment of endangered species as well as an approach to improve reproductive techniques, such as cloning and gamete derivation. The guigna (Leopardus guigna) is a threatened felid species with a distribution restricted only to Chile and Argentina (Napolitano et al 2014). This species is endangered due to its interaction with humans.…”

New records of Leopardus guigna in its northern-most distribution in Chile: implications for conservation

“…The guigna (Leopardus guigna) [24], the smallest felid in the Americas, also has a restricted distribution, being found primarily in central and southern Chile (30°-48°S), including the large island of Chiloe (off the coast of southern Chile), and marginally in adjoining areas of southwestern Argentina (39°-46°S west of 70°W) from sea level to 2500 m [17,26,27,33].…”

“…Two subspecies are recognized based on morphological and genetic data: L. guigna tigrillo (from 30°-38°S in Chile) has a lighter coat color and larger body size, inhabiting Mediterranean matorral and sclerophyll woodlands and forests in northern-central and central Chile, and L. guigna guigna (from 38°-48°in Chile and 39°-46°S in Argentina west of 70°W) is darker and smaller, inhabiting more-dense Valdivian temperate rainforest and north Patagonian forest in southern and extreme southern Chile and the Andean Patagonian forest in southwestern Argentina [26,27].…”