The distribution of the Malay civetViverra tangalunga(Carnivora: Viverridae) across Southeast Asia: natural or human-mediated dispersal?

Abstract

The Malay civet Viverra tangalunga Gray, 1832 is a fairly large viverrid that has a wide distribution in both the Sundaic and Wallacea regions of Southeast Asia. We investigated the genetic diversity of V. tangalunga by analysing the mitochondrial DNA of 81 individuals throughout its range in order to elucidate the evolutionary history of this species and to test the hypotheses of natural dispersal and/or potential human introductions to some islands and regions. Our phylogenetic analyses revealed that V. tangalunga has a low matrilinear genetic diversity and is poorly structured geographically. Borneo is likely to have served as the ancestral population source from which animals dispersed during the Pleistocene. Viverra tangalunga could have naturally dispersed to Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Belitung, and also to several other Sunda Islands (Bangka, Lingga, and Bintang in the Rhio Archipelago), and to Palawan, although there is possible evidence that humans introduced V. tangalunga to the latter islands. Our results strongly suggested that V. tangalunga was transported by humans across Wallace's Line to Sulawesi and the Moluccas, but also to the Philippines and the Natuna Islands. Our study has shown that human‐mediated dispersal can be an important factor in understanding the distribution of some species in this region. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London

Molecular systematics and biogeography of the Hemigalinae civets (Mammalia, Carnivora)

“…Although Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra have been connected frequently during glacial periods, the banded civet individuals from these two areas did not form a monophyletic group in our analyses, whereas a close relationship and low differentiation of populations from Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia have been found in many other mammals, such as rodents, macaques, palm civets and mongooses (Gorog et al 2004;Ziegler et al 2007;Patou et al 2010;Veron et al 2015a). Possible explanations for these findings would be independent dispersals during periods of lower sea levels (e.g., Last Glacial Maximum), or that banded civets were transported from one area to another, as has been suggested for some other civet species (Veron et al 2014(Veron et al , 2015c, although there is no evidence that this has ever occurred for the banded civet. With regards to the structure obtained and the low divergences observed, we would suggest that the populations from Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo are placed in the same subspecies Hemigalus derbyanus derbyanus (Gray, 1837).…”

“…Within the Sundaic region, climate-induced sea-level changes have altered the topography repeatedly, exposing and flooding land corridors between the mainland and different islands, and ecological factors played a role in restricting movements of species across this region. For instance, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the central part of the Sundaland might have been covered by open habitat (Bird et al 2005;Meijaard 2003;de Bruyn et al 2014; but see also Woodruff 2010), which could have limited the exchanges of forest-dependent species between Borneo and the rest of the Sundaic region (Veron et al 2014;2015c), and this could have affected the Hemigalinae civets.…”

“…Based on morphological features, two species for the otter civet have been proposed, Cynogale lowei Pocock, 1933 and C. bennettii, but examination of the only specimen available for C. lowei, and doubt about its geographic origin, led Veron et al (2006) to consider C. lowei as a synonym of C. bennettii. Four subspecies of the banded civet were proposed by Wozencraft (2005) Tectonic movements, geographical and ecological barriers, and climatic variations across Southeast Asia have played important roles in the speciation and population structure of forest-dependent species (Meijaard 2009;Esselstyn et al 2010;Shekelle et al 2010;Woodruff 2010;Veron et al 2014Veron et al , 2015bVeron et al , 2015c, and therefore, these might have affected the distribution and speciation of the Hemigalinae civets. The distinction between the Indochinese and Sundaic faunas might have arisen as a result of the rapid sea-level changes along the Thai-Malay peninsula during the last five million years, which caused local extirpations (Woodruff & Turner 2009), or it has been maintained by the ecological differences between these two subregions (Meijaard 2009).…”

“…We sequenced three mitochondrial fragments: Cytochrome b gene (Cytb), the control region (CR; hypervariable region 1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2), using the primers from Veron et al (2004Veron et al ( , 2014Veron et al ( , 2015a, Patou et al (2008Patou et al ( , 2009) and . We sequenced the nuclear marker intron 7 of Beta-fibrinogen (FGB) using the primers of Yu & Zhang (2005).…”

One or two species of the rare Malagasy carnivoran Eupleres (Eupleridae)? New insights from molecular data

“…We sequenced one mitochondrial fragment, the cytochrome b gene (Cytb), using primers from Veron et al (2004Veron et al ( , 2014. In order to avoid possible contamination, museum samples were extracted, amplified and sequenced separately from the fresh sample.…”