Takacs, T.; Morales, J.C.; Geissmann, T. & Don J. Melnick, D.J. (2005). A complete species-level phylogeny of the Hylobatidae based on mitochondrial ND3-ND4 gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 456-467.
Zoltan Takacs,a Juan Carlos Morales,a,b Thomas Geissmann,c and Don J. Melnick a,b
a Center for Environmental
Research and Conservation, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
b Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia
University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
c Anthropological Institute, University Zürich-Irchel, Winterthurerstrasse
190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
Key words: Hylobatidae; Hylobates; Nomascus; Bunopithecus; Symphalangus; evolution; mitochondrial DNA; Southeast Asia.
Abstract: The Hylobatidae (gibbons) are among the most endangered primates
and their evolutionary history and systematics remain largely unresolved. We have
investigated the species-level phylogenetic relationships among hylobatids using
1257 bases representing all species and an expanded data set of up to 2243 bases
for select species from the mitochondrial ND3-ND4 region. Sequences were obtained
from 34 individuals originating from all 12 recognized extant gibbon species. These
data strongly support each of the four previously recognized clades or genera of
gibbons, Nomascus, Bunopithecus, Symphalangus and Hylobates,
as monophyletic groups. Among these clades, there is some support for either Bunopithecus
or Nomascus as the most basal, while in all analyses Hylobates appears
to be the most recently derived. Within Nomascus, Nomascus sp. cf.
nasutus is the most basal, followed by N. concolor, and then a clade
of N. leucogenys and N. gabriellae. Within Hylobates, H.
pileatus is the most basal, while H. moloch and H. klossii clearly,
and H. agilis and H. muelleri likely form two more derived monophyletic
clades. The segregation of H. klossii from other Hylobates species
is not supported by this study. The present data are (1) consistent with the division
of Hylobatidae into four distinct clades, (2) provide the first genetic evidence
for all the species relationships within Nomascus, and (3) call for a revision
of the current relationships among the species within Hylobates. We propose
a phylogenetic tree as a working hypothesis against which intergeneric and interspecific
relationships can be tested with additional genetic, morphological, and behavioral
data.
Site by Thomas Geissmann.
For comments & suggestions, please email to
webmaster@gibbons.de
Gibbon Research Lab. Home: |
![]() |