Keith, S. A., Waller, M. S., and Geissmann, T. (2009). Vocal diversity of Klossís gibbons (Hylobates klossii) in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia. In Lappan, S. M., and Whittacker, D. (eds.) The gibbons: New perspectives on small ape socioecology and population biology, Springer, New York, pp. 51-71.
Sally A. Keith1, Melissa
S. Waller2, and Thomas Geissmann3
1 School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus,
Poole
BH12 5BB, UK, E-mail: salkeith@yahoo.co.uk
2 Department of Anthropology, Oxford-Brookes University, UK
3 Anthropological Institute, University Zürich-Irchel, Winterthurerstr.
190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland, E-mail: thomas.geissmann@aim.uzh.ch
Abstract: The Mentawai Islands ó off the west coast of central Sumatra ó are
known to support four endemic primates, one each of the genera Hylobates,
Macaca, Presbytis and Simias. Two distinct taxa have been described
for each of these endemic Mentawai primates, except for Klossís gibbon (Hylobates
klossii) of which no subspecies are known. In each case, one taxon is endemic
to the northernmost island of Siberut, and the second taxon is distributed across
the three remaining islands Sipora, North Pagai and South Pagai. We studied the vocal
diversity of wild Klossís gibbons at four localities (two on Siberut and one each
on Sipora and South Pagai) in order to assess whether vocal differences among populations
indicated the occurrence of a distinct subspecies on Siberut, and whether this corresponded
to geographical distance or other recognizable patterns. Both female and male calls
differ among localities and can be correctly identified using discriminant analysis.
Vocal differences among localities exhibit no relationship to geographical distance.
In addition, differences between two localities on Siberut are at least as pronounced
as those between Siberut and localities on other islands. Affinities among the island
populations are of comparable degrees and recognition of a distinct Siberut subspecies
is not warranted. We propose that gibbons spread across the Mentawai islands at a
considerably later date than the other non-human primates. This and a longer generation
span in gibbons may explain why only Klossís gibbons do not exhibit distinct taxa
on Siberut and the more southern islands of Mentawai.
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