title: Molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of the white-fronted capuchin (Cebus albifrons; Cebidae, Primates) by means of mtCOII gene sequences.
abstract: A total of 696 base pairs (bp) of the mitochondrial COII gene were sequenced from 118 individuals of Cebus albifrons (plus an individual of Cebus olivaceus) sampled from diverse geographical areas of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. These animals represented all of the C. albifrons's taxa described by Hershkovitz (1949) in Colombia and Peru (10 out of 13 subspecies are described by this author). The sequences analyzed demonstrate the existence of three well defined groups in northern Colombia (trans-Andean): malitosus, versicolor-pleei-cesarae and leucocephalus. They arose from at least, three distinct migrations from different Amazonian groups. Five different Amazonian and Eastern Llanos C. albifrons's groups (I, II, III, IV, and V) were also found. In many Amazonian localities, some of these groups live in sympatry probably by secondary expansion after their respective formations. Amazonian group I is closely related to the versicolor-pleei-cesarae group, malitosus is closely related to Amazonian group V, while leucocephalus is closely related to Amazonian group IV. Nevertheless, our genetic analysis could not resolve the genetic relationships among the main C. albifrons groups. The ρ-statistic applied to the median-joining network yielded that the major part of the temporal splits estimated occurred in the Pleistocene, reinforcing the importance of the Pleistocene refugia during the evolution of C. albifrons.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Genética de Poblaciones Molecular-Biología Evolutiva, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cra 7ª No. 43-82, Bogotá DC, Colombia. mruiz@javeriana.edu.co
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz-García
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vásquez
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pinedo-Castro
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shostell
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Leguizamon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002428:Cebus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013020:South America
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; C117108:cytochrome C oxidase subunit II; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV