title: Phylogeography of the heavily poached African common pangolin (Pholidota, Manis tricuspis) reveals six cryptic lineages as traceable signatures of Pleistocene diversification.
abstract: Knowledge on faunal diversification in African rainforests remains scarce. We used phylogeography to assess (i) the role of Pleistocene climatic oscillations in the diversification of the African common pangolin (Manis tricuspis) and (ii) the utility of our multilocus approach for taxonomic delineation and trade tracing of this heavily poached species. We sequenced 101 individuals for two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), two nuclear DNA and one Y-borne gene fragments (totalizing 2602 bp). We used a time-calibrated, Bayesian inference phylogenetic framework and conducted character-based, genetic and phylogenetic delineation of species hypotheses within African common pangolins. We identified six geographic lineages partitioned into western Africa, Ghana, the Dahomey Gap, western central Africa, Gabon and central Africa, all diverging during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. MtDNA (cytochrome b + control region) was the sole locus to provide diagnostic characters for each of the six lineages. Tree-based Bayesian delimitation methods using single- and multilocus approaches gave high support for 'species' level recognition of the six African common pangolin lineages. Although the diversification of African common pangolins occurred during Pleistocene cyclical glaciations, causative correlation with traditional rainforest refugia and riverine barriers in Africa was not straightforward. We conclude on the existence of six cryptic lineages within African common pangolins, which might be of major relevance for future conservation strategies. The high discriminative power of the mtDNA markers used in this study should allow an efficient molecular tracing of the regional origin of African common pangolin seizures.
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM) - UM-CNRS-IRD-EPHE-CIRAD, Université de Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon - CC 64, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 05, France.|CIMAR/CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões, Av. General Norton de Matos, s/n, 4450-208, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gaubert
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Parasitologie et Ecologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Yaoundé I, BP 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
authors.forename: Flobert
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Njiokou
authors.affiliation: Amigos de la Naturaleza y del Desarrollo de Guinea Ecuatorial (ANDEGE), Barrio Ukomba, S/N, Bata, Equatorial Guinea.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ngua
authors.affiliation: Département de Zoologie et de Biologie Animale, Université de Lomé, BP 1515, Lomé, Togo.
authors.forename: Komlan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Afiademanyo
authors.affiliation: SYLVATROP, 26 route de Vannes, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dufour
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Kinshasa, PO Box 218, Kinshasa XI, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malekani
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny d'Abidjan-Cocody, 22 BP 582, Abidjan 22, Côte d'Ivoire.
authors.forename: Sery Gonedelé
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM) - UM-CNRS-IRD-EPHE-CIRAD, Université de Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon - CC 64, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Christelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tougard
authors.affiliation: Natural History Museum, Obafemi Awolowo University, HO 220005, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Ayodeji
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olayemi
authors.affiliation: Department of Wildlife and Range Management, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University Post Office, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Danquah
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526 LEA-FSA, Cotonou, Benin.
authors.forename: Chabi A M S
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Djagoun
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mammalogie, Département de Biologie, Centre de Recherches en Sciences Naturelles (CRSN) - Lwiro, DS (Dépêche Spéciale) Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo.|Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa.
authors.forename: Prince
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kaleme
authors.affiliation: Université de Kisangani, Faculté des Sciences, B.P. 2012, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Casimir Nebesse
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Mololo
authors.affiliation: Science and Education, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: CIMAR/CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões, Av. General Norton de Matos, s/n, 4450-208, Porto, Portugal.|Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Agostinho
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antunes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D000073566:Eutheria / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005681:Gabon; D005869:Ghana; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Pleistocene diversification; evolutionary significant units; molecular tracing; pangolins; trade monitoring; tropical Africa