title: Two species of Southeast Asian cats in the genusCatopumawith diverging histories: an island endemic forest specialist and a widespread habitat generalist.
abstract: Background.The bay catCatopuma badiais endemic to Borneo, whereas its sister species the Asian golden catCatopuma temminckiiis distributed from the Himalayas and southern China through Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. Based on morphological data, up to five subspecies of the Asian golden cat have been recognized, but a taxonomic assessment, including molecular data and morphological characters, is still lacking.Results.We combined molecular data (whole mitochondrial genomes), morphological data (pelage) and species distribution projections (up to the Late Pleistocene) to infer how environmental changes may have influenced the distribution of these sister species over the past 120 000 years. The molecular analysis was based on sequenced mitogenomes of 3 bay cats and 40 Asian golden cats derived mainly from archival samples. Our molecular data suggested a time of split between the two species approximately 3.16 Ma and revealed very low nucleotide diversity within the Asian golden cat population, which supports recent expansion of the population.Discussion.The low nucleotide diversity suggested a population bottleneck in the Asian golden cat, possibly caused by the eruption of the Toba volcano in Northern Sumatra (approx. 74 kya), followed by a continuous population expansion in the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. Species distribution projections, the reconstruction of the demographic history, a genetic isolation-by-distance pattern and a gradual variation of pelage pattern support the hypothesis of a post-Toba population expansion of the Asian golden cat from south China/Indochina to Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. Our findings reject the current classification of five subspecies for the Asian golden cat, but instead support either a monotypic species or one comprising two subspecies: (i) the Sunda golden cat, distributed south of the Isthmus of Kra:C. t. temminckiiand (ii) Indochinese, Indian, Himalayan and Chinese golden cats, occurring north of the Isthmus:C. t. moormensis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Freie Universität Berlin, Kaiserswerther Strasse 16-18, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Riddhi P
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4555-0957
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Förster
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK; Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Kitchener
authors.affiliation: WWF Malaysia, 1 Jalan PJS 5/28A, Petaling Jaya Commercial Centre (PJCC) , 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor , Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Rayan
authors.affiliation: WWF Malaysia, 1 Jalan PJS 5/28A, Petaling Jaya Commercial Centre (PJCC) , 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor , Malaysia.
authors.forename: Shariff W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Dorina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lenz
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pfestorf
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kramer-Schadt
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Viktoriia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Radchuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörns
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fickel
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilting
keywords: Felidae; Southeast Asia; Toba volcanic eruption; hybrid capture; last glacial maximum; next generation sequencing