Aotus vociferans ×Aotus nancymai: Sympatry without chromosomal hybridation

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In a study relating geographic distribution of Aotus populations with karyotype and coat pattern, HERSHKOVlTZ (1983) suggested that this genus comprises nine species. A. vociferans (2n = 46) is distributed along the left bank of the Maranon river, and A. nancymai (2n = 54) along the right bank of the same river. In the present study we analyzed the karyotypes of 11 A. vociferans and 11 A. nancymai specimens using G-and C-banding and NOR-staining. Of these animals, five A. vociferans were sympatric with five A. nancymai in Isla Aramaza, Colombia; one A. vociferans was sympatric with three A. nancymai in Yahuma, Peru; one A. vociferans was sympatric with three A. nancymai in Terezinha I, Brazil. No signs of hybridation between the taxa was observed at any time, with all A. vociferans having 2n = 46 and all A. nancymai 2n = 54, as previously reported in the literature. These data suggest that A. vociferans and A. nancymai should indeed be distinct species.

Aotus from the southwestern Amazon region is geographically and chromosomally intermediate betweenA. azarae boliviensis andA. infulatus

“…5). This is the same pattern as reported in previ- ous publications involving the same type of analysis on other A o t u s taxa (MILLER et al, 1977;MA et al, 1980;PIECZARKA & NAGAMACHI, 1988;PIECZARKA et al, 1992).…”

Mammalian Diversity and Matses Ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru Part 1: Primates

“…Ma (reviewed by Hershkovitz, 1983) revealed unexpected geographic variation in diploid numbers (2n) and fundamental numbers (FN) that they interpreted as evidence for multiple species. The hypothesis that at least some night monkey karyomorphs represent valid taxa is supported by a variety of data, including correlated pelage traits, comparative serology, and clinical responses to experimental infection with malaria parasites (Hershkovitz, 1983); evidence of sympatry without apparent hybridization in the wild (Pieczarka et al, 1992); substantial mtDNA sequence divergence (Ashley and Vaughn, 1995;Plautz et al, 2009;Menezes et al, 2010); and reduced fertility in at least some hybrid pairings (Kumamoto and Houck, 2001). Together, these and other results (Ford, 1994;Defler and Bueno, 2007) effectively refute earlier notions that Aotus is monotypic, but many taxonomic issues remain unresolved.…”

“…Although Aquino and Encarnació n (1988) believed that Aotus nancymaae and A. vociferans are allopatrically distributed, recent reports of sympatry from several localities near Leticia (Pieczarka et al, 1992) and a few specimens of nancymaae from northbank localities where only vociferans should occur (e.g., AMNH 74382, from Apayacu) suggest otherwise. Future fieldworkers should be alert to the possibility that both species could be present along either bank, where they might occupy adjacent but distinct habitats.…”

Neotropical primate evolution and phylogenetic reconstruction using chromosomal data

“…The inversion breakpoints of the human 10a/16a association, presumably linking Atelidae and Pitheciidae, also have to be better analyzed. Pieczarka et al 1992Pieczarka et al , 1993Torres et al 1998). Chromosome painting was first applied to metaphases of Aotus nancymaae, showing that the karyotype of owl monkeys is highly derived.…”