Phylogeography and spatial structure of the lowland tapir ( Tapirus terrestris , Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) in South America

Abstract

We sequenced the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 141 lowland tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) - representing the largest geographical distribution sample of this species studied across of South America to date. We compare our new data regard to two previous works on population structure and molecular systematics of T. terrestris. Our data agree with the Thoisy et al.'s work in (1) the Northern Western Amazon basin was the area with the highest gene diversity levels in T. terrestris, being probably the area of initial diversification; (2) there was no clear association between haplogroups and specific geographical areas; (3) there were clear population decreases during the last glacial maximum for the different haplogroups detected, followed by population expansions during the Holocene; and (4) our temporal splits among different T. terrestris haplogroups coincided with the first molecular clock approach carried out by these authors (fossil calibration). Nevertheless, our study disagreed regard to other aspects of the Thoisy et al.'s claims: (1) meanwhile, they detected four relevant clades in their data, we put forward six different relevant clades; (2) the Amazon River was not a strong barrier for haplotype dispersion in T. terrestris; and (3) we found reciprocal monophyly between T. terrestris and T. pinchaque. Additionally, we sequenced 42 individuals (T. terrestris, T. pinchaque, T. bairdii, and the alleged "new species", T. kabomani) for three concatenated mitochondrial genes (Cyt-b, COI, and COII) agreeing quite well with the view of Voss et al., and against of the claims of Cozzuol et al. Tapirus kabomani should be not considered as a full species with the results obtained throughout the mitochondrial sequences.

Mammalian Diversity and Matses Ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru Part 2: Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Sirenia

“…Measurements of our material (table 16) are all within a few millimeters of homologous values obtained from Surinamese specimens (Husson, 1978: table 55), suggesting little geographic variation in cranial dimensions across vast Amazonian landscapes despite modest mtDNA heterogeneity in this species (Thoisy et al, 2010;Ruiz-García et al, 2016).…”

“…Although a second nominal species of Amazonian tapir, T. "kabomani, " was recently described by Cozzuol et al (2013), analyses of mtDNA sequence data suggest that it is not genetically distinct from the widespread Brazilian species (Voss et al, 2014;Ruiz-García et al, 2016).…”

Sagittal crest morphology decoupled from relative bite performance in Pleistocene tapirs (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae)

“…2013; Ruiz‐García et al . 2016a,b). A composite phylogenetic tree was compiled in Mesquite 3.6 (Maddison & Maddison 2019) based on published tapirid topologies (Colbert 2005; Hulbert & Wallace 2005; Hulbert 2010; Cozzuol et al .…”

Continuous Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene Influences on Mitochondrial Diversification of the Capybara (Hydrochoerus Hydrochoeris; Hydrochoeridae, Rodentia): Incapacity to Determine Exclusive Hypotheses on the Origins of the Amazon and Orinoco Diversity for This Species

“…Also, the ancestors of this population were the first to diverge in all of the trees. The Western Amazon area was also the focus for the dispersion of many other mammalian taxa such as the lowland tapir [102][103][104][105], the jaguar [106], and diverse Neotropical primate genera [107][108][109][110].…”