Spider monkey, Muriqui and Woolly monkey relationships revisited

Abstract

The taxonomic relationships among the four genera of the Atelidae family, Alouatta (Howler), Ateles (Spider), Lagothrix (Woolly) and Brachyteles (Muriqui), have been the subject of great debate. In general, almost all authors agree with the assignment of Howler monkeys as the basal genus, either in its own tribe Alouattini or in the subfamily Alouattinae, but they disagree on the associations among the other members of the family. Muriquis have been grouped with Spider monkeys based on the fact that they share various behavioral and morphological characteristics. Cladistic analyses using morphological, biochemical, karyotype and behavioral characteristics depicted a phylogenetic tree that places Howler as the basal genus and the remaining genera in an unresolved politomy. More recent studies using molecular data have suggested that Muriqui and Woolly monkeys are sister groups. However, a recent study based on nuclear and mtDNA argued that politomy is what best represents the relationships among Spider, Woolly and Muriqui. To contribute to this debate we have added new data from two nuclear genes, Transferrin and von Willebrand Factor, and using an alignment of 17,997 bp we demonstrate that a total analysis strongly supports the Muriqui-Woolly clade. A gene-to-gene approach showed that four of the eight nuclear genes provide support for the Muriqui-Woolly clade, two strongly and two moderately, while none of the eight genes provide support for any alternative arrangement. The mitochondrial genes were not able to resolve the politomy. A possible reason for the difficulty in resolving atelid relationships may be the short period of time separating each cladogenetic event in the evolutionary process that shaped this family.

Neotropical primate evolution and phylogenetic reconstruction using chromosomal data

“…Atelidae includes four genera: Alouatta (howler monkeys), its sister clade Ateles (spider monkeys), and the Brachyteles (muriquis)/Lagothrix (woolly monkeys) clade (Schneider et al 1996;Lima et al 2007). These monkeys are characterized by large body size, frugivorous-folivorous diet, and a muscular prehensile tail used to support their weight.…”

Molecular evolution of primates - featuring mobile elements

“…and Brachyteles is now confirmed by eleven integrations. Combining morphological and molecular studies, this arrangement seems to be evident (Rosenberger, 1981;Ford, 1986;Kay, 1990;Porter et al, 1995;von Dornum and Ruvolo, 1999;Opazo et al, 2006;de Lima et al, 2007). Moreover, three markers are present in Ateles, Lagothrix and Brachyteles, but absent in Alouatta, supporting other molecular (Schneider et al, 1993;Harada et al, 1995;Porter et al, 1997;Goodman et al, 1998;Horovitz et al, 1998;Canavez et al, 1999;von Dornum and Ruvolo, 1999) and some morphological investigations (Rosenberger, 1981;Ford, 1986).…”

Influence of tannic acid concentration on the physicochemical characteristics of saliva of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi)

“…PRPs have been reported previously in the saliva of black howler monkeys ( Espinosa-Gómez et al, 2018 ), and based on the close phylogenetic relatedness of howler monkeys and spider monkeys ( De Lima et al, 2007 ; Matsushita et al, 2014 ), it was suspected that these proteins might be present in spider monkey saliva as part of a mechanism to cope with tannins. We found an increase in PRPs concentrations as the concentration of ingested tannic acid increased, while the control group only showed slight variations throughout the experimental period.…”