Phylogeography of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) and the origin of the Gibraltar colony.

ABSTRACT: The Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) is the earliest offshoot of the genus Macaca and the only extant African representative, all other species being Asiatic. Once distributed throughout North Africa, M. sylvanus is now restricted to isolated forest fragments in Algeria and Morocco. The species is threatened; the maximum total wild population size is estimated at 10,000 individuals. Relationships among surviving wild subpopulations in Algeria (96 samples) and Morocco (116 samples) were examined by using 468-bp sequences from hypervariable region I of the mitochondrial DNA control region. Twenty-four different haplotypes were identified, differing by 1-26 mutational steps (0.2-5.6%) and 1 insertion. With one exception (attributable to secondary introduction in coastal Morocco), Algerian an

SUBMITTER: Modolo L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1129121 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature