Macaques in China: Evolutionary dispersion and subsequent development.

ABSTRACT: Depicting a taxonomic group's evolutionary trajectory as a function of changes in the geographical landscape and its historical distribution is critical for constructing informed conservation strategies. Based on fossil sites from the Pliocene to the Holocene, and historical records since 1175 AD, we established macaques' dispersal pathways into and through China. These routes include internal pathways starting from the southeast corner of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Mts. Hengduan in western China, and the routes through the estuaries of the three major rivers (Yangtze, Yellow, and Pearl). Our results indicate that macaques used the three rivers and avoided the higher elevation of the plateaus to promote their radiation. They occupied the whole mainland and islands in the Pleistocene and

SUBMITTER: Li B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7378941 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature