Guenon Synapomorphies

 

CLADE DEFINING SYNAPOMORPHIES FOR THE CERCOPITHECINI (GUENONS)

This link downloads a set of Excel tables highlighting synapomorphies that define various evolutionary groups within the tribe Cercopithecini.  Such synapomorphic mutations can be used to monitor allelic movement between interbreeding taxa from different clades (e.g. species groups).  Relationships within species groups are not yet well resolved and are therefore not represented in the tables.

There is a caveat when using these data for tracking introgression:  though the presence of an extraspecific mutational change is evidence of introgression, the absence of such a mutation does not indicate absence of introgression at a locus.  This is because plesiomorphic alleles (which lack the more recently evolved synapomorphies of a clade) may persist in some populations of a species.  The hybrid transfer of such ‘primitive’ alleles may be difficult to detect because they lack a definitive evolutionary signature of either hybridizing species.  Autapomorphic mutations must likewise be viewed with caution.  Only a small number of individuals have been surveyed to represent an entire species, and it is therefore unknown whether the mutational changes unique to the sampled individual(s) are carried by all conspecifics.  Thus, autapomorphies can be useful when they are present;  however, their absence is uninformative. 

 

These synapomorphy tables will be updated as new genes, new taxa, and more individuals are surveyed.

 

CITATIONS.  If you refer to these synapomorphy data in publication, please cite the following papers in which these data, and associated assays, were originally described.

 

Tosi AJ & Detwiler KM.  (2016).  The efficacy of sex chromosomal markers in studies of Cercopithecus hybridization:  discovery of a captive hybrid and applications in wild populations.  Zoo Biology.

 

Tosi AJ, Detwiler KM, & Clifford SL.  (2006).  X-chromosomal synapomorphies provide a non-invasive test for introgression among Cercopithecus monkeys.  Conservation Genetics7:803-805.

 

Tosi AJ, Detwiler KM, & Disotell TR. (2005).  Y-chromosomal markers suitable for non-invasive studies of guenon hybridization.  International Journal of Primatology26(3):683-694.

 

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