Abstract
The gray mouse lemur, Microcebus murinus, occurs mainly in dry forests in western Madagascar, but its distribution extends into humid littoral forests in the south-eastern Anosy Region. We sequenced the mitochondrial hypervariable region 1 for 282 M. murinus individuals from 13 south-eastern study sites. The spatial distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes and the varying genetic distances within two haplotype clades indicated a trend of decreasing genetic diversity towards the south-eastern margin of the range. Rufous mouse lemurs, Microcebus cf. rufus, have a complementary distribution in south-eastern Madagascar which does not overlap with that of M. murinus. Taken together, the spatial distribution of genetic diversity within M. murinus and the distinct ranges of the two species could indicate a recent expansion of gray mouse lemurs into littoral forests in south-eastern Madagascar.
Resume
Le Microcèbe gris, Microcebus murinus, est surtout rencontré dans la forêt sèche de l’ouest de Madagascar, mais son aire de distribution s’étend à la forêt humide littorale du sud-est, dans la région de l’Anosy. Nous avons séquencé la région hypervariable 1 mitochondriale de 282 individus M. murinus capturés dans 13 sites du sud-est. La distribution spatiale des haplotypes mitochondriaux et la variation des distances génétiques au sein de deux clades d’haplotypes indiquent une tendance à une diminution de la diversité génétique à la limite sud-est de l’aire. Les microcèbes roux M. cf. rufus ont une aire de répartition au sud-est de Madagascar, qui ne recoupe pas celle de M. murinus. Considérés ensemble, la distribution spatiale de la diversité génétique de M. murinus, ainsi que les étendues distinctes des deux espèces indiqueraient une expansion récente de M. murinus dans la forêt littorale du sud-est de Madagascar.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Burney DA (1993) Late Holocene environmental changes in arid southwestern Madagascar. Quat Res 40:98–106
Donque G (1972) The climatology of Madagascar. In: Battistini R, Richard-Vindard G (eds) Biogeography and ecology in Madagascar. W. Junk, The Hague, pp 87–144
Fredsted T, Pertoldi C, Olesen JM, Eberle M, Kappeler PM (2004) Microgeographic heterogeneity in spatial distribution and mtDNA variability of gray mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus, Primates: Cheirogaleidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:393–493
Goudet J (2002) FSTAT, a program to estimate and test gene diversities and fixation indices (version 2.9.3.2). http://www.unil.ch/izea/softwares/fstat.html
Hapke A, Rakotondravony D, Ramanamanjato JB, Ramilijaona O, Randria G, Zischler H (2007) Mitochondrial genetic data indicate a recent range expansion of Gray Mouse Lemurs (Microcebus murinus) in the littoral forests of southeastern Madagascar. In: Ganzhorn JU, Goodman SM, Vincelette M (eds) Biodiversity, ecology, and conservation of littoral ecosystems in southeastern Madagascar, Tolagnaro (Fort Dauphin). Smithsonian Institution SI/MAB Series, Washington, DC, pp 273–280
Hasegawa M, Kishino H, Yano T-A (1985) Dating of the human-ape splitting by a molecular clock of mitochondrial DNA. J Mol Evol 22:160–174
Kumar S, Tamura K, Nei M (2004) MEGA3: integrated software for molecular evolutionary genetics analysis and sequence alignment. Brief Bioinform 5:150–163
Lowry PP, Faber-Langendoen D (1991) Madagascar Minerals Project, Contract no. MMC-0093 and MMC-0109. Environmental Impact Assessment Study. Part I: Natural environment. Appendix III: Flora and vegetation study
Martin RD (1972) A preliminary field study of the lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus J. F. Miller, 1777). Zeit Tierpsychol Suppl 9:43–89
Melnick DJ, Hoelzer GA (1992) Differences in male and female macaque dispersal lead to contrasting distributions of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA variation. Int J Primatol 13:379–393
Perwitasari-Farajallah D, Kawamoto Y, Suryobroto B (1999) Variation in blood proteins and mitochondrial DNA within and between local populations of longtail macaques, Macaca fascicularis on the island of Java, Indonesia. Primates 40:581–595
Radespiel U, Lutermann H, Schmelting B, Bruford MW, Zimmermann E (2003) Patterns and dynamics of sex-biased dispersal in a nocturnal primate, the grey mouse lemur, Microcebus murinus. Anim Behav 65:709–719
Rasoloarison RM, Goodman SM, Ganzhorn JU (2000) Taxonomic revision of Mouse Lemurs (Microcebus) in the western portions of Madagascar. Int J Primatol 21:963–1019
Ratsivalaka-Randriamanga S (1985) Recherches sur le climat de Tolagnaro (ex Fort Dauphin) (Extrême Sud de Madagascar). Madag Rev Géogr 46:47–67
Ratsivalaka-Randriamanga S (1987) Climat et végétation de la région de Fort-Dauphin. Recherches pour le Développement, Série Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société 3 (premier semestre):51–64
Strimmer K, von Haeseler A (1996) Quartet puzzling: a quartet maximum-likelihood method for reconstructing tree topologies. Mol Biol Evol 13:964–969
Weisrock DW, Rasoloarison RM, Fiorentino I, Ralison JM, Goodman SM, Kappeler PM, Yoder AD (2010) Delimiting species without nuclear monophyly in Madagascar’s mouse lemurs. PLoS One 5:e9883
Yoder AD, Burns M-M, Genin F (2002) Molecular evidence of reproductive isolation in sympatric sibling species of mouse lemurs. Int J Primatol 23:1335–1345
Acknowledgments
We thank the commission tripartite of the Direction des Eaux et Forêts for authorization and support of this study, which was conducted under the Accord de Collaboration between the Université d’Antananarivo (Département de Biologie Animale and Département d’Anthropologie et de Biologie Evolutive) and Hamburg University. Tantely Andrianjazalahatra, Refaly Ernest, Jörg Ganzhorn, Petra Lahann, Bakoly M. Rakotondratsima, Roger E. Ramarokoto, Nina Rüdel, Jutta Schmid, and Jörg Schüller are gratefully acknowledged for the contribution of sample material. We are indebted to QIT Madagascar Minerals for logistical support and to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ga 342/9-1; Zi 568/2-2) for financial support for this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hapke, A., Andrianaivo, T.B.D., Gligor, M., Razafimahatratra, E. (2012). Range Shifts of Mouse Lemurs in South-Eastern Madagascar: Evidence from Mitochondrial Genetic Data. In: Masters, J., Gamba, M., Génin, F. (eds) Leaping Ahead. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4511-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4511-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-4510-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-4511-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)