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New insights on the history of canids in Oceania based on mitochondrial and nuclear data

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Abstract

How and when dingoes arrived in Oceania poses a fascinating question for scientists with interest in the historical movements of humans and dogs. The dingo holds a unique position as top terrestrial predator of Australia and exists in a wild state. In the first geographical survey of genetic diversity in the dingo using whole mitochondrial genomes, we analysed 16,428 bp in 25 individuals from five separate populations. We also investigated 13 nuclear loci to compare with the mitochondrial population history patterns. Phylogenetic analyses based upon mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA support the hypothesis that there are at least two distinct populations of dingo, one of which occurs in the northwest and the other in the southeast of the continent. Conservative molecular dating based upon mitochondrial DNA suggest that the lineages split approximately 8300 years before present, likely outside Australia but within Oceania. The close relationship between dingoes and New Guinea Singing Dogs suggests that plausibly dingoes spread into Australia via the land bridge between Papua New Guinea and Australia although seafaring introductions cannot be rejected. The geographical distribution of these divergent lineages suggests there were multiple independent dingo immigrations. Importantly, the observation of multiple dingo populations suggests the need for revision of existing conservation and management programs that treat dingoes as a single homogeneous population.

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Acknowledgments

Late author Dr Alan N. Wilton was sadly unable to review the final manuscript. Thanks to Matthew Wong (UNSW) for preliminary mitochondrial data and primers collected during his honours thesis. Dr Danielle Stephens (UWA) provided a subset of pre-screened dingo samples for this study. Dr Peter Savolainen (KTH Biotechnology) contributed Indonesian dog samples and advice on the manuscript. Dr Simon Ho (USyd) supplied advice concerning phylogenetic analyses and divergence dating. This manuscript was improved by comments from the Ballard and Wilton lab groups (UNSW), Dr Mike Archer (UNSW), Dr Mike Letnic (UNSW), Dr Barbara Zangerl (UNSW), Dr Greger Larson (Oxford) and anonymous reviewers. Recognition must go to conservation organisations, land managers and government agencies for contributing dingo samples to genetic research projects at UNSW and UWA. This work was supported by a Hermon Slade Foundation Research grant (HSF11/6) to J.W.O. Ballard and authors ANW and KMC.

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Correspondence to Kylie M. Cairns.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This research was approved by the Animal Care and Ethics Committee of University of NSW (Permit Number: 12/36B).

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Alan N. Wilton: Deceased.

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Cairns, K.M., Wilton, A.N. New insights on the history of canids in Oceania based on mitochondrial and nuclear data. Genetica 144, 553–565 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-016-9924-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-016-9924-z

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