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Phylogeny of Snub-Nosed Monkeys Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA, Cytochrome B, and 12S rRNA Sequences

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Abstract

Snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus spp.) are confined to isolated mountainous regions in China and North Vietnam. Their systematic classification and phylogenetic relationship has been controversial. The structures of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b and 12S rRNA show that the 4 species of Rhinopithecus are quite different from other colobines. It is reasonable to regard them as an independent genus, as determined by external features, morphometric characters and behavior. However, whether or not there should be a subdivision between the Vietnamese and Chinese species at the subgeneric level remains to be clarified; more evidence from a large range of Asian colobine species is needed. The Guizhou species, Rhinopithecus brelichi, is a valid species, which is more closely related to Pygathrix than the other species ( R. roxellana, R. bieti and R. avunculus) are. Results also indicate that 3 species—Rhinopithecus roxellana, R. bieti and R. avunculus—might have diverged from R. brelichi, but the phylogenetic relationship of R. avunculus is not clear.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Haidian, Beijing, China

    Ming Li, Fuwen Wei & Ruliang Pan

  2. Department of Biology, Guangxi Normal University, Guangxi, China

    Chengming Huang

  3. School of Anatomy and Human Biology and the Centre for Forensic Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley Perth, Australia

    Ruliang Pan

  4. Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Durham, Durham, UK

    Johannes de Ruiter

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  1. Ming Li
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  2. Fuwen Wei
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  4. Ruliang Pan
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  5. Johannes de Ruiter
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Li, M., Wei, F., Huang, C. et al. Phylogeny of Snub-Nosed Monkeys Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA, Cytochrome B, and 12S rRNA Sequences. International Journal of Primatology 25, 861–873 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:IJOP.0000029126.27618.88

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