Abstract
A South African rehabilitation centre for illegally kept vervet monkeysChlorocebus aethiops Linnaeus, 1758 required an evaluation of the genetic status of vervet monkeys, to determine whether animals from different geographical areas may be mixed. We studied animals originating from three geographical regions and used biochemical genetic and morphological approaches to address this question. The most prominent trend from allozyme data was derived from the locusPrt-2 (an unspecified serum protein), where each of the three populations could be characterised by the absence or presence of unique alleles. Nevertheless, statistical coefficients indicated little genetic divergence, with genetic distance values of 0.001–0.003 and an overall fixation index value of 0.046. Average heterozygosity did not differ appreciably among populations (2.5–3.3%). The morphological study identified suitable traits, free from the influence of growth allometry, that can be used for inter-population comparisons. No significant morphological differences between con-specific populations were however found. It is concluded that vervet monkeys from the species’ wider distribution range is relatively monotypic, but that monkeys from different geographical areas should not be unduly mixed, pending the results of finer grained molecular studies.
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Grobler, P.J., Matlala, J.M. Regional genetic variability among South African vervet monkeyChlorocebus aethiops populations. Acta Theriol 47, 113–124 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03192452
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03192452