Phylogenetic relationship among slender loris species (Primates, Lorisidae: Loris) in Sri Lanka based on mtDNA CO1 barcoding
There are 2 species of slender lorises found in Sri Lanka: the red slender loris, Loris tardigradus (Linnaeus, 1758), endemic to the wet zone and montane areas, and the grey slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus (Cabrera, 1908), which is widespread. In addition, currently there are 2 subspecies recognized for each of these 2 slender loris species of Sri Lanka. Yet their taxonomy, evolutionary history, and biogeography are still poorly understood, and there are some preliminary data suggesting the presence of other subspecies. In this study, we have analysed the partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequence of 21 Loris specimens collected from 7 different regions in Sri Lanka. The phylogenetic tree reconstructed based on the neighbour joining method and Bayesian approach revealed 2 clades with high branch supports (>60%), consistent with the 2 slender loris species. Moreover, the samples within the Loris lydekkerianus clade were divided into 3 taxa and the samples within the Loris tardigradus clade were divided into 4 taxa, all consistent with the 7 sampling zones. The results of the study have provided the first DNA barcoding analysis on slender lorises in Sri Lanka to resolve phylogenetic relationships. Further studies on Loris are necessary for decoding their taxonomic issues in Sri Lanka.
___
- Cabrera A (1908). Sobre los loris, y en especial sobre la forma
filipina. Boletίn de la real Sociedad Española de Historia
Natural 8: 135-139 (in Spanish).
- Felsenstein J (1981). Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences:
A maximum likelihood approach. Journal of Molecular
Evolution 17: 368-376.
- Gamage SN, Groves CP, Marikar FMMT, Turner CS, Padmalal
UKGK, Kotagama SW (2017). The taxonomy, distribution,
and conservation status of the slender loris (Primates,
Lorisidae: Loris) in Sri Lanka. Journal of Primate
Conservation 30: 1-25.
- Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire E (1796). Mémoire sur les rapports naturels
des Makis Lemur, L. et description d’une espèce nouvelle
de mammifère. Mgasin Encyc Lopédique, ou Journal des
Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts 7: 20-50.
- Groves CP (1998). Systematics of tarsiers and Lorises. Primates 39:
13-27.
- Groves CP (2001). Primate Taxonomy. Washington, DC, USA:
Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 25-89.
- Groves CP, Meijaard E (2005). Interspecific variation in
Moschiola, the Indian Chevrotain. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
Supplement No. 12: 413-421.
- Groves CP, Rajapaksha C, Manamendra-Arachchi K (2009). The
taxonomy of the endemic golden palm civet of Sri Lanka.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155: 238-251.
- Hill WCO (1953). Primates. Comparative Anatomy and Taxonomy.
I. Strepsirrhini. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press,
pp. 777-789.
- Jansen R, Yu H, Greenbaum D, Kluger Y, Krogan NJ et al. (2003).
A Bayesian networks approach for predicting protein-protein
interactions from genomic data. Science 302: 449-453.
- Linnaeus C (1758). Systema Naturae, 10th edition. Stockholm: L.
Salvius.
- Messing J (1983). New M13 vectors for cloning. Methods in
Enzymology 101: 20-78.
- Moore W (1995). Inferring phylogenies from mtDNA variation:
mitochondrial-gene trees versus nuclear-gene trees. Evolution
49: 718-726.
- Nekaris KAI, Jayawardena J (2004). Survey of Slender loris (Primates,
Lorisidae Grey, 1821: Loris tardigradus Linnaeus, 1758 and
Loris lydekkerianus Cabrera, 1908) in Sri Lanka. Journal of
Zoology 262: 327-338.
- Posada D, Crandall KA (2001). Selecting the best-fit model of
nucleotide substitution. Systematic Biology 50: 580-601.
- Ronquist F, Huelsenbeck JP, Bayes E (2003). Bayesian phylogenetic
inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics 19: 1572-1574.
- Yapa A, Ratnavira G (2013). Sri Lanka’s terrestrial and marine
mammals. In: Yapu A, Ratnavira G (editors).The Mammals of
Sri Lanka. Colombo: Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka,
pp. 126-151.