Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Freie Universität Berlin, Kaiserswerther Strasse 16-18, 14195 Berlin, Germany
  • 2 Department of Evolutionary Genetics , Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) , Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin , Germany
  • 3 Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK; Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK
  • 4 WWF Malaysia, 1 Jalan PJS 5/28A, Petaling Jaya Commercial Centre (PJCC) , 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor , Malaysia
  • 5 Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany; Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
R Soc Open Sci, 2016 Oct;3(10):160350.
PMID: 27853549

Abstract

Background. The bay cat Catopuma badia is endemic to Borneo, whereas its sister species the Asian golden cat Catopuma temminckii is distributed from the Himalayas and southern China through Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. Based on morphological data, up to five subspecies of the Asian golden cat have been recognized, but a taxonomic assessment, including molecular data and morphological characters, is still lacking. Results. We combined molecular data (whole mitochondrial genomes), morphological data (pelage) and species distribution projections (up to the Late Pleistocene) to infer how environmental changes may have influenced the distribution of these sister species over the past 120 000 years. The molecular analysis was based on sequenced mitogenomes of 3 bay cats and 40 Asian golden cats derived mainly from archival samples. Our molecular data suggested a time of split between the two species approximately 3.16 Ma and revealed very low nucleotide diversity within the Asian golden cat population, which supports recent expansion of the population. Discussion. The low nucleotide diversity suggested a population bottleneck in the Asian golden cat, possibly caused by the eruption of the Toba volcano in Northern Sumatra (approx. 74 kya), followed by a continuous population expansion in the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. Species distribution projections, the reconstruction of the demographic history, a genetic isolation-by-distance pattern and a gradual variation of pelage pattern support the hypothesis of a post-Toba population expansion of the Asian golden cat from south China/Indochina to Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. Our findings reject the current classification of five subspecies for the Asian golden cat, but instead support either a monotypic species or one comprising two subspecies: (i) the Sunda golden cat, distributed south of the Isthmus of Kra: C. t. temminckii and (ii) Indochinese, Indian, Himalayan and Chinese golden cats, occurring north of the Isthmus: C. t. moormensis.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.