Phylogenetic Relationships Among Capuchin (Cebidae, Platyrrhini) Lineages: An Old Event of Sympatry Explains the Current Distribution of Cebus and Sapajus

Overview

Journal Genet Mol Biol

Specialty Genetics

Date 2018 Sep 21

PMID 30235394

Citations 7

Authors

Antonio Marcio Gomes Martins-Junior

Jeferson Carneiro

Iracilda Sampaio

Stephen F Ferrari

Horacio Schneider

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Capuchin monkeys are currently represented by four species of Cebus and eight of Sapajus. This group is taxonomically complex and several questions still need to be clarified. In the current study, using mtDNA markers and a larger sample representation than in previous studies, we seek to understand the phylogenetic relationships among the capuchin lineages and their historical biogeography. All 12 species of capuchins were analyzed for the mitochondrial Control Region and Cytochrome b to test two biogeographical hypotheses: "Reinvasion of the Amazon (ROA)" and "Sympatric Evolution (SEV)". The phylogenetic relationships among distinct lineages within genera is consistent with an evolutionary diversification pattern probably resulting from an explosive process of diversification and dispersal between 2.0 Ma and 3.0 Ma. Also, the analyses show that the ancestral capuchins were distributed in a wide area encompassing the Amazon and Atlantic Forest. Our results support the SEV hypothesis, showing that the current syntopic distribution of Cebus and Sapajus can be explained by a sympatric speciation event in the Amazon. We also indicate that the recently proposed species taxonomy of Cebus is not supported, and that S. cay and S. macrocephalus are a junior synonym of S. apella.

Citing Articles

Mitochondrial DNA for Phylogeny Building: Assessing Individual and Grouped mtGenes as Proxies for the mtGenome in Platyrrhines.

Finnegan N, Lima M, Lynch J Am J Primatol. 2025; 87(3):e70017.

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Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) in New World Monkeys (Primates) Reveals the Distribution of Repetitive Sequences in Cebinae and Callitrichinae.

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Insights into the evolutionary history of the most skilled tool-handling platyrrhini monkey: Sapajus libidinosus from the Serra da Capivara National Park.

Lima T, Fam B, Medina Tavares G, Falotico T, Cantele C, Fanti L Genet Mol Biol. 2023; 46(3 Suppl 1):e20230165.

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