Data from: Range-wide snow leopard phylogeography supports three subspecies

The snow leopard, Panthera uncia, is an elusive high-altitude specialist
that inhabits vast, inaccessible habitat across Asia. We conducted the
first range-wide genetic assessment of snow leopards based on noninvasive
scat surveys. Thirty-three microsatellites were genotyped and a total of
683-bp of mitochondrial DNA sequenced in 70 individuals. Snow leopards
exhibited low genetic diversity at microsatellites (AN = 5.8, HO = 0.433,
HE = 0.568), virtually no mtDNA variation, and underwent a bottleneck in
the Holocene (~8,000 years ago) coinciding with increased temperatures,
precipitation, and upward treeline shift in the Tibetan Plateau. Multiple
analyses supported three primary genetic clusters: (1) Northern (the Altai
region), (2) Central (core Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau), and (3) Western
(Tian Shan, Pamir, trans-Himalaya regions). Accordingly, we recognize
three subspecies, P. u. irbis (Northern group), P. u. uncia (Western
group), and P. u. uncioides (Central group) based upon genetic
distinctness, low levels of admixture, unambiguous population assignment,
and geographic separation. The patterns of variation were consistent with
desert-basin "barrier effects" of the Gobi isolating the
northern subspecies (Mongolia), and the trans-Himalaya dividing the
central (Qinghai, Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal) and western subspecies (India,
Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan). Hierarchical Bayesian clustering
analysis revealed additional subdivision into a minimum of six proposed
management units: western Mongolia, southern Mongolia, Tian Shan,
Pamir-Himalaya, Tibet-Himalaya, and Qinghai, with spatial autocorrelation
suggesting potential connectivity by dispersing individuals up to ~ 400
km. We provide a foundation for global conservation of snow leopard
subspecies, and set the stage for in-depth landscape genetics and genomic
studies.