Phylogeographic history of Japanese macaques

Aim: Understanding patterns and processes of geographic genetic variation within and among closely related species is the essence of phylogeography. Japanese macaques, also called snow monkeys, have been extensively studied, particularly in the fields of sociobiology, ecology, and experimental biology; however, our knowledge of their evolutionary history is relatively limited. In this study we aimed to elucidate the geographic patterns of genetic variation in Japanese macaques and the processes that underlie them.

Location: Japan

Taxon: Japanese macaque, Macaca fuscata; rhesus macaque, M. mulatta; Taiwanese macaque, M. cyclopis

Methods: Double-digest restriction-site associated DNA (RAD) sequencing was used to identify genome-wide single nucleotide variants. We used fineRADstructure, ADMIXTURE, and principal component analyses to estimate the genetic population structure. Phylogenetic relationships were then inferred based on neighbour-net, neighbour-joining, maximum likelihood...