SINEO, Luca

Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università di Palermo

ISSN:Journal of PrimatologyThe International Open AccessJournal of PrimatologyExecutive EditorsRobert J. AdamsJohns Hopkins University, USABruce M. Rothschild University of Kansas, USAAgnes LacreuseUniversity of Massachusetts, USAMagdalena N MuchlinskiUniversity of Kentucky, USADaniel D. Myers University of Michigan Medical School, USAThis article was originally published in a journal published by OMICS Publishing Group, and the attached copy is provided by OMICS Publishing Group for the author’s benefit and for the benefit of the author’s institution, for commercial/research/educational use including without limitation use in instruction at your institution, sending it to specific colleagues that you know, and providing a copy to your institution’s administrator.All other uses, reproduction and distribution, including without limitation commercial reprints, selling or licensing copies or access, or posting on open internet sites, your personal or institution’s website or repository, are requested to cite   properly. Available online at: OMICS Publishing Group (www.omicsonline.org)Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/jpmt.1000e105Volume 1 • Issue 2 • 1000e105J  PrimatolISSN:  JPMT, an open access journal Research Article Open AccessSineo, J  Primatol 2012, 1:2http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/jpmt.1000e105Editorial Open Access PrimatologyThe Still under Construction Cercopithecinae PhylogenyLuca Sineo*Department of Environmental Biology and Biodiversity, LabHomo / Laboratory of Anthropology University of Palermo, Italy*Corresponding author: Luca Sineo, Professor, Department of Environmental Biology and Biodiversity, LabHomo / Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Palermo, Italy, Tel: 0039-091-23891806; E-mail: luca.sineo@unipa.itReceived April 18, 2012; Accepted April 18, 2012; Published April 20, 2012Citation: Sineo L (2012) The Still under Construction Cercopithecinae Phylogeny. J  Primatol 1:e105. doi:10.4172/jpmt.1000e105Copyright: © 2012 Sineo L. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Several genera of haplorhines characterize the biodiversity of the tropical/equatorial belt of Africa, with a high rate of sympatry. Phylogenetic relationship of the taxa, in spite of time, aim and general efforts, are still ineffectually known. The relative young age of fossils related to these genera suggests a Plio-Pleistocene differentiation in sub-Saharan Africa. Within these taxa, subfamily Cercopithecinae (guenons and related monkeys) demonstrates several characters of uniqueness and high rates of sympatry that still need a comprehensive and deep evaluation in order to understand the origin and the phylogeny of the group. Actually they show the most intense coat patterns differentiation and the widest variability in chromosome number and in syntenic organisation.From the Systematic point of view Cercopithecinae are a diversified group of primates that includes the genera Cercopithecus, Chlorocebus, Allenopithecus, Miopithecus and Erythrocebus. Recently the C. l’hoesti group has been classified in the genus Allochrocebus. This grouping composes the Cercopithecini tribe with about 36 species.All these monkeys have an undifferentiated skeleton morphology and light body structure adapted to an efficacious deep-forest arboreal life. Tropical forests should have been the environment of the ancestor of the group as nowadays shows a large distribution in African forests (i.e. in present relict forested areas), from Senegal to Uganda, from Eastern Congo to Angola. Proposed exceptions to this evolutionary hypothesis regard, first and foremost, two (sister) genera: Allenopithecus (sp. nigroviridis) (Allen’s Swamp monkey), and the Erythrocebus (sp. patas) (Patas monkey, Hussar monkey).Allenopithecus has been generally considered a representative of an ancestral stock of forestal cercopithecini [1]; it is distributed in swampy areas in the Zaire basin, and frequently reported ranging at ground level. Erythrocebus is distributed in the semiarid belt that characterises African sub-Saharan regions, from Senegal all the way east to the South Sudan and south way to Tanganika’s savannas. Particularly adapted to its ecology it is an efficacious ground-dweller and runner.From a systematic point of view, Allen’s monkey and Patas monkey have very different characters but their condition of terrestriality persuaded several authors to suggest, since the ‘80s, a possible grouping in a separate clade of ground-dwellers, with ancestral peculiarities. These evaluations, and other data added to the discussion, coming from chromosomal analysis [2,3] and from different molecular approaches [4,5] reiterated the proposal of a subdivision of the subfamily in two main clades of terrestrial (ancestral) and strictly arboreal monkeys. Furthermore other taxa have been intermittently involved in the condition of ancestral representative of the subfamily. The Dwarf monkey Miopithecus (sp- talapoin) [6,7] strictly arboreal; the largely dispersed savannas green-monkey Chlorocebus (Cercopithecus) aethiops, and the Cercopithecus (Allochrocebus) l’hoesti [8] that the authors consider as terrestrial but, according to the tradition, and to my experience, is a low strata montane forest tree-dweller. The availability of a more representative set of species allowed Paulina Perelman [9] to produce a new molecular phylogeny of the tribe. This proposal includes a reversed interpretation, in respect to the critical features of terrestriality and ancestrality. Further, according to this study, the tribe underwent a recent speciation with an “early offshoot” from an ancestral notch (dated near 7 mya), of Miopithecus (arboreal) and Allenopithecus (trendily terrestrial) in respect to Guenons (Cercopithecus spp). The authors conclude saying that a revision of the cercopithecini systematics is urgent. And this is absolutely true. The situation is evidently confused and the different phylogenetic interpretation, as derived from different experimental approaches appears, from the zoological point of view, very heterogeneous, and definitively vague.Few considerations are necessary in order to understand the need for this academic discussion. The guenons of the genus Cercopithecus appear morphologically uniform and have a wide and overlapping biogeography in western and central forests. This overlapping gave several cues to the depiction of polyspecific associations (even with mangabey) and hybridization (since the historical descriptions of Aldridge-Blake and Struhsaker). Presumably this complicate biogeography has driven their intriguing facial and genital colour patterning, their intense vocal communication and their genetics and reproductive biology. If we start from the hypothesis of a group presumably arisen via adaptation from a ground-dweller common ancestor, we must find, at least in one cluster, hands and feet that clearly demonstrate this stable ecological choice: appendicular bones that are expressive of a ground living specialisation. In a group of terrestrial primates that moves on digits, like Papionini (the other tribe in the Subfamily, with different evolutionary histories inside), we find a huge calcaneum and a semi-vertical shape of the calcaneo-cuboid facet. When we consider [10] hands and feet anatomy of the over mentioned species in Cercopithecinae we find that Allenopithecus has a cercopithecus-like hand, the foot demonstrates a rate of efficaciousness to terrestriality, but the calcaneum indicates that the animal has a basic arboreal specialization. Chlorocebus (Cercopithecus) aethiops has admixed characters towards a more cursorial locomotion, with the calcaneum that clearly indicates an aptitude to climbing, suggesting that cursorial features are secondarily acquired. C. (A.) l’hoesti is a mosaic analogous to the green-monkey: derived traits are superimposed on a predominantly arboreal body composition. Only E. patas shows an extreme adaptation to a sprinter gait, starting from its body composition that is slender and sinuous, with long appendicular skeleton, short digits and elongated calcaneum and metatarsals.Citation: Sineo L (2012) The Still under Construction Cercopithecinae Phylogeny. J  Primatol 1:e105. doi:10.4172/jpmt.1000e105Page 2 of 2Volume 1 • Issue 2 • 1000e105J  PrimatolISSN:  JPMT, an open access journal These evidences do not support a phylogenetically significant separation of neither the tribe nor a terrestrial ancestor, but indicate only a tendency, for some genera, to a secondarily acquired attitude to ground-dwelling, evidently related to ecological pressures. However, these taxa maintain features of a tree-dwelling specialisation. Furthermore, multidisciplinary approaches to the interpretation of cranial morphology in cercopithecini indicate a lack of cluster inside the tribe [11]. These data follow the early evaluations of Martin and McLarnon [12] on skull ergonomy and teeth morphology that, in effect, did not support neither the separation of African guenons in two subgroups, nor the ancestral position of A. nigroviridis in respect to sympatric (and allopatric) guenons.Even the chromosomal evidences of tribe clustering are not convincing. It is well known that Cercopithecinae diploid number is highly variable (2n ranges from 46 to 72) [13]. Their vivacious genomic organization has been considered an extraordinary gymnasium for the understanding of chromosomal dynamics in genomic evolution and speciation. Early chromosome evolution studies proposed, in the light of chromosomal fission-fusion theory, a tendency, inside the phylogeny, to the increase of diploid number (and complexity) in time, and a basal position of low diploid numbers kayotypes (Allenopithecus 2n=48, with a karyotype organisation analogous to Papionini). This approach strongly supported the clusterization of the tribe in two groups: trendily terrestrial and chromosomally conservative monkeys, and arboreal and chromosomally not conservative guenons. The only one proposal that is maintainable, of all this epoch, is the identification of species-group conjugating systematics and homologous chromosomal features [2,14,15]. The fission-fusion theory has been early marginalised by the potentiality of molecular chromosome painting that is now facing a discussion in consideration of the rate of homoplasy that characterizes chromosomal dynamics [16]. Nevertheless, recent cytogenetic results deny a separation of the tribe in two subgroups [17]. Actually the shortage of representative samples, united to the discussed prejudicial position, makes the scarce attempts insufficient for a new interpretation of the phylogeny of the group. New systematic works supported by a reappraisal in biogeography studies together with DNA level molecular studies and BAC’s probe mapping could be extremely valuable for a renewed approach to the study of guenon’s evolution. Cercopithecinae are an engaging example of primate radiation, still offering a huge amount of characters to be investigated in order to achieve a good understanding of evolutionary mechanisms. All possible conservation efforts must be produced for the survival of guenons and related genera in African scene. References1. Napier JR, Napier PH (1994) The natural History of primates. MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. USA.2. Dutrillaux B, Couturier J, Chauvier G (1980) Chromosomal evolution of 19 species of sub-species of Cercopithecinae. Ann Genet 23: 133-143.3. Stanyon R, Bruening R, Stone G, Shearin A, Bigoni F (2005) Reciprocal painting between humans, De Brazza’s and patas monkey reveals a major bifurcation in the Cercopithecini phylogenetic tree. Cytogenet Genome Res 108: 175-182.4. Tosi AJ, Disotell TR, Morales JC, Melnick DJ (2003) Cercopithecini Y-chromosome data provide a test of competing morphological evolutionary hypothesis. Mol Phylogenet Evol 27: 510-521.5. Tosi AJ, Detwiler KM, Disotell TR (2005) X-chromosomal windows into the evolutionary history of the guenons (Primates: cercopithecini). Mol Phylogenet Evol 36: 58-66.6. Tosi AJ, Melnick DJ, Disotell TR (2004) Sex chromosome phylogenetics indicate a single transitino to terrestriality in the guenons (tribe cercopithecini). J Hum Evol 46: 223-237.7. McGoogan K, Kivell T, Hutchison M, Young H, Blanchard S, et al. (2007) Phylogenetic diversity and the conservation biogeography of African primates. J Biogeogr 34: 1962-1974.8. Xing J, Wang H, Zhang Y, Ray DA, Tosi AJ, et al. (2007) A mobile element-based evolutionary history of guenons (Tribe Cercopithecini). BMC Biol 5: 5.9. Perelman P, Johnson WE, Roos C, Seuánez HN, Horvath JE, et al. (2011) A molecular phylogeny of living primates. Plos Genet 7: e1001342. 10. Hill OCW (1966) Primates Comparative anatomy and taxonomy. Vol VI Catarrhini, Cercopithecoidea, Cercopithecinae. New York, Interscience Publishers Inc. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), pp-757.11. Cardini A, Elton S (2008) Variation in guenon skulls (I): species divergence, ecological and genetic differences. J Hum Evol 54: 615-637.12. Martin RD, McLarnon AM (1988) Quantitative comparisons of the skull and teeth in Guenons. In: A primate radiation: evolutionary biology of the African Guenons (A. Gautier-Hion Ed) pp 160-183. Cambridge University Press.13. Chiarelli B (1968) Chromosome polymorphism in the species of the genus Cercopithecus. Cytologia (Tokyo) 33: 1-16.14. Sineo L, Stanyon R, Chiarelli B (1986) Chromosomes of the Cercopithecus aethiops. Species group: C. aethiops (Linnaeus, 1758), C. cynosurus (Scopoli, 1786), C. pygerythrus (Cuvier, 1821) and C. sabaeus (Linnaeus, 1766). Int J Primatol 7: 569-582.15. Sineo L (1990) The banded karyotype of the samango monkey compared with the karyotype of the maesi monkey and the stampflii monkey. Int J Primatol 11: 541-552.16. Picone B (2010) Phylogenetic relationship between primates and Rodentia: searching for cytogenetic signatures by chromosome painting data and cladistic analysis using chromosome characters. J Mamm Evol 18: 131-146.17. Dumas F, Sineo L (2010) Chromosome dynamics and evolution in guenons and vervet monkeys. Caryologia 63: 435-442.Submit your next manuscript and get advantages of OMICS Group submissionsUnique features:•	 User	friendly/feasible	website-translation	of	your	paper	to	50	world’s	leading	languages•	 Audio	Version	of	published	paper•	 Digital	articles	to	share	and	exploreSpecial features:•	 200	Open	Access	Journals•	 15,000	editorial	team•	 21	days	rapid	review	process•	 Quality	and	quick	editorial,	review	and	publication	processing•	 Indexing	at	PubMed	(partial),	Scopus,	DOAJ,	EBSCO,	Index	Copernicus	and	Google	Scholar	etc•	 Sharing	Option:	Social	Networking	Enabled•	 Authors,	Reviewers	and	Editors	rewarded	with	online	Scientific	Credits•	 Better	discount	for	your	subsequent	articlesSubmit	your	manuscript	at:	http://omicsgroup.info/editorialtracking/primatology

The still under construction Cercopithecinae Phylogeny

https://iris.unipa.it/retrieve/handle/10447/68585/42839/Sineo%20-%20cercopithecus%20phyl.pdf

The still under construction Cercopithecinae Phylogeny

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università di Palermo