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Species delimitation in lemurs: multiple genetic loci reveal low levels of species diversity in the genus Cheirogaleus.

Author
Abstract
:

Species are viewed as the fundamental unit in most subdisciplines of biology. To conservationists this unit represents the currency for global biodiversity assessments. Even though Madagascar belongs to one of the top eight biodiversity hotspots of the world, the taxonomy of its charismatic lemuriform primates is not stable. Within the last 25 years, the number of described lemur species has more than doubled, with many newly described species identified among the nocturnal and small-bodied cheirogaleids. Here, we characterize the diversity of the dwarf lemurs (genus Cheirogaleus) and assess the status of the seven described species, based on phylogenetic and population genetic analysis of mtDNA (cytb + cox2) and three nuclear markers (adora3, fiba and vWF).

Year of Publication
:
2009
Journal
:
BMC evolutionary biology
Volume
:
9
Number of Pages
:
30
Date Published
:
2009
URL
:
https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-9-30
DOI
:
10.1186/1471-2148-9-30
Short Title
:
BMC Evol Biol
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