Molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of the white-fronted capuchin (Cebus albifrons; Cebidae, Primates) by means of mtCOII gene sequences

A total of 696 base pairs (bp) of the mitochondrial COII gene were sequenced from 118 individuals of Cebus albifrons (plus an individual of Cebus olivaceus) sampled from diverse geographical areas of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. These animals represented all of the C. albifrons’s taxa described by Hershkovitz (1949) in Colombia and Peru (10 out of 13 subspecies are described by this author). The sequences analyzed demonstrate the existence of three well defined groups in northern Colombia (trans-Andean): malitosus, versicolor-pleei-cesarae and leucocephalus. They arose from at least, three distinct migrations from different Amazonian groups. Five different Amazonian and Eastern Llanos C. albifrons’s groups (I, II, III, IV, and V) were also found. In many Amazonian localities, some of these groups live in sympatry probably by secondary expansion after their respective formations. Amazonian group I is closely related to the versicolor-pleei-cesarae group, malitosus is closely related to Amazonian group V, while leucocephalus is closely related to Amazonian group IV. Nevertheless, our genetic analysis could not resolve the genetic relationships among the main C. albifrons groups. The ρ-statistic applied to the median-joining network yielded that the major part of the temporal splits estimated occurred in the Pleistocene, reinforcing the importance of the Pleistocene refugia during the evolution of C. albifrons.

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► This is the first published molecular hypothesis on the intra-specific phylogeny of the white-fronted capuchin by means of the mitochondrial COII gene.
► Three well defined groups in northern Colombia (malitosus, versicolor-pleei-cesarae and leucocephalus) were found. They arose from at least, three distinct migrations from different Amazonian groups.
► The ρ-statistic applied to the median-joining network yielded that the major part of the temporal splits estimated occurred in the Pleistocene, reinforcing the importance of the Pleistocene refugia during the evolution of C. albifrons.