article · Molecular Ecology
This study examines the genetic diversification of the African common pangolin, a heavily poached mammal, using a multilocus genetic approach. By analysing 101 individuals across mitochondrial, nuclear, and Y-borne DNA markers, the researchers identified six distinct geographical lineages across western Africa, Ghana, the Dahomey Gap, western central Africa, Gabon, and central Africa. Diverging during the Middle to Late Pleistocene, these lineages received strong support for recognition at the species level. While diversification coincided with cyclical glaciations, correlations with traditional river barriers or forest refugia were not straightforward. Crucially, mitochondrial DNA markers provided diagnostic characters capable of distinguishing each lineage, offering a practical framework to trace the geographic origin of seized, illegally traded specimens and to inform regional conservation planning.
The African common pangolin is heavily exploited by poaching and illegal wildlife trade. Uncovering that this taxon actually contains six distinct, potentially separate species fundamentally alters how conservation programmes must protect these populations. Additionally, the ability to pinpoint the regional origin of confiscated specimens provides wildlife protection authorities with actionable genetic data to identify poaching hotspots and monitor trade routes.
The identified mitochondrial markers could enable forensic diagnostic services or identification kits for wildlife law enforcement, customs agencies, and conservation laboratories. The approach is at an applied research stage, having been successfully tested on sample populations to distinguish regional origins, but would require standardisation into routine screening assays or field-deployable diagnostic protocols for commercial or operational adoption.
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Knowledge on faunal diversification in African rainforests remains scarce. We used phylogeography to assess (i) the role of Pleistocene climatic oscillations in the diversification of the African common pangolin (Manis tricuspis) and (ii) the utility of our multilocus approach for taxonomic delineation and trade tracing of this heavily poached species. We sequenced 101 individuals for two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), two nuclear DNA and one Y-borne gene fragments (totalizing 2602 bp). We used a time-calibrated, Bayesian inference phylogenetic framework and conducted character-based, genetic and phylogenetic delineation of species hypotheses within African common pangolins. We identified six geographic lineages partitioned into western Africa, Ghana, the Dahomey Gap, western central Africa, Gabon and central Africa, all diverging during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. MtDNA (cytochrome b + control region) was the sole locus to provide diagnostic characters for each of the six lineages. Tree-based Bayesian delimitation methods using single- and multilocus approaches gave high support for 'species' level recognition of the six African common pangolin lineages. Although the diversification of African common pangolins occurred during Pleistocene cyclical glaciations, causative correlation with traditional rainforest refugia and riverine barriers in Africa was not straightforward. We conclude on the existence of six cryptic lineages within African common pangolins, which might be of major relevance for future conservation strategies. The high discriminative power of the mtDNA markers used in this study should allow an efficient molecular tracing of the regional origin of African common pangolin seizures.
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DOI: 10.1111/mec.13886
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