IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Luo, S.-J.; Kim, J.-H.; Johnson, W.E.; Miquelle, D.G.; Huang, S.-Q.; Pan, W.-S.; Smith, J.L.D.; O'Brien, S.J. | |
| Proceedings in phylogeography and genetic ancestry of tigers in China and across their range | |
| 2006 Zoological Research (27): 441-448 | |
Of eight traditionally classified subspecies of the tiger _Panthera tigris_ three have recently gone extinct and poaching, habitat loss and fragmentation continue to threaten its survival. China historically harbors four of the existing subspecies and thus has high conservation priority, yet their status, both in the wild and captivity, remains highly uncertain. A recent molecular survey (Luo et al, 2004) of 134 "voucher specimens" (taken from tigers verified wild ancestry and geographic origin), from across the full range including China, examined three different types of molecular markers; four kilobase-pairs of mitochondrial DNA, 30 nuclear microsatellite loci and the nuclear major histocompatibility complex class II _DRB_ gene; to elucidate the genetic structure of tiger populations. The data revealed low genetic variation but nonetheless significant population subdivisions, suggesting six rather than five living subspecies: (1) Amur tiger _P. t. altaica_, (2) South China tiger _P. t. amoyensis_, (3) a refined Indochinese tiger _P. t. corbetti_, (4) a new subspecies Malayan tiger _P. t. jacksoni_, named after the tiger conservationist Peter Jackson, (5) Sumatran tiger _P. t. sumatrae_, and (6) Bengal tiger _P. t. tigris_. Reduced gene flow and genetic drift in isolated populations since the last genetic diminution about 72 000 - 108 000 years ago, as well as the recent anthropogenic range contraction, is likely to have caused these partitions. In particular, the proposed South China tiger lineage is tentative due to limited sampling. It is apparent that current captive South China tigers inherit at least two genetic lineages: one that is unique and distinct from the other subspecies and a second indistinguishable from the northern Indochinese tigers. An explicit genetic assessment of the captive tigers in China is urgently needed to validate the uniqueness of non-uniqueness of the South China tiger, or indeed the survival of _P. t. amoyensis_. |
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