IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Cossios, E.D.; Angers, B. | |
| Phylogeography and Conservation of Small Cats from the High Andes | |
| 2007 Conference Proceeding | |
The Andean cat is one of the rarest felids of the planet, living only at high elevations within the Andes. Another species, the pampas cat, is largely distributed throughout South America and has been subdivided into numerous subspecies. However, the validity of these divisions is uncertain, as well as the conservation status of each of them. The limited information about these species severely constrained management programs. A first step toward the conservation of species integrity is to determine the population's structure. The analysis of a portion of the mtDNA control region was performed on populations from the high Andes of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Genetic diversity of the pampas cat revealed 44 haplotypes that clustered in six highly divergent clades. The strong geographic structure of these clades and the signal of demographic reduction detected in some of them suggest they may require a special protection status. In contrast, only three haplotypes were detected in the Andean cat. A strong geographic structure but an extremely low genetic diversity was observed. This makes the Andean cat one of the less genetically diverse cat species of the world. |
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