0000000000477847
AUTHOR
Stefan Merker
Habitat-specific ranging patterns of Dian's tarsiers (Tarsius dianae) as revealed by radiotracking
Dian's tarsier Tarsius dianae, one of the smallest primates on earth, is endemic to the central regions of Sulawesi, Indonesia. To evaluate the effects of increasing land use by humans on the ranging patterns of this nocturnal insect hunter, four study plots along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance were selected for this study. In these plots, 71 tarsiers were captured with mist nets, and 30 of these were fitted with 3.9 g radiotransmitters and subsequently tracked over the course of 2 weeks per animal. The average home ranges were 1.1-1.8 ha in size, with the smallest ranges in slightly disturbed habitat and the largest ranges in a heavily disturbed plantation. These findings coincide…
Formation of novel PRDM9 allele by indel events as possible trigger for tarsier-anthropoid split
AbstractPRDM9is currently the sole speciation gene found in vertebrates causing hybrid sterility probably due to incompatible alleles. Its role in defining the double strand break loci during the meiotic prophase I is crucial for proper chromosome segregation. Therefore, the rapid turnover of the loci determining zinc finger array seems to be causative for incompatibilities. We here investigated the zinc finger domain-containing exon ofPRDM9in 23 tarsiers. Tarsiers, the most basal extant haplorhine primates, exhibit two frameshifting indels at the 5’-end of the array. The first mutation event interrupts the reading frame and function while the second compensates both. The fixation of this p…
Towards understanding isotope variability in elephant ivory to establish isotopic profiling and source-area determination
Abstract We present here new isotopic data (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, δ 18 O, δ 2 H, and δ 34 S) from pulverised ivory powder, measured by continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry from an unprecedented large dataset of 507 ivory samples, derived from twenty-eight African and six Asian elephant range states. The aim of this study is to assess the accuracy of isotopic fingerprinting and to evaluate its forensic potential and limitations to predict the provenance of ivory of unknown origin. We constructed a nominal assignment framework for the African reference samples, consisting of 208 different sites and applied the weighted k -Nearest Neighbor Classifier with reference site as classifier and …
The pioneering role of PRDM9 indel mutations in tarsier evolution
PRDM9 is currently the sole speciation gene found in vertebrates causing hybrid sterility probably due to incompatible alleles. Its role in defining the double strand break loci during the meiotic prophase I is crucial for proper chromosome segregation. Therefore, the rapid turnover of the loci determining zinc finger array seems to be causative for incompatibilities. We here investigated the zinc finger domain-containing exon of PRDM9 in 23 tarsiers. Tarsiers, the most basal extant haplorhine primates, exhibit two frameshifting indels at the 5'-end of the array. The first mutation event interrupts the reading frame and function while the second compensates both. The fixation of this allele…
Tarsius tumpara: A New Tarsier Species from Siau Island, North Sulawesi
Abstract: A new, critically endangered species of tarsier, one of the world's 25 most endangered primates, is described from the remote island of Siau, North Sulawesi, based on distinguishing characteristics of the tail tuft, pelage coloration, skull, and vocalizations. Siau is part of the Sangihe Island chain, a volcanic arc composed of islands that rise from the ocean floor. There is a single previous record of a tarsier from Siau; a skull in the Dresden Museum that Meyer (1897) classified with tarsiers from Sangihe Island as Tarsius sangirensis. Sangihe and Siau Islands are geologically separated by about 60 km of ocean that greatly exceeds 1,000 m in depth. Genetic data for the new spec…
Isolation and characterization of 12 microsatellite loci for population studies of Sulawesi tarsiers (Tarsius spp.)
This study reports the development and characterization of the first 12 microsatellite markers for tarsiers. Nine loci were isolated from Dian's tarsier, Tarsius dianae and three from the Philippine tarsier, Tarsius syrichta. The 12 markers were used to screen 40 individuals of Dian's tarsier and 40 individuals of the Lariang tarsier, Tarsius lariang for allelic diversity. This suite of highly polymorphic microsatellites provides the first chance to genetically study parentage patterns in tarsiers.
Stop and Go - Waves of Tarsier Dispersal Mirror the Genesis of Sulawesi Island.
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi harbors a highly endemic and diverse fauna sparking fascination since long before Wallace's contemplation of biogeographical patterns in the region. Allopatric diversification driven by geological or climatic processes has been identified as the main mechanism shaping present faunal distribution on the island. There is both consensus and conflict among range patterns of terrestrial species pointing to the different effects of vicariant events on once co-distributed taxa. Tarsiers, small nocturnal primates with possible evidence of an Eocene fossil record on the Asian mainland, are at present exclusively found in insular Southeast Asia. Sulawesi is hotspot o…
Elucidating geological and biological processes underlying the diversification of Sulawesi tarsiers.
Because of their exceptionally long independent evolution, a range diminution of their Eocene relatives, and a remarkable subsequent diversification in Southeast Asia, tarsiers are of particular importance to evolutionary primatologists. Little is known, however, on the processes shaping the radiation of these small enigmatic primates—especially on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, their center of endemism. Geological reconstructions and progress in applying DNA sequence information to divergence dating now provide us with the tools and background to comprehend tarsier dispersal. Here, we describe effects of plate-tectonic movements, Pleistocene sea level changes, and hybridization on the…