Diet of the marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) in the Pantanal wetland,Brazil

O cervo-do-pantanal (Blastocerus dichotomus, Cervidae) é uma espécie sul americana ameaçada de extinção. Existe pouca informação sobre a biologia desta espécie, incluindo dieta e requerimentos de habitat. O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar as espécies de plantas forrageadas pelo cervo no Pantanal, Brazil, onde se localiza a maior parte de sua população. A dieta do cervo-do-pantanal foi estudada através de microhistologia de restos vegetais em amostras de fezes. Um total de 41 espécies foram identificadas como componentes da dieta, 32 delas sendo consumidas durante a estação de cheias e 31 na estação seca. A maioria das espécies de plantas detectadas na dieta do cervo-do-pantanal é composta de plantas aqu ticas e/ou que apresentam tolerância a inundaç[otilde]es sazonais ou solos encharcados. Blastocerus pode ser melhor definido como um estrategista "pastador-podador" porque grande parte de sua dieta é composta de brotos de várias espécies arbustivas e macrófitas de folha larga. The marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, Cervidae) is a South American endangered species. There is little information on the biology of this species, including diet and habitat requirements. The objective of this study was to determine the plant species foraged by the marsh deer in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil, where most of its population is found. Marsh deer's diet was studied through microscopic analysis of fecal samples for remnants of plant species. A total of 41 species were identified as components of the diet, 32 of them found to be consumed during the flooding season and 31 in the dry season. Most plant species detected in the marsh deer's diet are aquatic and/or present tolerance to seasonal flooding and water-logged soils. Blastocerus could be best defined as a grazer-browser strategist because large part of its diet is composed of shoots of several species of shrub and broad-leaved aquatic macrophytes.     

Insight into gene evolution within Cervidae and Bovidae through genetic variation in MHC-DQA in the black muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons)

The critical role that the major histocompatibility complex plays in the immune recognition of parasites and pathogens makes its evolutionary dynamics exceptionally relevant to ecology, population biology, and conservation studies. The black muntjac is a rare deer endemic to a small mountainous region in eastern China. We found that this species has two DQA loci through cDNA expression and sequence variation analysis. The level of variation at both DQA loci was found to be extremely low (three alleles for DQA1 and four alleles for DQA2), possibly because of past bottlenecks and the species' relatively solitary behavior pattern. The ratio of d(N)/d(S) in the putative peptide binding region of the DQA2 locus (13.36, P = 0.012) was significantly larger than one but not that of DQA1 (0.94, P = 0.95), suggesting strong positive selection at the DQA2 but not at the DQA1 locus. This difference might reflect different sets of evolutionary selection pressures acting on the two loci. The phylogenetic tree showed that DQA1 alleles from two species of Cervidae and two of Bovidae grouped together, as did the DQA2 alleles. However, different genes from the four species were located in separate branches. These results lead us to suggest that these DQA alleles are derived from primordial DQA genes from a common ancestor and are maintained in Cervidae and Bovidae since their divergence around 25.5-27.8 million years ago.     

Phylogenetic relationships among deer in China derived from mitochondrial DNA cytochromeb sequences

The phylogenetic relationships of Cervidae and Moschidae were examined using partial sequence data of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochromeb. Ten new sequences were obtained for six species of Cervidae and Moschidae, and aligned with those previously reported for other deer species. Our results demonstrated that the phylogenetic status of the taxa inferred from molecular data was congruent with taxonomy based on morphological studies. Cervidae formed a monophyletic group that consists of four subfamilies: Cervinae, Muntiacinae, Hydropotinae, and Odocoileinae. Moschidae occurred at the base of the Cervidae clade. On the basis of molecular clocks for genetic distance, the divergence time of mtDNA haplotypes within the subfamily Cervinae, among subfamilies in Cervidae, and between Moschidae and Cervidae was estimated to date 2–7 MYA, 6–10 MYA and 8–13 MYA, respectively.     

Marsh Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) Distribution as a Function of Floods in the Pantanal Wetland,Brazil

The marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, Cervidae) inhabits floodplains and marshlands of South America and is threatened with extinction. We conducted two aerial surveys in the central southern region of the Pantanal to evaluate population distribution at the end of the dry season and the peak of the flooding season. Our results show an aggregated distribution during the dry season and a relatively diffused distribution in the flooding season. Population density estimates are 0.382 ± 0.362 deer/km2 in the dry season, and 0.395 ± 0.144 deer/km2 in the flooding season. Population size remained essentially unchanged between the seasons. In the study area, the marsh deer moved up to 20 km between the dry and flooding seasons. The design of protected areas should consider migration distances to offer enough area to protect marsh deer populations throughout the year.     

Identification of novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in deer (Odocoileus spp.) using the BovineSNP50 BeadChip

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are growing in popularity as a genetic marker for investigating evolutionary processes. A panel of SNPs is often developed by comparing large quantities of DNA sequence data across multiple individuals to identify polymorphic sites. For non-model species, this is particularly difficult, as performing the necessary large-scale genomic sequencing often exceeds the resources available for the project. In this study, we trial the Bovine SNP50 BeadChip developed in cattle (Bos taurus) for identifying polymorphic SNPs in cervids Odocoileus hemionus (mule deer and black-tailed deer) and O. virginianus (white-tailed deer) in the Pacific Northwest. We found that 38.7% of loci could be genotyped, of which 5% (n = 1068) were polymorphic. Of these 1068 polymorphic SNPs, a mixture of putatively neutral loci (n = 878) and loci under selection (n = 190) were identified with the F(ST)-outlier method. A range of population genetic analyses were implemented using these SNPs and a panel of 10 microsatellite loci. The three types of deer could readily be distinguished with both the SNP and microsatellite datasets. This study demonstrates that commercially developed SNP chips are a viable means of SNP discovery for non-model organisms, even when used between very distantly related species (the Bovidae and Cervidae families diverged some 25.1-30.1 million years before present).     

New phylogenetic perspectives on the Cervidae (Artiodactyla) are provided by the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.

The entire mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene was compared for 11 species of the artiodactyl family Cervidae, representing all living subfamilies, i.e., the antlered Cervinae (Cervus elaphus, C. nippon, Dama dama), Muntiacinae (Muntiacus reevesi), and Odocoileinae (Odocoileus hemionus, Mazama sp., Capreolus capreolus, C. pygargus, Rangifer tarandus, Alces alces); and the antlerless Hydropotinae (Hydropotes inermis). Phylogenetic analyses using Tragulidae, Antilocapridae, Giraffidae and Bovidae as outgroups provide evidence for three multifurcating principal clades within the monophyletic family Cervidae. First, Cervinae and Muntiacus are joined in a moderately-to-strongly supported clade of Eurasian species. Second, Old World Odocoileinae (Capreolus and Hydropotes) associate with the Holarctic Alces. Third, New World Odocoileinae (Mazama and Odocoileus) cluster with the Holarctic Rangifer. The combination of mitochondrial cyt b and nuclear k-casein sequences increases the robustness of these three clades. The Odocoileini + Rangiferini clade is unambiguously supported by a unique derived cranial feature, the expansion of the vomer which divides the choana. Contrasting with current taxonomy, Hydropotes is not the sister group of all the antlered deers, but it is nested within the Odocoileinae. Therefore, Hydropotes lost the antlers secondarily. Thus, the mitochondrial cyt b phylogeny splits Cervidae according to plesiometacarpal (Cervinae + Muntiacinae) versus telemetacarpal (Odocoileinae + Hydropotinae) conditions, and suggests paraphyly of antlered deer.     

The melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor (MC1-R) gene as a tool in evolutionary studies of artiodactyles

The complete coding region of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor (MC1-R) gene was characterized in species belonging to the two families Bovidae and Cervidae; cattle (Bos taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus), muskox (Ovibos moschatus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), moose (Alces alces), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and fallow deer (Dama dama). This well conserved gene is a central regulator of mammalian coat colour. Examination of the interspecies variability revealed a 5.3-6.8% divergence between the Cervidae and Bovidae families, whereas the divergence within the families were 1.0-3.1% and 1.2-4.6%, respectively. Complete identity was found when two subspecies of reindeer, Eurasian tundra reindeer (R.t. tarandus) and Svalbard reindeer (R.t. platvrhynehus), were analyzed. An rooted phylogenetic tree based on Bovidae and Cervidae MC1-R DNA sequences was in complete agreement with current taxonomy, and was supported by bootstrapping analysis. Due to different frequencies of silent vs. replacement mutations, the amino acid based phylogenetic tree contains several dissimilarities when compared to the DNA based phylogenetic tree.     

鹿科动物线粒体控制区序列分析与系统进化

通过测定鹿科麂亚科中的小麂、赤麂和黑麂的线粒体全基因组,从而定位它们的控制区,并从GenBank获得鹿科另外3个亚科9种动物的线粒体控制区全序列。利用MEGA软件计算了各物种控制区序列的碱基组成、遗传距离和遗传相似度,通过比较序列同源性,以羊线粒体控制区序列为外群,构建NJ分子系统树,探讨了鹿科4个亚科12种动物的系统进化关系。序列分析表明,鹿科12种动物控制区序列的碱基长度在909～1049bp之间,A T含量约占62．06％,其中363个核苷酸位点存在变异(约占34％)。系统进化关系结果表明：(1)以线粒体控制区构建的鹿科12种动物分子系统树基本与NCBI分类一致;(2)美洲鹿亚科驼鹿属驼鹿在鹿科这12种动物中处于最为原始的地位;(3)小麂比赤麂和黑麂更为原始;(4)獐亚科獐属的獐与美洲鹿亚科狍鹿属的狍鹿和美洲狍鹿聚为一支。     

A highly repetitive DNA component common to all Cervidae: its organization and chromosomal distribution during evolution

In recent work we have isolated and characterized a highly repetitive DNA (MMV satellite IA) from Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis, the species with the most reduced karyotype in the Cervidae family. We have now analysed the genomes of nine related species for the presence of MMV satellite IA components, and have determined their organization and chromosomal distribution. Repetitive satellite IA type DNA is present in all species of the Cervidae, and also in the bovine, but not in a species of the Tragulidae suggesting that these sequences were generated after the phylogenetic separation of Bovidae and Tragulidae. Studies on the organization of the satellite IA DNA in the various species revealed three main repeat lengths: 1400, 1000 and 807 bp. The relative proportion of satellite IA sequences present in any one of the three registers is strikingly different within the various species and can be correlated with the phylogeny of the Cervidae. The chromosomal locations of the satellite IA sequences were determined in seven species by in situ hybridization. It turned out that the chromosomal rearrangements leading to the reduction in the number of chromosomes during karyotype evolution have led to the elimination of satellite I DNA at most locations. In all tandem fusions, the satellite IA sequences located at the centromeres of the ancestral acrocentric chromosomes are lost. In contrast, during the centric fusion that generates the M. m. vaginalis X chromosome satellite IA sequences are amplified. Sequence motifs, which are known to be involved in recombinational events are present in the satellite IA and might have contributed to the unique karyotype variation in the Cervidae.     

Male vocal behavior and phylogeny in deer

The phylogenetic relationships among 11 species of the Cervidae family were inferred from an analysis of male vocalizations. Eighteen characters, including call types (e.g. antipredator barks, mating loudcalls) and acoustic characteristics (call composition, fundamental frequency and formant frequencies), were used for phylogeny inference. The resulting topology and the phylogenetic consistency of behavioral characters were compared with those of current molecular phylogenies of Cervidae and with separate and simultaneous parsimony analyses of molecular and behavioral data. Our results indicate that male vocalizations constitute plausible phylogenetic characters in this taxon. Evolutionary scenarios for the vocal characters are discussed in relation with associated behaviors.     

Molecular Phylogeny of Deer (Cervidae: Artiodactyla)

Sequences of mitochondrial genes 12S and 16S rRNA (2445 bp) and the region of the nuclear betaspectrin gene (828 bp) were analyzed in members of the family Cervidae and in some other artiodactyls. Several molecular synapomorphies characteristic both of Cervidae and musk deer have been found. According to our data, Cervidae is a sister clade to Bovidae, which are very close to Moschidae. The family Giraffidae is exterior to this common clade, while Antilocapridae occupies a more basal position. The family Cervidae proper splits into three clades including the genera Cervus and Muntiacus (1), Capreolus, Hydropotes, Alces (2), and Rangifer, Odocoileus, and the remaining genera (3). In general, our phylogenetic reconstructions conform to the results of earlier molecular genetic studies, but substantially differ from the traditional taxonomy of Ruminantia.__________Translated from Genetika, Vol. 41, No. 7, 2005, pp. 910–918.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Kuznetsova, Kholodova, Danilkin.     

DNA cloning and hybridization in deer species supporting the chromosome field theory

The Cervidae show the largest variation in chromosome number found within any mammalian family. The eight species of deer which are the subject of this study vary in chromosome number from 2n = 70 to 2n = 6. Three species of Bovidae are also included since they belong to a closely related family. Digestion of nuclear DNAs with the restriction endonucleases Hae III, Hpa II, Msp I, Eco RI, Xba I, Pst I and Bam HI reveals that there is a series of highly repetitive sequences forming similar band patterns in the different species. There are two bands (1100 and 550 base pairs) which are common to all species although the two families separated more than 40 million years ago. To obtain information on the degree of homology among these conserved sequences we isolated a Bam HI restriction fragment of approximately 770 base pairs from red deer DNA. This sequence was 32P labeled and hybridized by the Southern blot technique with DNAs cleaved with Bam HI, Eco RI, Hpa II and Msp I. Moreover, the same sequence was cloned in the plasmid vector pBR322 nick translated with 32P and hybridized with the DNAs of 8 species of Cervidae and 3 of Bovidae. The same cloned probe was labeled with 3H and hybridized in situ with the metaphase chromosomes of red deer (2n = 68) and Muntiacus muntjak (2n = 7 male). Homologies are still present between the highly repetitive sequences of the 8 species of Cervidae despite the drastic reorganization that led to extreme chromosome numbers. Moreover, the cloned DNA sequence was found to occupy the same position, in the proximal regions of the arms, in both red deer (2n = 68) and M. muntjak (2n = 7 male) chromosomes. The ribosomal RNA genes and the centromeres in these species have also maintained their main territory despite the drastic chromosome reorganization. These results are experimental confirmation of the chromosome field theory which predicted that each DNA sequence has an optimal territory within the centromere-telomere field and tends to occupy this same territory following chromosome reorganization.     

鹿科动物的染色体组型及其进化

染色体是遗传物质的主要携带者。在动植物进化过程中,染色体在数量和结构上的变化,无疑对物种形成起重要的作用。染色体的变化往往引起基因的重新排列和遗传物质的增加或丢失。染色体在结构和数量上的差异还往往造成两个本来很相近的群体间的生殖隔离而形成新种。染色体组型和染色体的带型都代表着种的特性,它为不同动物在分类研究和确定其在进化过程中的位置提供了一个新的和重要的标准。可是,染色体的结构既是稳定的,同时又是可变的。染色体组型的改变是以染色体组的结构特点为基础     

海南岛臂尾轮属物种多样性

于2010年11月、2011年5月和8月调查了海南岛臂尾轮虫的多样性,共检出臂尾轮虫25种。其中,东洋界特有种3种:双叉异棘臂尾轮虫(Brachionus donneri bifurcus)、墨氏臂尾轮虫(B.murphyi)和黄氏臂尾轮虫(B.huangi);东洋界新纪录种1种,刻纹臂尾轮虫(B.sericus);对折臂尾轮虫(B.dimidiatus)、褶皱二叉臂尾轮虫(B.dichotomus reductus)和奇异方形臂尾轮虫(B.quadridentatus mirabilis)是中国的新纪录种或亚种。方形臂尾轮虫(B.quadridentatus quadridentatus)、萼花臂尾轮虫(B.calyciflorus)、镰形臂尾轮虫(B.falcatus)和角突臂尾轮虫(B.angularis)为常见种类。海南岛臂尾轮属种类多样性高于我国其他地区,并由广布种、全热带种和泛热带种类组成。海南岛与我国其他地区的臂尾轮虫种类组成Bray-Curtis距离指数随着纬度的增加而增加。     

Rapid and parallel chromosomal number reductions in muntjac deer inferred from mitochondrial DNA phylogeny

Muntjac deer (Muntiacinae, Cervidae) are of great interest in evolutionary studies because of their dramatic chromosome variations and recent discoveries of several new species. In this paper, we analyze the evolution of karyotypes of muntjac deer in the context of a phylogeny which is based on 1,844-bp mitochondrial DNA sequences of seven generally recognized species in the muntjac subfamily. The phylogenetic results support the hypothesis that karyotypic evolution in muntjac deer has proceeded via reduction in diploid number. However, the reduction in number is not always linear, i.e., not strictly following the order: 46-->14/13-->8/9-->6/7. For example, Muntiacus muntjak (2n = 6/7) shares a common ancestor with Muntiacus feae (2n = 13/14), which indicates that its karyotype was derived in parallel with M. feae's from an ancestral karyotype of 2n >/= 13/14. The newly discovered giant muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis) may represent another parallel reduction lineage from the ancestral 2n = 46 karyotype. Our phylogenetic results indicate that the giant muntjac is relatively closer to Muntiacus reevesi than to other muntjacs and may be placed in the genus Muntiacus Analyses of sequence divergence reveal that the rate of change in chromosome number in muntjac deer is one of the fastest in vertebrates. Within the muntjac subfamily, the fastest evolutionary rate is found in the Fea's lineage, in which two species with different karyotypes diverged in around 0.5 Myr.     

Geographic divergence in floral morphology and scent in Linanthus dichotomus (Polemoniaceae)

Floral reproductive morphology and scent are of primary importance to pollinators in guiding foraging decisions. We compared the floral scent and reproductive morphology between two subspecies of Linanthus dichotomus (Polemoniaceae) that are taxonomically distinguished by geography and flowering time: the vespertine L. dichotomus subsp. dichotomus and the diurnal L. dichotomus subsp. meridianus. Disparity in flowering time between the two subspecies is accompanied by differences in flower visitors. We collected floral volatiles using dynamic headspace methods and analyzed them using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. Together, the subspecies produced a total of 39 floral scent compounds. Subspecies differ in the quantitative pattern of volatiles that attract noctuid moths (e.g., lilac aldehydes) vs. a more general suite of visitors (e.g., phenylacetaldehyde), but not in overall scent emission rates. A discriminant function analysis correctly distinguished between the two subspecies based on scent samples 86% of the time. We measured seven reproductive morphological traits; a discriminant function analysis distinguished between the two subspecies based on morphological samples 81% of the time. We found significant differences between subspecies in scent but not in individual morphological traits. The evidence presented here is most consistent with a hypothesis of pollinator-mediated selection.     

Browsing into a Panamanian tropical rainforest: micro- and mesowear study of Central American red brocket deer

Mammal Research - The Mazama genus is one of the more diverse genera among deer (Cervidae); its classification is controversial because of its complex phylogenetic relationships. The Central...     

Coexistence of five Cercopithifilaria species in the Japanese rupicaprine bovid, Capricornis crispus

The Japanese serow, Capricornis crispus (Bovidae, Caprinae, Rupicaprini), is parasitized by five Cercopithifilaria species: C. shohoi, recently described, and reexamined in this paper, C. multicauda n. sp., C. minuta n. sp., C. tumidicervicata n. sp., and C. bulboidea n. sp. Coinfections are frequent. The location (skin or subcutaneous regions) in the host of adult worms differed between the species, as did many morphological characters of both adults and microfilariae. The location (limbs, trunk, etc.) in the host of adult worms and dermal microfilariae seemed to differ depending on the species. Male and female worms of the same species had similar head shapes, buccal capsules, and, in four species, swellings in the anterior region of the body (because of the presence of a giant ventral pseudocoelomocyte). The Cercopithifilaria spp. from C. crispus were related to the primitive forms of the genus, parasites of Bovidae and Cervidae, presently recorded in Africa and Europe. C. bulboidea was particularly close to the most primitive species, C. ruandae and C. dermicola, in Africa, with the pairs of caudal papillae numbered 8 and 9 being distant from each other, but the species also had several specialized characters. Like C. rugosicauda in a European cervid, the four other species had pairs 8 and 9 close to each other; they reflect an evolutionary trend (hypertrophy of pair 6, and reduction and posterior migration of pair 7) that suggests diversification in the host.     

Phylogeny and evolution of Cervidae based on complete mitochondrial genomes

Mitochondrial DNA sequences can be used to estimate phylogenetic relationships among animal taxa and for molecular phylogenetic evolution analysis. With the development of sequencing technology, more and more mitochondrial sequences have been made available in public databases, including whole mitochondrial DNA sequences. These data have been used for phylogenetic analysis of animal species, and for studies of evolutionary processes. We made phylogenetic analyses of 19 species of Cervidae, with Bos taurus as the outgroup. We used neighbor joining, maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian inference methods on whole mitochondrial genome sequences. The consensus phylogenetic trees supported monophyly of the family Cervidae; it was divided into two subfamilies, Plesiometacarpalia and Telemetacarpalia, and four tribes, Cervinae, Muntiacinae, Hydropotinae, and Odocoileinae. The divergence times in these families were estimated by phylogenetic analysis using the Bayesian method with a relaxed molecular clock method; the results were consistent with those of previous studies. We concluded that the evolutionary structure of the family Cervidae can be reconstructed by phylogenetic analysis based on whole mitochondrial genomes; this method could be used broadly in phylogenetic evolutionary analysis of animal taxa.     

Evolution of muntjac DNA

The extent of nuclear single-copy DNA divergence between Muntiacus reevesi and Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis (Cervidae), a species pair showing extreme karyotype differences but striking morphological similarity, is 2%, as judged from the thermal stability of interspecific DNA-DNA hybrids. A comparison of the total nuclear DNA reassociation kinetics of the two species indicates a reduction of lowly repetitive sequences in M. m. vaginalis.