Social status and reproductive success of male Macaca fascicularis

Dominant males of nonseasonally breeding species should have more opportunity than seasonal breeders to monopolize access to estrous females and thus enhance their reproductive success. They may also use other strategies for maximizing reproductive success such as producing offspring by relatively high ranking females. To test these hypotheses, the paternity of 35 (80%) of 44 Macaca fascicularis offspring, born over a 28-month period, was established using electrophoretically and serologically defined genetic markers. The social ranks of each of the seven potential fathers and 26 potential mothers were determined by recording outcomes of dyadio agonistic interactions. No evidence could be found to support either hypothesis. Further, in view of previously reported significant, positive correlations between male social rank and sexual activity rates in this study group, sexual activity rates do not appear to predict the number of offspring a male sires in this species.     

An Automated Technique for the Radiographic Determination of Bone Age

We have developed an automated procedure for determining bone-age in the monkey, Macaca fascicularis. The status of epiphysial junctions and sesamoids were determined from radiographs. Epiphyses were scored as either open or closed, and sesamoids were scored as either present or absent. Bone-age was calculated by a computer program that stored and used a data base of probabilities for epiphysial closure and sesamoid appearance. The simplicity of scoring, combined with the speed and accuracy of the calculations, make this technique potentially adaptable for use in a variety of primate species.     

A preliminary study of vocal communication in wild long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). II. Potential of calls to regulate intragroup spacing

This study is a preliminary assessment of the potential of long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) calls to operate in systems of within-group spacing. Covariation in the rate of occurrence of calls with party spread, size, and activity among wild individuals of one group suggested that four classes of calls may function in intragroup spacing. Two of them are “clear” calls of long duration and pronounced frequency modulation. Calling rate increased with party spread for low- and high-frequency variants of these calls during resting and feeding respectively, suggesting possible utility in maintenance of spatial relations over moderately long distances. A third “harsh” call was negatively correlated with party spread during foraging and may thus function to increase dispersion among foraging individuals. Another harsh call with a tonal onset was unique among all calls in the vocal repertoire in being more frequently performed by lone, isolated individuals than by macaques accompanied by others, suggesting a possible function in reestablishing contact that has been severed. The functional significance of these calls with respect to their acoustic structures is discussed. Macaques that use calls to regulate intragroup spacing can control communication distance and direction by their choice of acoustically different vocalizations. This choice may be affected not only by varying environmental constraints on sound transmission, but also by social and ecological factors such as intragroup competition.     

CD16+ lymphoblastic cell lines of crab-eating monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) shared U-5 antigen and expressed natural killer activity

The CD16+ lymphoblastic cell lines of crab-eating monkeys shared the U-5 antigen recognized by a monoclonal antibody. The CD16+U-5+ cell lines expressed high natural killer activity to K562 cells, whereas the CD16-U-5- control cell line had no significant natural killer activity. A possible involvement of the U-5 antigen in natural killer function was also suggested by reduction of the natural killer activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Japanese monkeys after treatment with U-5 monoclonal antibody and complement.     

Can puzzle feeders be used as cognitive screening instruments? Differential performance of young and aged female monkeys on a puzzle feeder task

Conventional cognitive testing of monkeys is time‐consuming and involves single‐caging and food or water deprivation. Here we report a novel test of global cognitive performance that can be completed in a short time period without food/water or social restrictions. Nine mazes of increasing difficulty were developed using a standard puzzle feeder, and the maze‐solving performance of ten young and five aged female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) was tested. The young monkeys solved maze configurations at higher levels of difficulty and solved the first level of difficulty more quickly than aged monkeys. This task discriminated performance by age in nonhuman primates as do more conventional forms of cognitive testing and indicates that this task may be a quick and easy assessment of global cognitive function. Am. J. Primatol. 49:195–202, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Effect of amino acids on cryopreservation of cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) sperm

The effects of three amino acids (proline, glutamine, and glycine) added to the freezing medium Tes-Tris-egg yolk (TTE) for cryopreservation of cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) spermatozoa were studied. This is the first report on the effects of amino acids on nonhuman primate sperm cryopreservation. The addition of 5mM proline, 10mM glutamine, and 10 or 20mM glycine each significantly improved post-thaw sperm motility and membrane and acrosome integrity compared with the control (TTE alone). However, a significant decrease in motility and membrane/acrosome integrity was observed when amino acid concentrations increased to 60mM for proline and glutamine, and 80 mM for glycine. The results suggest that adding a limited amount of amino acids to the freezing media is beneficial for freezing cynomolgus monkey sperm.     

Morphological and Body Color Variation in Thai <Emphasis Type="Italic">Macaca fascicularis fascicularis</Emphasis> North and South of the Isthmus of Kra

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis fascicularis) are widely distributed in Southeast Asia and are morphologically and genetically (Tosi et al. in International Journal of Primatology 23:161–178, 2002) distinguishable on either side of the Isthmus of Kra (ca. 10.5°N). We compared the somatometry and body color of 15 local populations of long-tailed macaques in Thailand distributed over areas from 6.5°N to 16.3°N and also a Thai rhesus macaque population at 17.2°N. Limb proportions and body color variation follow the geographical trend. However, contrary to a previous report, body size does not decrease with latitude in the northern group and also in the southern (southerly distributed) rhesus macaque. Relative tail length (RTL) and color contrast in yellow between the back and thigh are the sole traits that distinctively separate the 2 groups: the southern group has a long relative tail length (RTL >125%) and small color contrast, whereas the northern group has a short RTL (<120%) and large color contrast. The southern rhesus macaques appear to have somatometric and body color traits that follow the geographical trend in long-tailed macaques, though they maintain their distinctive species-specific traits of shorter RTL (ca. 55%), shorter relative facial length, and a bipartite body color pattern. Researchers assume that the northern group of long-tailed macaques and the southern rhesus macaques had undergone partial introgression with each other. Montane refugia present during the glacial period are localities in which introgression occurred in long-tailed macaques.     

Mitochondrial DNA variation within and among regional populations of longtail macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in relation to other species of the fascicularis group of macaques

An 835 base pair (bp) fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced to characterize genetic variation within and among 1,053 samples comprising five regional populations each of longtail macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), and one sample each of Japanese (M. fuscata) and Taiwanese (M. cyclopis) macaques. The mtDNA haplotypes of longtail macaques clustered in two large highly structured clades (Fas1 and Fas2) of a neighbor-joining tree that were reciprocally monophyletic with respect to those representing rhesus macaques, Japanese macaques, and Taiwanese macaques. Both clades exhibited haplotypes of Indonesian and Malaysian longtail macaques widely dispersed throughout them; however, longtail macaques from Indochina, Philippines, and Mauritius each clustered in a separate well-defined clade together with one or a few Malaysian and/or Indonesian longtail macaques, suggesting origins on the Sunda shelf. Longtail macaques from Malaysia and Indonesia were far more genetically diverse, and those from Mauritius were far less diverse than any other population studied. Nucleotide diversity between mtDNA sequences of longtail macaques from different geographic regions is, in some cases, greater than that between Indian and Chinese rhesus macaques. Approximately equal amounts of genetic diversity are due to differences among animals in the same regional population, different regional populations, and different species. A greater proportion of genetic variance was explained by interspecies differences when Japanese and Taiwanese macaques were regarded as regional populations of rhesus macaques than when they were treated as separate species. Rhesus macaques from China were more closely related to both Taiwanese and Japanese macaques than to their own conspecifics from India.     

Inhibin-like and gonadotropin-like immunoreactivity in pituitary cells of male monkeys (Macaca fascicularis,Macaca mulatta)

Summary Inhibin-like immunoreactivity was detected by immunocytochemistry in the pituitaries of untreated male crab-eating macaques (cynomolgus monkey) and rhesus monkeys, in rhesus monkeys actively immunized against FSH, and in one orchidectomized crab-cating macaque. Localizations were performed by the immunogold-silver staining with 5-nm colloidal gold-conjugated second or third antibodies and by the alkaline phosphatase-anti-alkaline-phosphatase technique. Two different inhibin-specific antisera, raised against the -subunit or the entire inhibin molecule, provided identical staining patterns. Positive label was confined to the pars distalis of the pituitary and occurred exclusively in the cytoplasm of morphologically different cell types throughout the pars distalis in all pituitaries. Staining was most prominent in clusters of chromophobic cells. The presence of inhibin-like activity in the pituitary of an orchidectomized monkey with undetectable serum inhibin levels suggests that inhibin is produced within the pituitary gland. Co-localization studies for the -subunits of the gonadotropic hormones revealed that on average 82% of the gonadotropes were bihormonal. Using the same protocol, co-localization of inhibin-like activity with gonadotropin-like immunoreactivity revealed only a small degree of common distribution (<15%). Inhibinpositive cells were frequently in close proximity to gonadotropic cells and, thus, paracrine effects of inhibin on gonadotropin-synthesizing cells are conceivable.     

丛生盔形珊瑚共附生可培养真菌

海洋中蕴藏着目前尚无法估量的微生物未知种群和资源,在众多海洋生态系统中,珊瑚礁生态系统是海洋中物种多样性程度最高的生态类型,其中几乎生活着所有海洋生物的门类.随着海洋天然产物和海洋药物研究的不断深入,海洋共附生微生物,特别是热带珊礁无脊椎动物来源的共附生生物,引起了人们的广泛关注.珊瑚共附生真菌的研究可能揭示珊瑚的生存能力和健康状态,同时又是开发利用海洋真菌的重要种质资源.