The mountain weasel Mustela kathiah (Carnivora: Mustelidae): Molecular and Karyological data

The karyotype of Mustela kathiah was first described. Its structure is most similar to the karyotype of M. altaica, differing in the morphological peculiarities of five pairs of large chromosomes. A comparative analysis of mitochondrial genes in the species Mustela allowed us to clarify understanding of the place of M. kathiah in the system of the genus. The earlier hypothesized proximity of the species to a group of small weasels (altaica, nivalis) or to a group of South Asian species (strigidorsa, nudipes) was not confirmed. A high level of differences between M. kathiah of Vietnam and specimens from southern China in nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b (7.7%) and ND2 (6–6.2%) genes was found. It is supposed that difference in the two gene sequences found in geographically distanced populations of M. kathiah may be adaptive.