Abstract
The samango monkey is South Africa's only exclusively forest dwelling primate and represents the southernmost extent of the range of arboreal guenons in Africa. The main threats to South Africa's forests and thus to the samango are linked to increasing land-use pressure and increasing demands for forest resources, resulting in deforestation, degradation and further fragmentation of irreplaceable habitats. The species belongs to the highly polytypic Cercopithecus nictitans group which is sometimes divided into two species C. mitis and C. albogularis. The number of subspecies of C. albogularis is also under debate and is based only on differences in pelage colouration and thus far no genetic research has been undertaken on South African samango monkey populations. In this study we aim to further clarify the number of samango monkey subspecies, as well as their respective distributions in South Africa by combining molecular, morphometric and pelage data. Overall, our study provides the most comprehensive view to date into the taxonomic description of samango monkeys in South Africa. Our data supports the identification of three distinct genetic entities namely; C. a. labiatus, C. a. erythrarchus and C. a. schwarzi and argues for separate conservation management of the distinct genetic entities defined by this study.
Highlights
The geographical distribution of the arboreal guenon Cercopithecus albogularis ranges from central and eastern to southern Africa where it occurs in different evergreen forest types including rainforest, Afromontane and riparian forests, as well as swamp and coastal forests [1]
Independent analyses of the nDNA dataset and data based on pelage colour consistently identified strong subdivision between the two currently recognized subspecies, and within the C. a. erythrarchus samples
As Magoebaskloof geographically falls under the distribution range described for C. a. schwarzi by Roberts and Groves and as the Soutpansberg and Magoebaskloof show the same pelage characteristics, the Soutpansberg population should more accurately be classified as C. a. schwarzi
Summary
The geographical distribution of the arboreal guenon Cercopithecus albogularis ranges from central and eastern to southern Africa where it occurs in different evergreen forest types including rainforest, Afromontane and riparian forests, as well as swamp and coastal forests [1]. The species belongs to the highly polytypic Cercopithecus nictitans group [2] which is sometimes divided into two species C. mitis and C. albogularis. Groves [3,4] recognises both species and uses the classification of C. albogularis for individuals distributed from Ethiopia to South. Samango Monkey Speciation collection at those sites. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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