Chinese Macaques Research Articles

Morphometric analysis ofMacaca arctoides andM. thibetana in relation to other macaque species

As a first step in reviewing the classification of the two stump-tailed macaque species,Macaca arctoides andM. thibetana, as compared with other species of the genusMacaca, 72 linear dental and cranial variables of 11 macaque species were examined by morphometric analyses. The results indicate that the two stump-tailed species are the largest of the macaques and although rather similar overall, they exhibit significant differences in the pattern of variation in most of the five skull regions as shown by Principal Components and Canonical Variate Analyses. Euclidean Distances based on Canonical Variate scores indicate that the females ofM. arctoides andM. thibetana are more widely separated than eight other pairs of macaque species, and that the separations of the respective males are greater than those of three other pairs of species. These findings are consistent withFooden's classification of the stump-tailed macaques as two separate species (Fooden, 1976;Fooden et al., 1985). The present results suggest, as other researchers have proposed on the basis of external features, biochemistry and genetics, that the two stump-tailed macaque species andM. assamensis are closely related. The results also tentatively imply associations withM. fuscata andM. sylvanus but these require further study. The findings have implications for the assessment of the various Chinese Pleistocene macaque fossils.

Cloning and characterization of a virtually full-length HIV type 1 genome from a subtype B'-Thai strain representing the most prevalent B-clade isolate in China.

Cloning and characterization of a virtually full-length HIV type 1 genome from a subtype B'-Thai strain representing the most prevalent B-clade isolate in China.

Mandibular morphometrics among macaques: The case ofmacaca thibetana

Recent field studies suggest that Macaca thibetana,a large endemic Chinese macaque, may be quite folivorous, distinguishing it from most other macaque species, which tend to be primarily frugivorous. To understand how this diet affects its masticatory system, we conducted a comparative morphometric study of mandibular dimensions. We took linear measurements from male and female mandibles of this species as well as four other macaques—M. fascicularis, M. nemestrina, M. arctoides,and M. assamensis—and four species of Presbytis—P. obscura, P. rubicunda, P. cristata,and P. phayrei—and subjected to them to a variety of analyses. Based on analyses of variances and discriminant analyses on each sex individually, the mandible of M. thibetanacorresponds to expected patterns for folivorous primates with respect to its wide condyles and thick corpora. However, the height of the corpus and symphysis are lower, and the anteroposterior length of the condyle is longer than predicted for a folivore. In addition to interpretations specifically relating to M. thibetana,we also discuss the functional morphology of the other species in light of what is published about their diets.

Pathogenesis of SIV mac Infection in Chinese and Indian Rhesus Macaques: Effects of Splenectomy on Virus Burden

The spleen and lymph nodes are the predominant sites of viral replication in SIV and HIV infections. We studied splenectomized and control unsplenectomized rhesus macaques of both the Indian and the Chinese subspecies of Macaca mulatta. All animals were inoculated with SIV mac239, a molecularly cloned strain of SIV. Our data showed: (1) splenectomized animals, particularly among the Indian subspecies, had a lower virus burden and longer survival than unsplenectomized controls, (2) the Chinese macaques controlled virus replication more effectively than did the Indian animals, and (3) that a higher infectious virus burden was present in LN/spleen than in blood in both splenectomized and control animals.