Morphometric, Behavioral, and Genomic Evidence for a New Orangutan Species

Nater, Alexander; Mattle-Greminger, Maja P.; Nurcahyo, Anton; Nowak, Matthew G.; de Manuel, Marc; Desai, Tariq; Groves, Colin; Pybus, Marc; Sonay, Tugce Bilgin; Roos, Christian; Lameira, Adriano R.; Wich, Serge A.; Askew, James; Davila-Ross, Marina; Fredriksson, Gabriella; de Valles, Guillem; Casals, Ferran; Prado-Martinez, Javier; Goossens, Benoit; Verschoor, Ernst J.; ... (2017). Morphometric, Behavioral, and Genomic Evidence for a New Orangutan Species. Current Biology, 27(22), 3487-3498.e10. Cell Press 10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.047

[img] Text
Nater et al. 2017_CurrBiol_NewOrangUtanSpecies.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (3MB)

Six extant species of non-human great apes are currently recognized: Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, eastern and western gorillas, and chimpanzees and bonobos [1]. However, large gaps remain in our knowledge of fine-scale variation in hominoid morphology, behavior, and genetics, and aspects of great ape taxonomy remain in flux. This is particu-larly true for orangutans (genus: Pongo), the only Asian great apes and phylogenetically our most distant relatives among extant hominids [1]. Designation of Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, P. pygmaeus (Linnaeus 1760) and P. abelii (Lesson
1827), as distinct species occurred in 2001 [1, 2]. Here, we show that an isolated population from Batang Toru, at the southernmost range limit of extant Sumatran orangutans south of Lake Toba, is distinct from other northern Sumatran and Bornean
populations. By comparing cranio-mandibular and dental characters of an orangutan killed in a human-animal conflict to those of 33 adult male orangutans of a similar developmental stage, we found consistent differences between the Batang Toru individual and other extant Ponginae. Our analyses of 37 orangutan genomes provided a second line of evi-
dence. Model-based approaches revealed that the deepest split in the evolutionary history of extant orangutans occurred 3.38 mya between the Batang Toru population and those to the north of Lake Toba, whereas both currently recognized species separated much later, about 674 kya. Our combined analyses support a new classification of orangutans into three extant species. The new species, Pongo tapanuliensis, encompasses the Batang Toru population, of which fewer than 800 individuals survive.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Aquatic Ecology

UniBE Contributor:

Marques, David Alexander

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

0960-9822

Publisher:

Cell Press

Language:

English

Submitter:

Marcel Häsler

Date Deposited:

19 Apr 2018 13:32

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:11

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.047

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.112853

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/112853

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback