Revisiting the Woolly wolf (Canis lupus chanco) phylogeny in Himalaya: Addressing taxonomy, spatial extent and distribution of an ancient lineage in Asia.

摘要: Of the sub-species of Holarctic wolf, Woolly wolf (Canis lupus chanco) is uniquely adapted to atmospheric hypoxia and widely distributed across Himalaya, Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (QTP) Mongolia. Taxonomic ambiguity still exists for this because complex evolutionary history anduse limited wild samples its range in Himalaya. We document first time population genetic structure taxonomic affinity wolves western eastern Himalayan regions from collected (n = 19) using mitochondrial control region (225bp). found two haplotypes our data, one Himalaya that was shared with QTP other confined Himachal Pradesh Uttarakhand India. After combining data withpublished sequences 83), we observed 15 haplotypes. Some these were among different locations India a few private geographic locations. A phylogenetic tree indicated India, Nepal, Mongolia are basal shallow divergence (K2P; 0.000–0.044) high bootstrap values. Demographic analyses based on mismatch distribution Bayesian skyline plots (BSP) suggested stable over long (~million years) signs recent declines. Regional dominance may indicate allopatric divergence. This be due differences habitat characteristics, availability prey species differential deglaciation within during historic time. Presence within-clade along unique ecological requirements adaptation hypoxia, QTP, Mongolian considered as distinct an Evolutionary Significant Unit (ESU). Identifying management units (MUs) needed harmonized multiple effective conservation planning.