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. 2018 Feb 9;3(1):166-170.
doi: 10.1080/23802359.2018.1437795.

Morphology and genetic variation in the endangered tortoise Manouria emys: distinct lineages or plastron anomalies?

Shantanu Kundu  1 , Vikas Kumar  1 , Boni Amin Laskar  2 , Kaomud Tyagi  1 , Kailash Chandra  1
Affiliations

Morphology and genetic variation in the endangered tortoise Manouria emys: distinct lineages or plastron anomalies?

Shantanu Kundu et al. Mitochondrial DNA B Resour. .

Abstract

Anecdotal reports indicate the allopatric populations of two Manouria emys subspecies differ in colour variation and plastron pattern, intimating that these may constitute separate evolutionary lineages. We examined the studied taxa both morphologically and genetically to determine the described morphological differences correlated with genetic divergence. Based on the plastron pattern, the study detected three morphologically different M. emys having their footmarks in northeast India, bordering international boundaries of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Nevertheless, we found shallow genetic divergence in both mtCOI and mtCytb gene segment among the different M. emys morphospecies. This study concludes that the detected plastron anomalies in M. emys do not suggest their distinct genetic lineages.

Keywords: Land tortoise; Northeast India; Pectoral scutes; mitochondrial DNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Map showing the distribution pattern of two subspecies and their intergradation zone in southern Thailand. Sampling sites indicated by dots. POPART generated TCS network for mtCytb haplotypes. Vertex with red-green shows Group 1, M. emys emys haplotypes, vertex with red-white shows Group 2 M. emys phayrei haplotypes and vertex with blue colour shows Group 3 haplotype. Bayesian phylogeny on mtCOI with posterior probability and bootstrap value by NJ analysis are superimposed with each node. The green bar represents the ESUs generated by ABGD and bPTP analysis while blue bar represents the clades generated by NJ and BA phylogenetic analysis. Plastron pattern of three morphological forms of M. emys shows with respective clades.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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