Resolving a zoological mystery: The kouprey is a real species
Date
2007
Authors
Hassanin A.
Ropiquet A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The kouprey is a rare and enigmatic forest ox discovered by scientists in Cambodia only in 1937. Numerous morphological hypotheses have been proposed for the origin of the kouprey: that it is a species closely related to banteng and gaur, two other wild oxen of southeast Asia; a morphologically divergent species placed in a separate genus, named Novibos; a wild species linked to aurochs and domestic cattle; a vicariant population of banteng; a feral cattle; or a hybrid of banteng with either zebu cattle, gaur or water buffalo. In a recent paper, which gained a lot of media coverage, Galbreath et al. analysed mitochondrial DNA sequences and concluded that the kouprey never existed as a wild, natural species, and that it was a feral hybrid between banteng and zebu cattle. Here we analyse eight DNA markers - three mitochondrial regions and five nuclear fragments - representing an alignment of 4582 nucleotides for the holotype of the kouprey and all related species. Our results demonstrate that the kouprey is a real and naturally occurring species, and show that Cambodian populations of banteng acquired a mitochondrial genome of kouprey by natural introgressive hybridization during the Pleistocene epoch. © 2007 The Royal Society.
Description
Keywords
DNA fragment, DNA marker, cattle, genetic marker, hybrid, hybridization, introgression, mammal, mitochondrial DNA, morphology, species conservation, wild population, article, calf (mammal), Cambodian, DNA determination, genome, haplotype, kouprey, mitochondrion, molecular biology, nonhuman, nucleotide sequence, phylogeny, priority journal, species identification, Animals, Base Sequence, DNA, Genetic Markers, Hybridization, Genetic, Molecular Sequence Data, Phylogeny, Ruminants, Sequence Alignment, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Asia, Cambodia, Eurasia, Southeast Asia, Bos, Bos gaurus, Bos indicus, Bos javanicus, Bos primigenius, Bos sauveli, Bos taurus, Bubalus
Citation
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
274
1627
274
1627