ABSTRACT
Abstract The pampas cat is a small felid that occurs in open habitats throughout much of South America. Previous studies have revealed intriguing patterns of morphological differentiation and genetic structure among its populations, as well as molecular evidence for hybridization with the closely related L. tigrinus. Here we report phylogeographic analyses encompassing most of its distribution (focusing particularly on Brazilian specimens, which had been poorly sampled in previous studies), using a novel dataset comprising 2,143 bp of the mitogenome, along with previously reported mtDNA sequences. Our data revealed strong population strutucture and supported a west-to-east colonization process in this species' history. We detected two population expansion events, one older (ca. 200 thousand years ago [kya]) in western South America and another more recent (ca. 60-50 kya) in eastern areas, coinciding with the expansion of savanna environments in Brazil. Analyses including L. tigrinus individuals bearing introgressed mtDNA from L. colocola showed a complete lack of shared haplotypes between species, indicating that their hybridization was ancient. Finally, we observed a close relationship between Brazilian/Uruguayan L. colocola haplotypes and those sampled in L. tigrinus, indicating that their hybridization was likely related to the demographic expansion of L. colocola into eastern South America.
ABSTRACT
We used microsatellite loci to test the paternity of two male jaguars involved in an infanticide event recorded during a long-term monitoring program of this species. Seven microsatellite primers originally developed for domestic cats and previously selected for Panthera onca were used. In order to deal with uncertainty in the mother's genotypes for some of the loci, 10000 values of W were derived by simulation procedures. The male that killed the two cubs was assigned as the true sire. Although the reasons for this behavior remain obscure, it shows, in principle, a low recognition of paternity and kinship in the species. Since the two cubs were not very young, one possibility is that the adult male did not recognize the cubs and killed them for simple territorial reasons. Thus, ecological stress in this local population becomes a very plausible explanation for this infanticide, without further sociobiological implications.