Complete mitogenome of the endangered and endemic Nicobar treeshrew (Tupaia nicobarica) and comparison with other Scandentians.

The Nicobar treeshrew (Tupaia nicobarica) is an endangered small mammal endemic to the Nicobar Island of the Andaman Sea, India regarded as an alternative experimental animal model in biomedical research. The present study aimed to assemble the first mitochondrial genome of T. nicobarica to elucidate its phylogenetic position with respect to other Scandentians. The structure and variation of the novel mitochondrial genome were analyzed and compared with other Scandentians. The complete mitogenome (17,164 bp) encodes 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNA (rRNAs), and one control region (CR). Most of the genes were encoded on majority strand, except nad6 and eight tRNAs. The nonsynonymous/synonymous ratio in all PCGs indicates strong negative selection among all Tupaiidae species. The comparative study of CRs revealed the occurrence of tandem repeats (CGTACA) found in T. nicobarica. The phylogenetic analyses (Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference) showed distinct clustering of T. nicobarica with high branch supports and depict a substantial divergence time (12-19 MYA) from the ancestor lineage of Tupaiidae. The 16S rRNA dataset corroborates the taxonomic rank of two subspecies of T. nicobarica from the Great and Little Nicobar Islands. In the future, whole nuclear genome sequencing is necessary to further improve our understanding of evolutionary relationships among treeshrews, and will have implications for biomedical research.

Discovery of a new mammal species (Soricidae: Eulipotyphla) from Narcondam volcanic island, India.

We discovered a new Crocidura species of shrew (Soricidae: Eulipotyphla) from Narcondam Island, India by using both morphological and molecular approaches. The new species, Crocidura narcondamica sp. nov. is of medium size (head and body lengths) and has a distinct external morphology (darker grey dense fur with a thick, darker tail) and craniodental characters (braincase is rounded and elevated with weak lambdoidal ridges) in comparison to other close congeners. This is the first discovery of a shrew from this volcanic island and increases the total number of Crocidura species catalogued in the Indian checklist of mammals to 12. The newly discovered species shows substantial genetic distances (12.02% to 16.61%) to other Crocidura species known from the Indian mainland, the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago, Myanmar, and from Sumatra. Both Maximum-Likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic inferences, based on mitochondrial (cytochrome b) gene sequences showed distinct clustering of all included soricid species and exhibit congruence with the previous evolutionary hypothesis on this mammalian group. The present phylogenetic analyses also furnished the evolutionary placement of the newly discovered species within the genus Crocidura.

Digging out the keys in the heap of seized pangolin scales: up scaling pangolin conservation using wildlife forensics.

Pangolins, despite banned through legislative measures, are threatened by heavy illegal poaching for the demand of meat and scales in the making of Traditional East Asian Medicines (TEAM), resulting in severe decline of the population sizes across the distribution range. Species assignment from the confiscated scales is pre-requisite to enforce the appropriate national and international law and legislations in the successful prosecution of the cases in the court of law. In the present study, we characterised the morphological features in voucher specimens of the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) and used the identified keys to establish the species identity from the confiscated scales. We investigated intra and inter genetic variations by sequencing 624 scales of pangolin for cytb gene and obtained unique haplotypes to Indian and Chinese pangolins by comparing sequences with all eight pangolin species. Scales from the voucher specimens, which varied in the size, shape and weight, were measured for morphological features to establish species signature of Indian and Chinese pangolins. The cumulative success of species assignment using morphological features from the confiscated scales was 98.33% and 100% from the large and caudal scales, respectively. The present study has generated reference signature of Indian and Chinese pangolins from the scales and facilitates the law enforcements for taking spot decision by ascertaining species identity from the seized scales.

Adaptive spatial planning of protected area network for conserving the Himalayan brown bear.

Large mammals that occur in low densities, particularly in the high-altitude areas, are globally threatened due to fragile climatic and ecological envelopes. Among bear species, the Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) has a distribution that is restricted to Himalayan highlands with relatively small and fragmented populations. To date, very little scientific information on the Himalayan brown bear, which is vital for the conservation of the species and the management of its habitats, especially in protected areas of the landscape, is available. The present study aims to understand the effectiveness of existing Himalayan Protected Areas in terms of representativeness for the conservation of Himalayan brown bear (HBB), an umbrella species in high-altitude habitats of the Himalayan region. We used the ensemble approach of the species distribution model and then assessed biological connectivity to predict the current and future distribution and movement of HBB in climate change scenarios for the year 2050. Approximately 33 protected areas (PAs) currently possess suitable habitats. Our model suggests a massive decline of approximately 73.38% and 72.87% under 4.5 and 8.5 representative concentration pathway (RCP) respectively in the year 2050 compared with the current distribution. The predicted change in suitability will result in loss of habitats from thirteen PAs; eight will become completely uninhabitable by the year 2050, followed by loss of connectivity in the majority of PAs. Habitat configuration analysis suggested a 40% decline in the number of suitable patches, a reduction in large habitat patches (up to 50%) and aggregation of suitable areas (9%) by 2050, indicating fragmentation. The predicted change in geographic isotherm will result in loss of habitats from thirteen PAs, eight of them will become completely inhabitable. Hence, these PAs may lose their effectiveness and representativeness in achieving the very objective of their existence or conservation goals. Therefore, we recommend adaptive spatial planning for protecting suitable habitats distributed outside the PA for climate change adaptation.

Pangolin Indexing System: implications in forensic surveillance of large seizures.

Demand for pangolin scales in East Asia has increased dramatically in the past two decades, raising concern to the pangolin survival and bringing them to the brink of local extinction. Enumerating the number of individuals from the seized pangolin scales primarily goes undocumented, mostly due to the unavailability of the appropriate methods. In this study, we developed a Pangolin Indexing System, a multi-locus STR panel of eight dinucleotide microsatellites that showed promising results in individualization and assignment of scales into Chinese and Indian pangolins. The combined power of exclusion was 0.83 and 0.99 for Chinese and Indian pangolin. The select panel of eight polymorphic STRs exhibited the cumulative probability of identity 3.7 × 10-9 for Indian pangolin and 3.6 × 10-7 for Chinese pangolin and identified 51 unique genotypes from the 74 scales selected from the four pangolin seizures. The study demonstrated the first report of cross-species validation of STRs developed from Malayan pangolin to Indian pangolin and showed the potential application of Pangolin Indexing System in screening of large seizures through DNA profiling from the scales of Indian and Chinese pangolin.