Revisão taxonômica e filogenômica de Saimiri Voigt, 1831 (Primates, Cebidae)

Abstract

Squirrel monkeys (genus Saimiri Voigt, 1831) are small Neotropical primates (650-1200g). They are widely distributed in the Amazon Basin and have two taxa that occur in Central America. Although it is a frequentely used group in biomedical research, there is still a great divergence in the number of recognized species, ranging from 2 to 12 taxa. Recently several papers have been published using mitochondrial DNA to understand the origin and diversification of Saimiri, as well as the relationship between species. However, even after these publications, diversity and intra-generic relationship still present divergences, with no cogruence between morphological and genetic data. The present study aimed to propose a phylogenetic hypothesis for Saimiri from the double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq), as well as to review Saimiri, defining the species that make up the genus, as well as its distribution. This thesis is divided into three chapters. In the first, “Phylogenomics of Amazon squirrel monkeys (Saimiri; Primates; Cebidae)”, we use 44 tissue samples and 6 blood samples to obtain ddRADseq molecular phylogeny through Maximum Likelihood analysis and a time-calibrated tree from BEAST. We verified the relationship between the studied populations with the Bayesian cluster analysis of STRUCTURE. Our results recovered the monophyly between the Gothic and Roman groups, our trees recovered ten lineages within Saimiri of the Amazon Basin. In addition, we confirm that intra-generic diversification is recent and has occurred in the Pleistocene epoch. In the second chapter, “How many squirrel monkey (Saimiri Voigt, 1831) species are there? A morphological diagnosis and refined mapping of geographical distribution”, we analyzed 887 specimens of all currently recognized species and 18 types, representing almost the entire geographic distribution of the group, we also included the phylogenomic data obtained in the first chapter. Our results support the existence of two morphological groups (Gothic and Roman) and the recognition of thirteen species with one new species. For each of them are presented synonymy, type material, type locality, diagnosis, variation, comparison with other species, distribution, remarks, conservation status and specimens examined. In the third chapter, “New records of Saimiri collinsi Osgood, 1916 (Cebidae, Primates), with comments on habitat use and conservation”, we indicate the expansion of geographic distribution of the Collins’ squirrel monkey (Saimiri collinsi), to a transition area between Amazon and Cerrado. We also indicated the need for monitoring of these populations due to the intense anthropic action in the region that reduced the habitat of the species in most of Maranhão and northern Tocantins.