Morphology and genetic variation in the endangered tortoise Manouria emys: distinct lineages or plastron anomalies?. Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kundu, Shantanu; Kumar, Vikas; Laskar, Boni Amin; Tyagi, Kaomud; Chandra, Kailash
• Is Part Of: Mitochondrial DNA. Volume 3:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 166
• Page End: 170
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: Land tortoise -- Pectoral scutes -- mitochondrial DNA -- Northeast India; Mitochondrial DNA -- Periodicals; 572.869
• DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2018.1437795
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2380-2359

Abstract

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.