Limited introgression supports division of giraffe into four species

Sven Winter, Julian Fennessy, Axel Janke

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

All giraffe (Giraffa) were previously assigned to a single species (G. camelopardalis) and nine subspecies. However, multi-locus analyses of all subspecies have shown that there are four genetically distinct clades and suggest four giraffe species. This conclusion might not be fully accepted due to limited data and lack of explicit gene flow analyses. Here, we present an extended study based on 21 independent nuclear loci from 137 individuals. Explicit gene flow analyses identify less than one migrant per generation, including between the closely related northern and reticulated giraffe. Thus, gene flow analyses and population genetics of the extended dataset confirm four genetically distinct giraffe clades and support four independent giraffe species. The new findings support a revision of the IUCN classification of giraffe taxonomy. Three of the four species are threatened with extinction, and mostly occurring in politically unstable regions, and as such, require the highest conservation support possible.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10156-10165
Number of pages10
JournalEcology and Evolution
Volume8
Issue number20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Sept 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • conservation
  • gene flow
  • giraffe
  • hybridization
  • speciation

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