Genetic structure, spatial patterns and historical demographic evolution of white-throated capuchin (Cebus Capucinus, Cebidae, Primates) populations of Colombia and Central America by means of DNA microsatellites

We analyzed 54 white-throated capuchin (Cebus capucinus, Cebidae, Primates) from four different geographical regions (three in Colombia and one in Central America) for nine nuclear DNA microsatellites. This study is complementary to that of Ruiz-García et al., (2012), which showed the first molecular systematic study with mitochondrial data for this species. Our study revealed seven main findings. 1- Gene diversity for C. capucinus was medium to high but lower for the Central American population than for the Colombian ones for both kind of markers. 2- Although a large fraction of the microsatellites showed a neutral behavior, AP74 and D5S111 yielded some evidence of positive selection and D8S165 showed evidence of negative selection. 3- Genetic heterogeneity procedures support very limited genetic differentiation among the Colombian populations and a relatively more differentiated Central American population. However, genetic data suggest that the C. capucinus populations are not genetically disconnected. 4- Genetic assignment analyses detected elevated percentages of misclassified individuals and some relevant cases of first generation migrants among Colombian populations. Additionally, for the majority of cases and based on STRUCTURE analysis, the entire study area had a unique gene pool. 5- No bottleneck events were detected neither for the overall population studied nor for any one of the Colombian populations. In contrast, there was also evidence of population expansions for microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA, which agrees quite well with the Pleistocene Refugia hypothesis. 6- There was no evidence of a spatial trend in genetic structure within Colombia. For both Colombia and Central America taken together, some procedures detected a degree of significant negative autocorrelation at the most distant geographical areas (some Colombian and Guatemalan points). However, other procedures did not record significant genetic structure. In whatever case, this spatial structure was weaker than that detected for mitochondrial markers. 7- From a systematic point of view and taking into account both microsatellite and new mitochondrial data it may be prudent to consider the existence of a unique monotypic species (C. capucinus). There may be as many as two subspecies, one in Colombia (C. c. capucinus) and one in Central America (C. c. imitator), although we consider a single monotypic species a more likely scenario.