Dueck, L. A. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2025

Bhutan sequences complete the range-widemitochondrial phylogeography for red pandas, Ailurus fulgens

Red pandas, endangered mammals inhabiting an elongated montane region in south-central Asia, are up for IUCN Red List reassessment in 2025. One issue determining their status is species taxonomy. A recent mtDNA analysis compiled from several previous studies found they were united as one species, with weak support for a western sublineage and four haplogroups correlated with specific geographic regions. However, the crucial section of their midrange, Bhutan, was absent from that analysis. Now, sequences from red pandas in Bhutan have been added to that dataset and reanalyzed here. Phylogenetic analyses of these data, 91 haplotypes from [~]770 samples representing the entire red panda range, indicate again that red pandas are only one species, based on mtDNA. Bhutan hosted three of the previously defined four haplogroups and both putative subspecies (red and pink A. f. fulgens, orange A. f. styani). However, with the addition of the Bhutan missing link, the haplogroups graded even more into one another phylogeographically across their range, effectively displaying a genetic cline. Additionally, no large geographically specific subclade representing a subspecies was significantly supported within the large clade grouping all red pandas as one species. This study further reinforces the conservation priority of encouraging gene flow via protecting prime habitat areas internationally, connected by wildlife corridors and transboundary cooperation, allowing natural evolution for species survival.

zoology↗

bioRxiv2024

Missing links connect the phylogeographic structure of endangered red pandas, remaining as one species -- Ailurus fulgens, and expediting conservation

Monitoring biodiversity depends on well-informed taxonomy, reflecting the underlying biology of organisms critical for appropriate conservation management. The taxonomy of red pandas, endangered mammals distributed along a [~]2500km montane range fringing the southern Tibetan Plateau, has been perplexing. Finally resolved as evolutionarily unique Musteloidea, further division of Ailurus into two geographic variants remains contentious. Red pandas are threatened by extinction from anthropogenic disturbances with consequent population decline; continued gene flow is therefore crucial to maintain adaptive potential. A recent phylogenomic study from sampling range ends and a constrictive species concept split red pandas into two species. Subsequent studies supplied additional data missing from their midrange. We evaluated GenBank mtDNA sequences from 393 animals, plotted sampling locations, and analyzed with and without midrange samples. Two sublineages of monophyletic Ailurus were weakly supported by one method when the midrange was excluded, but not when it was included. Using more stringent analyses, Ailurus was strongly confirmed as a single species in all circumstances, although the western sublineage (A. f. fulgens) was weakly supported within. Four haplogroups associated with specific regions, suggesting broad phylogeographic patterning and gene flow, with sympatric crossover and a cline bracketing unsampled Bhutan in the midrange. Red pandas are due for IUCN Red List reassessment in 2025; unwarranted taxonomic revision would delay and imperil action needed to prevent extinction. We recommend maintaining Ailurus as one species, recognizing and protecting biodiversity at one intraspecific level, allowing for gene flow in conservation management, and extensively investigating intergradation of midrange red pandas.

zoology↗