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Ryuichi Masuda - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Cranial Variation in the Siberian Weasel Mustela sibirica (Carnivora, Mustelidae) and its Possible Taxonomic Implications.
Zoological studies, 2018Co-Authors: Alexei V. Abramov, Andrey Yu. Puzachenko, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:Alexei V. Abramov, Andrey Yu. Puzachenko, and Ryuichi Masuda (2018) Morphometric variation in 23 cranial characters of 555 Siberian weasels (Mustela sibirica) was studied across its whole distribution range. Most of the distribution range in Siberia and China is occupied by medium-sized weasels, whereas the eastern part of the species range - including the Russian Far East, Korea and eastern China - is occupied by the larger form. Specimens from the Pacific islands (Jeju and Tsushima) were morphologically closely related to the western form of M. sibirica than to the neighboring continental weasels. The western form can be treated as nominotypical subspecies M. s. sibirica Pallas, 1773, whereas the eastern form can be treated as M. s. manchurica Brass, 1911. Small-sized weasels from the eastern Himalayan area (Myanmar and southwestern China) form a distinct group within M. sibirica, and they were treated as a subspecies; M. s. moupinensis (Milne- Edwards, 1874). Specimens from the western Himalayas (Kashmir, Nepal and Sikkim) are morphologically distinct from all other populations of Mustela sibirica and can be treated as a separate species Mustela subhemachalana Hodgson, 1837.
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comparative phylogeography of the endemic japanese weasel Mustela itatsi and the continental siberian weasel Mustela sibirica revealed by complete mitochondrial genome sequences
Biological Journal of The Linnean Society, 2016Co-Authors: Mohammed A Shalabi, Sanghoon Han, Liangkong Lin, Alexei V. Abramov, Pavel A Kosintsev, Shigeki Watanabe, Koji Yamazaki, Yayoi Kaneko, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:We analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome for 26 individuals of the endemic Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi) and 20 individuals of its continental sister species, the Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica). These species diverged an estimated 1.19 Mya, in the Early Pleistocene. Mustela itatsi comprised two haplotype clades that diverged an estimated 0.93 Mya, in the Middle Pleistocene: a northern (Honshu) clade comprising geographically distinct basal, northern, and eastern subclades, and a western paraphyletic group, as well as a southern clade comprising geographically distinct subclades on Kyushu, Shikoku, and adjacent small islands. Our results indicate a single migration of an ancestral population from the Korean Peninsula to southern Japan across an Early Pleistocene land bridge, followed by allopatric speciation of M. itatsi in Japan. The southern lineage appears to have remained in place, whereas the range of the northern lineage expanded stepwise from south-western to northern Honshu between 0.31 and 0.11 Mya. Mustela sibirica also comprised two main clades that diverged an estimated 0.67 Mya; one containing haplotypes from continental Russia and Tsushima Island (Japan), and the other containing haplotypes from Korea, China, and Taiwan. The M. sibirica population on Tsushima Island is likely a relict from the continental Russian population.
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Genetic variation of the MHC class II DRB genes in the Japanese weasel, Mustela itatsi, endemic to Japan, compared with the Siberian weasel, Mustela sibirica
Tissue antigens, 2015Co-Authors: Yoshinori Nishita, Liangkong Lin, Alexei V. Abramov, Pavel A Kosintsev, Yayoi Kaneko, S. Watanabe, Kazuhisa Yamazaki, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes encode proteins that play a critical role in vertebrate immune system and are highly polymorphic. To further understand the molecular evolution of the MHC genes, we compared MHC class II DRB genes between the Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi), a species endemic to Japan, and the Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica), a closely related species on the continent. We sequenced a 242-bp region of DRB exon 2, which encodes antigen-binding sites (ABS), and found 24 alleles from 31 M. itatsi individuals and 17 alleles from 21 M. sibirica individuals, including broadly distributed, species-specific and/or geographically restricted alleles. Our results suggest that pathogen-driven balancing selection have acted to maintain the diversity in the DRB genes. For predicted ABS, nonsynonymous substitutions exceeded synonymous substitutions, also indicating positive selection, which was not seen at non-ABS. In a Bayesian phylogenetic tree, two M. sibirica DRB alleles were basal to the rest of the sequences from mustelid species and may represent ancestral alleles. Trans-species polymorphism was evident between many mustelid DRB alleles, especially between M. itatsi and M. sibirica. These two Mustela species divided about 1.7 million years ago, but still share many MHC alleles, indicative of their close phylogenetic relationship.
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Molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of the genus Mustela (Mustelidae, Carnivora), inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences: New perspectives on phylogenetic status of the back-striped weasel and American mink
Mammal Study, 2008Co-Authors: Naoko Kurose, Alexei V. Abramov, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:ABSTRACT To further understand the phylogenetic relationships among the mustelid genus Mustela, we newly determined nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene from 11 Eurasian species of Mustela, including the domestic ferret and the American mink. Phylogenetic relationships inferred from the 12S rRNA sequences were similar to those based on previously reported mitochondrial cytochrome b data. Combined analyses of the two genes demonstrated that species of Mustela were divided into two primary clades, named “the small weasel group” and “the large weasel group”, and others. The Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi) formerly classified as a subspecies of the Siberian weasel (M. sibirica), was genetically well-differentiated from M. sibirica, and the two species clustered with each other. The European mink (M. lutreola) was closely related to “the ferret group” (M. furo, M. putorius, and M. eversmanii). Both the American mink of North America and the back-striped weasel (M. strigidorsa) of Southeast ...
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Intrageneric Diversity of the Cytochrome b Gene and Phylogeny of Eurasian Species of the Genus Mustela (Mustelidae, Carnivora)
Zoological science, 2000Co-Authors: Naoko Kurose, Alexei V. Abramov, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:To illuminate molecular phylogenetic relationships among Eurasian species of the genus Mustela (Mustelidae, Carnivora), we determined nucleotide sequences of the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene region (1,140 base pairs). Molecular phylogenetic trees, constructed using the neighbor-joining and the maximum likelihood methods, showed the common topology of species relationships to each other. The American mink M. vison first branched off and was positioned very remotely from the other species of Mustela. Excluding M. vison, the ermine M. erminea first split from the rest of the species. Two small body-sized weasels, the least weasel M. nivalis and the mountain weasel M. altaica, comprised one cluster (named "the small weasel group"). The other species formed another cluster, where the remarkably close relationships among the domestic ferret M. furo, the European polecat M. putorius, and the steppe polecat M. eversmanni were noticed with 87-94% bootstrap values (named "the ferret group"), supporting the history that the ferret was domesticated from M. putorius and/or M. eversmanni. The European mink M. lutreola was the closest to the ferret group. The genetic distance between the Siberian weasel M. sibirica and the Japanese weasel M. itatsi corresponded to differences of interspecific level, while the two species were relatively close to M. lutreola and the ferret group. These results provide invaluable insight for understanding the evolution of Mustela as well as for investigating the hybridization status between native and introduced species for conservation.
Alexei V. Abramov - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Cranial Variation in the Siberian Weasel Mustela sibirica (Carnivora, Mustelidae) and its Possible Taxonomic Implications.
Zoological studies, 2018Co-Authors: Alexei V. Abramov, Andrey Yu. Puzachenko, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:Alexei V. Abramov, Andrey Yu. Puzachenko, and Ryuichi Masuda (2018) Morphometric variation in 23 cranial characters of 555 Siberian weasels (Mustela sibirica) was studied across its whole distribution range. Most of the distribution range in Siberia and China is occupied by medium-sized weasels, whereas the eastern part of the species range - including the Russian Far East, Korea and eastern China - is occupied by the larger form. Specimens from the Pacific islands (Jeju and Tsushima) were morphologically closely related to the western form of M. sibirica than to the neighboring continental weasels. The western form can be treated as nominotypical subspecies M. s. sibirica Pallas, 1773, whereas the eastern form can be treated as M. s. manchurica Brass, 1911. Small-sized weasels from the eastern Himalayan area (Myanmar and southwestern China) form a distinct group within M. sibirica, and they were treated as a subspecies; M. s. moupinensis (Milne- Edwards, 1874). Specimens from the western Himalayas (Kashmir, Nepal and Sikkim) are morphologically distinct from all other populations of Mustela sibirica and can be treated as a separate species Mustela subhemachalana Hodgson, 1837.
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comparative phylogeography of the endemic japanese weasel Mustela itatsi and the continental siberian weasel Mustela sibirica revealed by complete mitochondrial genome sequences
Biological Journal of The Linnean Society, 2016Co-Authors: Mohammed A Shalabi, Sanghoon Han, Liangkong Lin, Alexei V. Abramov, Pavel A Kosintsev, Shigeki Watanabe, Koji Yamazaki, Yayoi Kaneko, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:We analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome for 26 individuals of the endemic Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi) and 20 individuals of its continental sister species, the Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica). These species diverged an estimated 1.19 Mya, in the Early Pleistocene. Mustela itatsi comprised two haplotype clades that diverged an estimated 0.93 Mya, in the Middle Pleistocene: a northern (Honshu) clade comprising geographically distinct basal, northern, and eastern subclades, and a western paraphyletic group, as well as a southern clade comprising geographically distinct subclades on Kyushu, Shikoku, and adjacent small islands. Our results indicate a single migration of an ancestral population from the Korean Peninsula to southern Japan across an Early Pleistocene land bridge, followed by allopatric speciation of M. itatsi in Japan. The southern lineage appears to have remained in place, whereas the range of the northern lineage expanded stepwise from south-western to northern Honshu between 0.31 and 0.11 Mya. Mustela sibirica also comprised two main clades that diverged an estimated 0.67 Mya; one containing haplotypes from continental Russia and Tsushima Island (Japan), and the other containing haplotypes from Korea, China, and Taiwan. The M. sibirica population on Tsushima Island is likely a relict from the continental Russian population.
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Genetic variation of the MHC class II DRB genes in the Japanese weasel, Mustela itatsi, endemic to Japan, compared with the Siberian weasel, Mustela sibirica
Tissue antigens, 2015Co-Authors: Yoshinori Nishita, Liangkong Lin, Alexei V. Abramov, Pavel A Kosintsev, Yayoi Kaneko, S. Watanabe, Kazuhisa Yamazaki, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes encode proteins that play a critical role in vertebrate immune system and are highly polymorphic. To further understand the molecular evolution of the MHC genes, we compared MHC class II DRB genes between the Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi), a species endemic to Japan, and the Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica), a closely related species on the continent. We sequenced a 242-bp region of DRB exon 2, which encodes antigen-binding sites (ABS), and found 24 alleles from 31 M. itatsi individuals and 17 alleles from 21 M. sibirica individuals, including broadly distributed, species-specific and/or geographically restricted alleles. Our results suggest that pathogen-driven balancing selection have acted to maintain the diversity in the DRB genes. For predicted ABS, nonsynonymous substitutions exceeded synonymous substitutions, also indicating positive selection, which was not seen at non-ABS. In a Bayesian phylogenetic tree, two M. sibirica DRB alleles were basal to the rest of the sequences from mustelid species and may represent ancestral alleles. Trans-species polymorphism was evident between many mustelid DRB alleles, especially between M. itatsi and M. sibirica. These two Mustela species divided about 1.7 million years ago, but still share many MHC alleles, indicative of their close phylogenetic relationship.
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the mountain weasel Mustela kathiah carnivora mustelidae molecular and karyological data
Biology Bulletin, 2013Co-Authors: Alexei V. Abramov, V M Aniskin, I G Meschersky, V V RozhnovAbstract:The karyotype of Mustela kathiah was first described. Its structure is most similar to the karyotype of M. altaica, differing in the morphological peculiarities of five pairs of large chromosomes. A comparative analysis of mitochondrial genes in the species Mustela allowed us to clarify understanding of the place of M. kathiah in the system of the genus. The earlier hypothesized proximity of the species to a group of small weasels (altaica, nivalis) or to a group of South Asian species (strigidorsa, nudipes) was not confirmed. A high level of differences between M. kathiah of Vietnam and specimens from southern China in nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b (7.7%) and ND2 (6–6.2%) genes was found. It is supposed that difference in the two gene sequences found in geographically distanced populations of M. kathiah may be adaptive.
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the stripe backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa taxonomy ecology distribution and status
Mammal Review, 2008Co-Authors: Alexei V. Abramov, J W Duckworth, Yingxiang Wang, S I RobertonAbstract:1. The stripe-backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa is one of the rarest and least-known mustelids in the world. Its phylogenetic relationships with other Mustela species remain controversial, though several unique morphological features distinguish it from congeners. 2. It probably lives mainly in evergreen forests in hills and mountains, but has also been recorded from plains forest, dense scrub, secondary forest, grassland and farmland. Known sites range in altitude from 90 m to 2500 m. Data are insufficient to distinguish between habitat and altitudes which support populations, and those where only dispersing animals may occur. 3. It has been confirmed from many localities in north-east India, north and central Myanmar, south China, north Thailand, north and central Laos, and north and central Vietnam. Given the limited survey effort, the number of recent records shows that the species is not as rare as hitherto believed. Neither specific nor urgent conservation needs are apparent.
Patrick Giraudoux - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Do bromadiolone treatments to control grassland water voles (Arvicola scherman) affect small mustelid abundance?
Pest Management Science, 2019Co-Authors: Javier Fernandez-de-simon, Michael Coeurdassier, Geoffroy Couval, Isabelle Fourel, Patrick GiraudouxAbstract:The use of pesticides can affect non-target species by causing population declines through indirect intoxication. Small mustelids (SMs; weasels, Mustela nivalis L.; stoats, Mustela erminea L.) consume water voles (WVs, Arvicola scherman S.) and can be exposed to bromadiolone, an anticoagulant rodenticide used in some countries to reduce WV damage to grasslands. Here, we investigated whether bromadiolone affected SM abundance.
Liangkong Lin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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comparative phylogeography of the endemic japanese weasel Mustela itatsi and the continental siberian weasel Mustela sibirica revealed by complete mitochondrial genome sequences
Biological Journal of The Linnean Society, 2016Co-Authors: Mohammed A Shalabi, Sanghoon Han, Liangkong Lin, Alexei V. Abramov, Pavel A Kosintsev, Shigeki Watanabe, Koji Yamazaki, Yayoi Kaneko, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:We analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome for 26 individuals of the endemic Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi) and 20 individuals of its continental sister species, the Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica). These species diverged an estimated 1.19 Mya, in the Early Pleistocene. Mustela itatsi comprised two haplotype clades that diverged an estimated 0.93 Mya, in the Middle Pleistocene: a northern (Honshu) clade comprising geographically distinct basal, northern, and eastern subclades, and a western paraphyletic group, as well as a southern clade comprising geographically distinct subclades on Kyushu, Shikoku, and adjacent small islands. Our results indicate a single migration of an ancestral population from the Korean Peninsula to southern Japan across an Early Pleistocene land bridge, followed by allopatric speciation of M. itatsi in Japan. The southern lineage appears to have remained in place, whereas the range of the northern lineage expanded stepwise from south-western to northern Honshu between 0.31 and 0.11 Mya. Mustela sibirica also comprised two main clades that diverged an estimated 0.67 Mya; one containing haplotypes from continental Russia and Tsushima Island (Japan), and the other containing haplotypes from Korea, China, and Taiwan. The M. sibirica population on Tsushima Island is likely a relict from the continental Russian population.
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Genetic variation of the MHC class II DRB genes in the Japanese weasel, Mustela itatsi, endemic to Japan, compared with the Siberian weasel, Mustela sibirica
Tissue antigens, 2015Co-Authors: Yoshinori Nishita, Liangkong Lin, Alexei V. Abramov, Pavel A Kosintsev, Yayoi Kaneko, S. Watanabe, Kazuhisa Yamazaki, Ryuichi MasudaAbstract:Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes encode proteins that play a critical role in vertebrate immune system and are highly polymorphic. To further understand the molecular evolution of the MHC genes, we compared MHC class II DRB genes between the Japanese weasel (Mustela itatsi), a species endemic to Japan, and the Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica), a closely related species on the continent. We sequenced a 242-bp region of DRB exon 2, which encodes antigen-binding sites (ABS), and found 24 alleles from 31 M. itatsi individuals and 17 alleles from 21 M. sibirica individuals, including broadly distributed, species-specific and/or geographically restricted alleles. Our results suggest that pathogen-driven balancing selection have acted to maintain the diversity in the DRB genes. For predicted ABS, nonsynonymous substitutions exceeded synonymous substitutions, also indicating positive selection, which was not seen at non-ABS. In a Bayesian phylogenetic tree, two M. sibirica DRB alleles were basal to the rest of the sequences from mustelid species and may represent ancestral alleles. Trans-species polymorphism was evident between many mustelid DRB alleles, especially between M. itatsi and M. sibirica. These two Mustela species divided about 1.7 million years ago, but still share many MHC alleles, indicative of their close phylogenetic relationship.
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evolutionary trends of the mitochondrial lineage differentiation in species of genera martes and Mustela
Genes & Genetic Systems, 2000Co-Authors: Tetsuji Hosoda, Kimiyuki Tsuchiya, Hitoshi Suzuki, Masashi Harada, Sanghoon Han, Yaping Zhang, Alexei P Kryukov, Liangkong LinAbstract:We compared partial sequences (402 bp) of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene in 68 individuals of martens (Martes), weasels (Mustela) and their relatives from the Northern Hemisphere to identify the modes of geographic differentiation in each species. We then compared complete sequences (1140 bp) of the gene in 17 species of the family Mustelidae to know the spatial and temporal modes of speciation, constructing linearized trees with transversional substitutions for deeper lineage divergences and with transversions and transitions for younger lineages. Our data suggested that these lineages of Martes and Mustela differentiated in a stepwise fashion with five radiation stages from the generic divergences (stage I) to the intraspecific divergences (stage V), during the last 10 or 20 million years as the fossil evidence suggests. In the lineage of Martes, the first offshoots are of Martes flavigula, M. pennanti, and Gulo gulo (stage II), the second is M. foina (stage III), and the third are M. americana, M. martes, M. melampus, and M. zibellina (stage IV). The divergence of the lineages of Mustela is likely to have taken place concurrently with the radiations of the Martes. These divergence processes are attributable in part to the geographic allocation along the two continents, North America and Eurasia, as well as among peripheral insular domains, such as Taiwan and the Japanese Islands. In addition, the Eurasian continent itself was shown to have been involved in the species diversification in the martens and weasels.
M. G. Day - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Food habits of British stoats (Mustela ermined) and weasels (Mustela nivalis)
Journal of Zoology, 2009Co-Authors: M. G. DayAbstract:Information on the food habits of stoats and weasels was obtained chiefly from gut analyses of carcasses sent from various parts of Britain. Lagomorphs, small rodents and birds form the bulk of the food taken by these predators. The three food classes appear to be equally important to stoats, whereas weasels obtain nearly half of their food from small rodents. Microtus was the most important small rodent in the diet of both stoats and weasels. Game birds were taken more by stoats than weasels; the chief bird prey of the latter was passerines.
