Guenon

Protein loop dynamics have recently been recognized as central to enzymatic activity, specificity and stability. However, the factors controlling loop opening and closing kinetics have remained elusive. Here, we combine molecular dynamics simulations with string-method determination of complex reaction coordinates to elucidate the molecular mechanism and rate-limiting step for WPD-loop dynamics in the PTP1B enzyme. While protein conformational dynamics is often represented as diffusive motion hindered by solvent viscosity and internal friction, we demonstrate that loop opening and closing is activated...

Understanding the drivers of speciation is fundamental in evolutionary biology, and recent studies highlight hybridization as an important evolutionary force. Using whole-genome sequencing data from 22 species of guenons (tribe Cercopithecini), one of the world's largest primate radiations, we show that rampant gene flow characterizes their evolutionary history, and identify ancient hybridization across deeply divergent lineages that differ in ecology, morphology and karyotypes. Some hybridization events resulted in mitochondrial introgression between distant lineages, likely facilitated by co-introgression of co-adapted nuclear variants...

Guenons are the most diverse clade of African primates, and many species living within the core of the Congo Basin rainforest are still understudied. The recently described guenon species, Cercopithecus lomamiensis , known as lesula, is a cryptic, semi-terrestrial species endemic to the central Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The recent IUCN Red List Assessment recognizes lesula's risk of extinction in the wild as Vulnerable. The objective of our study was to use camera traps to expand knowledge on the behavioral ecology of lesula...

The lesser spot-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus petaurista) is a widely distributed West African guenon, which is generally considered less vulnerable to local extinctions than many sympatric primate species. Guinea-Bissau harbours the westernmost populations of the species, which is thought to be very rare or even extinct on the mainland, but to have putative populations on some islands of the Bijagós Archipelago. However, due to a lack of regional studies, baseline information on these insular populations is missing...

The Cercopithecini tribe includes terrestrial and arboreal clades whose relationships are controversial, with a high level of chromosome rearrangements. In order to provide new insights on the tribe's phylogeny, chromosome painting, using the complete set of human syntenic probes, was performed in Cercopithecus petaurista , a representative species of the Cercopithecini tribe. The results show C. petaurista with a highly rearranged karyotype characterized by the fission of human chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, and 12...

While cases of interspecies grooming have been reported in primates, no comprehensive cross-site review has been published about this behavior in great apes. Only a few recorded observations of interspecies grooming events between chimpanzees and other primate species have been reported in the wild, all of which have thus far been in Uganda. Here, we review all interspecies grooming events recorded for the Sonso community chimpanzees in Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda, adding five new observations to the single, previously reported event from this community...

Three guenon species in Taï National Park frequently form and maintain stable polyspecific associations despite significant feeding competition. This dietary overlap provides an opportunity to examine how closely related and anatomically similar taxa process the same foods. Our research examines whether the oral-processing behaviors of these guenons differ when they consume the same foods. Methods: Data on oral-processing behavior were collected on one habituated group each of Cercopithecus campbelli , C...

While most mammals show birth hour peaks at times of the 24-h cycle when they are less active, there are exceptions to this general pattern. Such exceptions have been little explored, but may clarify evolutionary reasons for the diel timing of births. We investigated intraspecific variation in birth hour in wild blue monkeys Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni , a diurnal primate, to identify factors that differentiated daytime versus nighttime births. Behavioral and life history data from 14 groups over 14 years revealed that 4% of 484 births occurred during the day...

Estimating population densities and their trends over time is essential for understanding primate ecology and for guiding conservation efforts. From 2011 through to 2019, we counted two guenon species during seasonal road transect surveys in Lake Manyara National Park: the Tanzania-endemic Manyara monkey Cercopithecus mitis manyaraensis (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN, Red List category of "endangered") and the vervet monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus (Red List category of "least concern")...

Home and community composting are key strategies for local organic waste management. The quality and safety of industrial composts are controlled, but those of home and community composts are not, and this could make them unsafe for use in kitchen gardens. Home (n = 20) and community (n = 41) composts, from urban and suburban areas including mildly Pb-contaminated allotment gardens, were analyzed for quality and safety regarding trace metals and metalloids (TMM) using mid-infrared Fourier transform spectrometry (FT-MIR) and portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, respectively...

Divergence in allopatry and subsequent diversification of mating signals on secondary contact (reinforcement) is a major driver of phenotypic diversity. Observing this evolutionary process directly is often impossible, but simulated evolution can pinpoint key drivers of phenotypic variation. We developed evolutionary simulations in which mating signals, modelled as points in phenotype space, evolve across time under varying evolutionary scenarios. We model mate recognition signals in guenons, a primate radiation exhibiting colourful and diverse face patterns hypothesized to maintain reproductive isolation via mate choice...

Over the past few decades, male fertility has been decreasing worldwide. Many studies attribute this outcome to endocrine disruptors exposure such as bisphenol A (BPA), which is a chemical compound used in plastics synthesis and exhibiting estrogenic activity. In order to assess how the window of exposure modulates the effects of BPA on the testis, prepubertal (15 dpp to 30 dpp) and pubertal (60 dpp to 75 dpp) male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to BPA (50µg/kg bw/day), 17-β-estradiol (E2) (20µg/kg bw/day) as a positive control, or to a combination of these compounds...

The angular gyrus roughly corresponds to Brodmann's area 39, which is a multimodal association brain region located in the posterior apex of the human inferior parietal lobe, at its interface with the temporal and occipital lobes. It encompasses two cyto- and receptor architectonically distinct areas: caudal PGp and rostral PGa. The macaque brain does not present an angular gyrus in the strict sense, and the establishment of homologies was further hindered by the fact that Brodmann defined a single cytoarchitectonic area covering the entire guenon inferior parietal lobule in the monkey brain, i...

The living guenons (Cercopithecini, Cercopithecidae) are speciose and widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa but are poorly represented in the fossil record. In addition, the craniodental and skeletal similarity of the guenons has hampered the identification of fragmentary material, likely obscuring the taxonomic diversity represented in the fossil record. Here, we describe a new fossil guenon specimen (LAET 75-3703) from the Lower Ngaloba Beds, Laetoli in Tanzania, dated to ∼1.7-1.2 Ma and preserving the lower face and mandible...

A 4-yr-old male intact lesser spot-nosed guenon ( Cercopithecus petaurista ), housed at a North American zoological facility, presented with acute lethargy, inappetence, and mild neurologic signs. Physical examination revealed hemorrhagic pleural effusion in the right hemithorax. This guenon's condition improved over several days but then deteriorated, and the guenon presented with lethargy and weakness. A hemorrhagic pleural effusion was identified within the left hemithorax. The guenon developed respiratory and cardiac arrest while anesthetized...

The classification of most mammalian orders and families is under debate and the number of species is likely greater than currently recognized. Improving taxonomic knowledge is crucial, as biodiversity is in rapid decline. Morphology is a source of taxonomic knowledge, and geometric morphometrics applied to two dimensional (2D) photographs of anatomical structures is commonly employed for quantifying differences within and among lineages. Photographs are informative, easy to obtain, and low cost. 2D analyses, however, introduce a large source of measurement error when applied to crania and other highly three dimensional (3D) structures...

Samango monkeys (Cercopithecus albogularis schwarzi) in the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa, experience a highly seasonal climate, with relatively cold, dry winters. They must show behavioural flexibility to survive these difficult conditions near the southern limit of the species' distribution and maintain the minimum nutritional intake they require. Through environmental monitoring and behavioural observations of a habituated group of samango monkeys, we explored how they adapted to the highly seasonal climate they experienced in the mountains...

In a recent exchange, Pareja et al. (Primates 61: 159-168, 2020a; Primates 61: 767-774, 2020b) and Urbani and Youlatos (Primates, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-020-00825-2 , 2020a) dispute the re-interpretation of the primate species depicted in a Bronze Age fresco from Room 6 of Building Complex Beta at Akrotiri, Thera. They review the history of interpretations of this artwork and combine the expertise of scholars that traditionally focus on such research with the scientific expertise of primatologists to reexamine the artwork...

Alarm calls can trigger very different behavioural changes in receivers and signallers might apply different alarm call strategies based on their individual cost-benefit ratio. These cost-benefit ratios can also vary as a function of sex. For instance, male but not female forest guenons possess loud alarms that serve warning and predator deterrence functions, but also intergroup spacing and male-male competition. In some forest guenons, the context specificity and alarm call repertoire size additionally differs between females and males but it remains unclear if this corresponds to similar sexual dimorphisms in alarm calling strategies...

OBJECTIVES: The little known guenon Cercopithecus dryas has a controversial taxonomic history with some recognizing two taxa (C. dryas and C. salongo) instead of one. New adult specimens from the TL2 region of the central Congo Basin allow further assessment of C. dryas morphology and, along with CT scans of the juvenile holotype, provide ontogenetically stable comparisons across all C. dryas and "C. salongo" specimens for the first time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The skins and skulls of two newly acquired C...