Zoological Studies

Vol. 62, 2023

(update: 2023.5.15)

Assessing the taxonomic status of Mazama simplicicornis argentina Lönnberg, 1919 (Artiodactyla: Cervidae)

Eluzai Dinai Pinto Sandoval1, Gabrielle Queiroz Vacari1, Juan Pablo Juliá2, Susana González3, Miluse Vozdova4, Halina Cernohorska4, Svatava Kubickova4, Daniela C. Kalthoff5, and José Mauricio Barbanti Duarte1,*
doi:-

1Núcleo de Pesquisa e Conservaçăo de Cervídeos (NUPECCE), Faculdade de Cięncias Agrárias e Veterinárias da Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Jaboticabal-SP, Brazil. *Correspondence: E-mail: mauricio.barbanti@unesp.br (Duarte).
E-mail: eluzaidinai@gmail.com (Sandoval); gabrielle_g12@hotmail.com (Vacari)
2Facultad de Ciencias Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina. E-mail: jupaju@yahoo.es (Juliá)
3Departamento de Biodiversidad y Genética, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo, Uruguay. E-mail: sugonza9@yahoo.com (González)
4Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic. E-mail: miluse.vozdova@vri.cz (Vozdova); halina.cernohorska@vri.cz (Cernohorska); svatava.kubickova@vri.cz (Kubickova)
5Swedish Museum of Natural History, Frescativägen 40, Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: daniela.kalthoff@nrm.se (Kalthoff)

(Received 27 October 2022 / Accepted 28 April 2023 / Published -- 2023)
Communicated by Jian-Nan Liu

Mazama simplicicornis argentina is the name given to the description of a gray brocket collected in 1919 by Lönnberg in the central Chaco of Argentina. Subsequent authors, based on morphological similarities, considered this name as a synonym of the species Subulo gouazoubira Fischer, 1814 from Paraguay. In the absence of genetic analyses to compare the Argentinian and Paraguayan gray brockets, we aimed to clarify the taxonomy of M. simplicicornis argentina through an integrative assessment using morphological, cytogenetical, and molecular data from its holotype and a current topotype. Qualitative skull features and cranio-morphometric results of M. simplicicornis argentina showed a great similarity with the S. gouazoubira neotype characters. The diploid chromosome number of M. simplicicornis argentina topotype correspond to the karyotypical pattern of S. gouazoubira with 2n = 70 and FN = 70, showing a great similarity in all classic and molecular cytogenetic results and evidencing the homologies between karyotypes. The phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial genes used in this study (concatenated partial ND5 and Cytb gene) allocated the M. simplicicornis argentina specimens in the monophyletic clade of S. gouazoubira with 100% of branch value. These results evidenced that there is no discontinuity between the Argentinian and Paraguayan gray brockets, therefore, the individuals originally described as M. simplicicornis argentina should be recognize as S. gouazoubira species.

Key words: Animal cytogenetic, Cervidae, Gray brocket, Mitochondrial DNA, Morphology.

Citation: Sandoval EDP, Vacari GQ, Juliá JP, González S, Vozdova M, Cernohorska M, Kubickova S, Kalthoff DC, Duarte JMB. 2023. Assessing the taxonomic status of Mazama simplicicornis argentina Lönnberg, 1919 (Artiodactyla: Cervidae). Zool Stud 62:30.

Supplementary materials: Fig. S1Table S1Table S2Table S3Table S4