Phylogenetic Analysis of Mitochondrial Genes of Malaysian Tupaia Reveals Composite Species in Tupaia Glis

Recent morphometric analysis on T. glis in Peninsular Malaysia indicates that there were more than one morphotypes in this species. Thus this study attempts to examine this phenomenon using mitochondrial DNA sequences of Cyt b and CO1 genes. A total of 74 DNA sequences for both genes were generated using available universal primers. Samples from Southern Thailand were found to be misidentified as T. glis when in fact these samples clustered with T. belangeri while one T. tana from Borneo was miss-identified as T. minor. The phylogenetic trees showed that there are at least one confirmed morphotype of Tupaia (new Tupaia sp.) that have yet to be described. The results also showed that the separation of T. glis morphotype 1 and 11 were visible in the combined genes tree, congruent with the morphometric phylogeny but had poor phylogenetic support.

Preliminary Study of Skull Polymorphims of Tupaia glis in Peninsular Malaysia by using MorphoJ

A global geographic fragmentation has caused the diversity of animals and plants worldwide, mostly to the population of small mammals. In Malaysia, there are a lot of natural barriers that can separate the population of small mammals including common treeshrew, Tupaia glis. In this study, the polymorphism of ninety (90) Tupaia glis in Peninsular Malaysia is carried out by comparing the skulls of the species from different states by using MorphoJ analysis. This is carried out to know the landmark of the species and the shape changes.