Genotyping and phylogenetic analysis of servals (Leptailurus serval) in Africa

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

The serval (Leptailurus serval) is listed as Least Concern in the (International Union for Conservation of Nature) IUCN red list. The species is widely distributed and inhabits sub-Saharan Africa except the tropical rainforest and the Sahara Desert. It has been recorded in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is extinct in Algeria and its presence is unknown in Lesotho and Morocco. Threats to the species include habitat loss and degradation, illegal trade for ceremonial or medicinal purposes, and persecution by farmers. Serval was first described by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1776. In the 19th and 20th centuries, six subspecies were recognised based on morphological and biogeographical data. However, only three subspecies are considered valid since 2017.

The taxonomy of the species in relation to other Felidae is currently under review and molecular studies have identified that serval is closely related to the African Golden Cat (Caracal aurata) and Caracal (C. caracal) (Johnson et al. 2006), diverging from a common ancestor approximately 5.4 million years ago (O'Brien and Johnson 2007). The phylogenetic relationships of the serval subspecies remain in dispute and subspecies may not exist, but there have been no recent morphological and molecular studies to examine geographical variation in this species. In general, other widely distributed savannah African antelope species such as buffalo, roan etc have reported to be differentiated into a western and northern clade and a southern and eastern one. In cheetah, the species was differentiated in to eastern and southern populations.

Within Felidae, hybrids are reported to occur either naturally such as crosses between domestic cat (Felis catus) and African wildcat (F. lybica) or due to human intervention such as lack of available mates under captive conditions as has been reported for hybridsation between lion (Panthera leo) and tiger (P. tigris). Cat breeders have crossed domestic cat (Felis catus) with serval (L. serval) in order to create an exotic cat breed; savannahs. It has been reported that F1 male hybrids are sterile but F1 female hybrids are fertile and are generally backcrossed with male domestic cats. Serval have been reported to hybridise in captivity with caracal (Caracal caracal) in the early 1990s.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/05/2231/12/24

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