New insights on species divergence in red panda

Abstract

With the recent classification of red panda into two phylogenetic species, we propose Siang river as a potential boundary for species divergence between the Himalayan red panda (Ailurus fulgens) and the Chinese red panda (Ailurus styani). Bayesian based phylogeny and MJ network splited all the sequences into two distinct clusters in accordance to the origin of the samples collected from the east and west side of the Siang river. The clade 1, that represented Himalayan red panda, was formed by inclusion of samples originated from the north West Bengal, Sikkim, and central Arunachal Pradesh and South Tibet. While, clade 2 represented Chinese red panda by inclusion of the samples originated from Dibang valley of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, India and Southwest China. We suggest being associated with diverse habitats, threats and transboundary distribution, both species of red panda require regional as well as multilateral cooperation for making species survival plan.