CRESTED GIBBON (HYLOBATES [NOMASCUS]) IDENTIFICATION USING NONINVASIVELY OBTAINED DNA

The development of captive breeding programs for the crested gibbons ( Hylobates [Nomascus]) of Indochina is hindered by the difficulty of so rting individuals into their correct species and subspecies groups. We describe taxon-specific DNA sequence variation in a 252-base pair reg ion of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, which can be used to ident ify individuals of the three taxa of crested gibbon commonly found in Western zoos. These molecular genetic markers can be amplified from pl ucked hair and will permit the identification of morphologically simil ar females and crested gibbons of either sex of unknown origin. Noninv asive genotyping of captive animals will facilitate the genetic manage ment of these critically endangered primates. (c) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc .