Mitochondrial pseudogenes and phyletic relationships of Cebuella and Callithrix (platyrrhini, primates)

Two cytochrome b pseudogenes were isolated from PCR amplified products of C ebuella pygmaea DNA. These sequences showed insertions and deletions when c ompared to paralogous mitochondrial sequence regions of several primates. P hylogenetic analyses indicated that an ancestral pseudogene originated some time before the divergence of Cebuella and Callithrix and that this sequenc e was later duplicated some 5.6 million years ago. Parsimony and distance a nalyses indicated that Cebuella pygmaea and Callithrix species of the argen tata group were more closely related to one another than any of them was to Callithrix species of the jacchus group, in agreement with previous analys es based on nuclear genes and karyotypic data. These findings also indicate d that Callithrix is a paraphyletic genus, in agreement with previous propo sitions that Cebuella should be included within the genus Callithrix.