Carnivores are important elements of Neotropical biomes that are in need of conservation efforts. However, successful conservation methods rely on the identification of accurate evolutionary taxa. Unfortunately, in the case of Procyonidae systematics, there has been little knowledge in some genera. Two of these genera are Nasuella and Nasua, also known as the coatis. Herein, we analyzed a dataset obtained in South America and Central America, containing sequences of three mitochondrial genes (ND5, Cyt-b, and D-loop) collected from 42 mountain coati (Nasuella olivacea) specimens, plus 50 white-nosed coati (Nasua narica) and 51 ring-tailed coati (Nasua nasua) (total sample of 143). Our results support four main findings. (1) We detected four significantly different groups of N. olivacea. There were two small groups, one distributed in the Central Colombian Andean Cordillera and Western Ecuadorian Andean Cordillera, and another in the Western Colombian and Ecuadorian Andean Cordilleras. The specimens of these small groups were phenotypically un-differentiable from N. olivacea, but their mtDNA were more related to that of N. nasua than to the mtDNA of the other N. olivacea. The other two groups of N. olivacea contained the major part of the specimens analyzed. One is in the Eastern Colombian Andean Cordillera and is molecularly un-differentiable from the proposed “new” endemic Venezuelan species, Nasuella meridiensis. The ancestor of this group gave origin to another expanded group in the Western and Central Colombian and Ecuadorian Andean Cordilleras. (2) Different analyses (network, temporal splits, genetic diversity analyses) showed that the mitochondrial haplotypes of N. nasua were the first to appear (temporal diversification during the Late Miocene, and Pliocene), followed by the haplotypes of the current groups of Nasuella (temporal diversification during the Pliocene and beginning of the Pleistocene), and then the haplotypes that of the Central American N. narica (temporal diversification during the Pleistocene). Within N. nasua, we detected, at least, four highly differentiated groups that contain cryptic species or highly differentiated subspecies. (3) All of the taxa we analyzed showed high levels of mitochondrial genetic diversity, but N. nasua showed the highest levels, whereas N. narica showed the lowest levels. (4) Some groups of N. olivacea, and N. narica showed Pleistocene population expansions, but all the taxa showed a very strong signal of population declination in the last 20,000 years ago (YA), which could be correlated with the drastic climatic changes in that epoch.

中文翻译：

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山浣熊（Nasuella olivacea；Procyonidae，Carnivora）的系统地理学结构，以及由线粒体 DNA 推断的与其他浣熊物种（Nasua nasua 和 Nasua narica）的系统发育关系

食肉动物是需要保护工作的新热带生物群落的重要元素。然而，成功的保护方法依赖于准确的进化分类群的识别。不幸的是，就 Procyonidae 系统学而言，对某些属知之甚少。其中两个属是 Nasuella 和 Nasua，也被称为浣熊。在此，我们分析了在南美洲和中美洲获得的数据集，其中包含从 42 只山猫（Nasuella olivacea）标本中收集的三个线粒体基因（ND5、Cyt-b 和 D-loop）的序列，以及 50 只白鼻猫。 Nasua narica) 和 51 只环尾浣熊 (Nasua nasua)（总共 143 只样本）。我们的结果支持四个主要发现。(1) 我们检测到 4 个显着不同的 N. olivacea 组。有两个小团体，一种分布于哥伦比亚中部安第斯山脉和厄瓜多尔西部安第斯山脉，另一种分布于哥伦比亚西部和厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉。这些小组的标本在表型上无法与橄榄猪笼草区分，但它们的 mtDNA 与 N. nasua 的相关性比与其他橄榄猪笼草的 mtDNA 相关。另外两组 N. olivacea 包含所分析标本的主要部分。一种位于哥伦比亚东部的安第斯山脉，与提议的“新”委内瑞拉特有物种 Nasuella meridiensis 在分子上无法区分。这个群体的祖先起源于哥伦比亚西部和中部以及厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉的另一个扩展群体。(2) 不同的分析（网络、时间分割、遗传多样性分析）表明，N. nasua 的线粒体单倍型最先出现（中新世晚期和上新世的时间多样化），其次是 Nasuella 目前群体的单倍型（上新世和上新世开始的时间多样化）更新世），然后是中美洲 N. narica 的单倍型（更新世期间的时间多样化）。在 N. nasua 中，我们至少检测到四个高度分化的群体，其中包含隐匿物种或高度分化的亚种。(3) 我们分析的所有分类群都显示出高水平的线粒体遗传多样性，但 N. nasua 显示出最高水平，而 N. narica 显示出最低水平。(4) N. olivacea 和 N. narica 的部分种群表现出更新世种群扩张，