The Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) is patchily distributed across parts of Africa and Arabia. In Oman, it is one of the few free-ranging wild mammals found in the central and southern regions. Its population is declining due to habitat degradation, human expansion, poaching and fragmentation. Here, we investigated the population's genetic diversity using mitochondrial DNA (D-loop 186 bp and cytochrome b 487 bp). We found that the Nubian ibex in the southern region of Oman was more diverse (D-loop HD; 0.838) compared with the central region (0.511) and gene flow between them was restricted. We compared the genetic profiles of wild Nubian ibex from Oman with captive ibex. A Bayesian phylogenetic tree showed that wild Nubian ibex form a distinct clade independent from captive animals. This divergence was supported by high mean distances (D-loop 0.126, cytochrome b 0.0528) and high F_ST statistics (D-loop 0.725, cytochrome b 0.968). These results indicate that captive ibex are highly unlikely to have originated from the wild population in Oman and the considerable divergence suggests that the wild population in Oman should be treated as a distinct taxonomic unit. Further nuclear genetic work will be required to fully elucidate the degree of global taxonomic divergence of Nubian ibex populations.

努比亚高地山羊（Capra nubiana）分布在非洲和阿拉伯的部分地区。在阿曼，它是在中部和南部地区发现的少数放牧的野生哺乳动物之一。由于栖息地退化，人类扩张，偷猎和破碎化，其人口正在减少。在这里，我们使用线粒体DNA（D环186 bp和细胞色素b487 bp）。我们发现，与中部地区（0.511）相比，阿曼南部地区的努比亚高地山羊更多样化（D-loop HD; 0.838），并且它们之间的基因流动受到限制。我们比较了来自阿曼的野生努比亚高地山羊和圈养高地山羊的遗传特征。贝叶斯系统发育树显示，野生努比亚高地山羊形成独立于圈养动物的独特进化枝。高平均距离（D-loop 0.126，细胞色素b 0.0528）和高F _ST统计量（D-loop 0.725，细胞色素b0.968）。这些结果表明，圈养的高地山羊不太可能起源于阿曼的野生种群，而且巨大的差异表明，阿曼的野生种群应被视为一个独特的分类单位。将需要开展进一步的核遗传工作，以充分阐明努比亚ibex种群在全球分类学上的差异程度。