Lions(Pantheraleo)playacrucialecologicalroleinshapingandmaintainingfragileecosystemswithinAfrica.Conservationeffortsshouldfocusongeneticvariabilitywithinwildpopulationswhenconsideringreintroductionattempts.WestudiedtwogroupsoflionsfromtwoconservationsiteslocatedinZambiaandZimbabwetodeterminetheirgeneticmake-up,informationthatisusuallyunknowntothesites.Inthisstudy,weanalysed17specimensforcytbandsevenmicrosatellitemarkerstoascertainfamilyrelationshipsandgeneticdiversitypreviouslyobtainedbyobservationalstudies.Wethenproducedastandardisedhaplogroupphylogenyusingallavailableentiremitogenomes,aswellascalculatingarevisedmolecularclock.Themodernlionlineagediverged~151kyaandwasdividedintotwosubspecies,bothcontainingthreedistincthaplogroups.WeconfirmthatPantheraleopersicaisnotasubspecies,butratherahaplogroupofthenorthernP.l.leothatexitedAfricaatleast~31kya.Theprogenitortoalllionsexisted~1.2Mya,possiblyinSEAfrica,andlaterexitedAfricaandsplitintothetwocavelionlineages~175kya.Speciesdemographyiscorrelatedtomajorclimacticevents.Wenowhaveadetailedphylogenyoflionevolutionandanideaoftheirconservationstatusgiventhethreatofclimatechange.
Keywords:Pantheraatrox;Pantheraleo;Pantheraspelaeamitogenome;bigcatevolution;cavelion;evolutionarybiology;lionphylogeny;molecularphylogeny.
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