ÿþThe puma is an puma creepers iconic predator that ranges throughout the Americas, occupying diverse habitats. Previous phylogeographic analyses have revealed that it exhibits moderate levels of genetic structure across its range, with few of the classically recognized subspecies being supported as distinct demographic units. Moreover, most of the species' molecular diversity was found to be in South America. To further investigate the phylogeographic structure and demographic history of pumas we analyzed mtDNA sequences from 186 individuals sampled throughout their range.

Pumas have remarkable dispersal capabilities ( Maehr et al. , 2002 ; Beier et al. , 2003 ) and successfully occupy a diverse array of habitats, illustrating their potential to adapt to the puma rihanna breadth of environmental conditions occurring across the continent, from tropical forests and marshes to dry scrubland and cold Andean or Patagonian biomes ( Redford and Eisenberg, 1992 ; Nowak, 1999 ). Pumas are solitary and territorial, with puma fenty large home ranges.

In the present study we employ this longer ND5 segment to investigate the evolutionary history of P. concolor , with emphasis on South American populations, which were previously found to harbor high levels of diversity and inferred to have played a key role in the historical demography of this species ( Culver et al. , 2000 ). Given that the geographic sampling of South American pumas was limited in that puma slides first study, we aimed here to expand the representation of the various regions of this sub-continent.

So as to allow refined inferences of population structure, maternal gene flow and demographic history. In addition to expanding the geographic coverage of South American regions to refine inferences on patterns of matrilineal subdivision, we have performed novel analyses on puma demographic history, which revealed consistent evidence of a recent population expansion in South America, prior to re-colonization of North America.

We obtained blood and tissue samples from 77 pumas including wild individuals captured during field-ecology projects, caught by farmers or road-killed, as well as captive animals with known geographic origin ( Table S1 ). In addition, we also collected data from 109 additional individuals whose DNA puma fenty slides was already available in the participant laboratories, some of which had been used in earlier genetic studies employing different markers .

The availability of ND5 sequences for the extinct felid Miracinonyx trumani ( Barnett et al. , 2005 ) was an additional asset of this segment, allowing the inclusion of this fossil taxon in some analyses.Sequence electropherograms were visually inspected and edited using Chromas Lite 2.01 or FinchTV 1.4.0. Sequences were aligned with the CLUSTALW algorithm ( Higgings et al. , 1996 ) implemented in MEGA 4 ( Tamura et al. , 2007 ), followed by manual verification and editing.