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Establishing the genetic and geographic structure of populations is fundamental, both to understand their evolutionary past and preserve their future. Nevertheless, the patterns of genetic population structure are unknown for most endangered species. This is the case for bonobos (Pan paniscus), which, together with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), are humans' closest living relatives. Chimpanzees live across equatorial Africa and are classified into four subspecies, 1 with some genetic population substructure even within subspecies. Conversely, bonobos live exclusively in the Democratic Republic of Congo and are considered a homogeneous group with low genetic diversity, 2 despite some population structure inferred from mtDNA. Nevertheless, mtDNA aside, their genetic structure remains unknown, hampering our understanding of the species and conservation efforts. Mapping bonobo genetic diversity in space is, however, challenging because, being endangered, only non-invasive sampling is possible for wild individuals. Here, we jointly analyze the exomes and mtDNA from 20 wild-born bonobos, the whole genomes of 10 captive bonobos, and the mtDNA of 136 wild individuals. We identify three genetically distinct bonobo groups of inferred Central, Western, and Far-Western geographic origin within the bonobo range. We estimate the split time between the central and western populations to be ∼145,000 years ago and genetic differentiation to be in the order of that of the closest chimpanzee subspecies. Furthermore, our estimated long-term N e for Far-West (∼3,000) is among the lowest estimated for any great ape lineage. Our results highlight the need to attend to the bonobo substructure, both in terms of research and conservation., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The muskox (Ovibos moschatus) is the largest terrestrial herbivore in the Arctic and plays a vital role in the tundra ecosystem [1-4]. Its range, abundance, and genetic diversity have declined dramatically over the past 30,000 years [5]. Two subspecies are recognized, but little is known about the genetic structure and how this relates to the species history. One unresolved question is how and when the species dispersed into its present range, notably the present strongholds in the Canadian archipelago and Greenland. We used genotyping by sequencing (GBS) data from 116 muskox individuals and genotype likelihood-based methods to infer the genetic diversity and distribution of genetic variation in the species. We identified a basal split separating the two recognized subspecies, in agreement with isolation of the muskox into several refugia in the Nearctic around 21,000 years ago [6], near the last glacial maximum (LGM). In addition, we found evidence of strong, successive founder effects inflicting a progressive loss of genetic diversity as the muskox colonized the insular High Arctic from an unknown Nearctic origin. These have resulted in exceptionally low genetic diversity in the Greenlandic populations, as well as extremely high genetic differentiation among regional populations. Our results highlight the need for further investigations of genetic erosion in Nearctic terrestrial mammals, of which several show similar colonization histories in the High Artic., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)