Ecology and Evolution of Melanism in Big Cats: Case Study with Black Leopards and Jaguars

Abstract

Variations in animal coloration have intrigued evolutionary biologists for a long time. Among the observed pigmentation polymorphisms, melanism has been reported in multiple organisms (influencing several biological factors), and classical hypothesis has suggested that such variant can present adaptive advantages under certain ecological conditions. In leopards (Panthera pardus) and jaguars (Panthera onca), melanism is caused by recessive and dominant mutations in the ASIP and MC1R genes, respectively. This chapter is focused on melanism in these two species, aiming to analyze its geographic pattern. About 623 leopard and 980 jaguar records that were used as baseline for model-ing and statistical analyses were obtained. The frequency of melanism was 10% for both species. In leopards, melanism was present in five subspecies and strongly associated with moist forests, especially in Southeast Asia. In jaguars, melanism was totally absent from open and periodically flooded landscapes; in contrast, forests displayed a frequency that was similar to the expectations. The analyses of the environmental predictors suggest a relevant role for factors such as moisture and temperature. These observations support the hypothesis that melanism in big cats is not a neutral polymorphism (influenced by natural selection), leading to a nonrandom geographic distribution of this coloration phenotype.