Curaudeau Manon, Kerbis Peterhans Julian, Le Flanchec Thomas, Gilissen Emmanuel, Granjon Laurent, Barale Lison, Gessain Antoine, Hassanin Alexandre
Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), MNHN, CNRS, EPHE, UA, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
Unité Épidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes, Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR 3569, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.
One Health. 2025 Jul 30;21:101157. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2025.101157. eCollection 2025 Dec.
Monkeypox is an emerging infectious disease of unclear zoonotic origin in Africa although increasing evidence suggests that rope squirrels are reservoirs of the monkeypox virus (MPXV). Here, we describe new data on the systematics of rope squirrels (Sciuridae, ). Our molecular phylogeny strongly supports the polyphyly of , with a Central African clade sister to and a West African clade sister to . Museum specimens show that the two clades have distinct pelage patterns. We propose therefore to resurrect the name for the West African clade. Using reliable taxonomic identifications of georeferenced squirrels, we inferred the ecological niches of the three species of interest. The Sanaga River in Cameroon appears to be the barrier separating both the sister species and as well as the sister MPXV clades I and II. This suggests that these two MPXV clades were isolated in Central and West Africa, respectively, due to allopatric squirrel speciation.
猴痘是一种起源不明的新发传染病，源于非洲的人畜共患病，不过越来越多的证据表明绳松鼠是猴痘病毒（MPXV）的宿主。在此，我们描述了关于绳松鼠（松鼠科）系统分类学的新数据。我们的分子系统发育研究有力地支持了绳松鼠的多系性，其中一个中非分支是[某物种]的姐妹分支，一个西非分支是[另一物种]的姐妹分支。博物馆标本显示这两个分支具有不同的皮毛图案。因此，我们提议为西非分支重新启用[某名称]。通过对地理定位松鼠进行可靠的分类鉴定，我们推断出了三种相关松鼠的生态位。喀麦隆的萨纳加河似乎是将姐妹物种[具体物种1]和[具体物种2]以及MPXV姐妹分支I和II分隔开来的屏障。这表明这两个MPXV分支分别在中非和西非因异域松鼠物种形成而被隔离。
