Phylogenetic study of extirpated Korean leopard using mitochondrial DNA from an old skin specimen in South Korea.

The leopard, Panthera pardus , is a threatened species in its range throughout the world. Although, historically, the Korean Peninsula had a high population density of leopards, they were extirpated from South Korea by 1970, leaving almost no genetic specimens. Traditionally, Korean leopards are classified as Panthera pardus orientalis ; however, their classification is based only on locality and morphology. Therefore, there is a need for genetic studies to identify the phylogenetic status of Korean leopards at the subspecies level. Presently, no extant wild specimen is available from South Korea; therefore, we extracted genetic material from the old skin of a leopard captured in Jirisan, South Korea in the 1930s and conducted the first phylogenetic study of the South Korean leopard. A total of 726 bp of mitochondrial DNA, including segments of the NADH5 and control region, were amplified by PCR. A phylogenetic analysis of the fragment, along with sequences of nine leopard subspecies from GenBank revealed that the extinct South Korean leopard belonged to the Asian leopard group and in the same clade as the Amur leopard ( Panthera pardus orientalis ). Thus, the leopard that inhabited South Korea in the past was of the same subspecies as the Amur leopard population currently inhabiting the transboundary region of Russia, China, and North Korea. These results emphasize the importance of conserving the endangered wild Amur leopard population (estimated to be about 60-80 individuals) in Russia and China, for future restoration of leopards in the Korean Peninsula.
Competing Interests: Tiger and Leopard Conservation Fund in Korea (KTLCF) is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that started as a small civic gathering to help conserve Amur tigers and leopards. All the fund of KTLCF is donations from members and all of the authors affiliated with KTLCF, Jee Yun Hyun, Jang Hyuk Cho, Puneet Pandey, and Hang Lee, are not employed by KTLCF, but are volunteers who serves for KTLCF but receives no compensation from KTLCF. KTLCF is supporting the conservation of Amur leopard and tiger in Russia, doing research on history of relationship between tigers/leopards and Korean people, and educating people to conserve wildlife.
(© 2020 Hyun et al.)