Evolution of the Gibbon Subgenera Inferred from CytochromebDNA Sequence Data

DNA sequences for the mitochondrial cytochromebgene from the four extant gibbon subgenera are described. The data confirm that the gibbon subgenera evolved from a common hylobatid ancestor and suggest that they diverged from each other after the divergence of the extant African great ape species. The cytochromebgene does not resolve the evolutionary relationships between the gibbon subgenera themselves.