Characterizing genetically distinct populations of primates is important for protecting biodiversity and effectively allocating conservation resources. Skywalker gibbons ( Hoolock tianxing ) were first described in 2017, with the only confirmed population consisting of 150 individuals in Mt. Gaoligong, Yunnan Province, China. Based on river geography, the distribution of the skywalker gibbon has been hypothesized to extend into Myanmar between the N’Mai Kha and Ayeyarwaddy Rivers to the west, and the Salween River (named the Thanlwin River in Myanmar and Nujiang River in China) to the east. We conducted acoustic point-count sampling surveys, collected noninvasive samples for molecular mitochondrial cytochrome b gene identification, and took photographs for morphological identification at six sites in Kachin State and three sites in Shan State to determine the presence of skywalker gibbons in predicted suitable forest areas in Myanmar. We also conducted 50 semistructured interviews with members of communities surrounding gibbon range forests to understand potential threats. In Kachin State, we audio-recorded 23 gibbon groups with group densities ranging between 0.57 and 3.6 group/km 2 . In Shan State, we audio-recorded 21 gibbon groups with group densities ranging between 0.134 and 1.0 group/km 2 . Based on genetic data obtained from skin and saliva samples, the gibbons were identified as skywalker gibbons (99.54–100% identity). Although these findings increase the species’ known population size and confirmed distribution, skywalker gibbons in Myanmar are threatened by local habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. Most of the skywalker gibbon population in Myanmar exists outside protected areas. Therefore, the IUCN Red List status of the skywalker gibbon should remain as Endangered.

Myanmar is one of the world's most biologically rich countries and has among the largest contiguous intact forest landscapes in southeast Asia. Yet many of its ecosystems are highly threatened and there is an urgent need for greater wildlife conservation action, particularly for its 20 primate species, over half of which are either Endangered or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Of these 20 species, three survive in small, isolated pop-ulations, while for the remaining 17 there is insufficient population and distribution information to accurately target conservation management and monitoring. To begin to address this chal-lenge, we conducted semi-structured interviews with senior academics and professionals working in primate conservation in Myanmar to assess current knowledge on the conservation status of each of the primate species found there, as well as conservation efforts underway. We also conducted a systematic literature review to generate data on publication metrics for Myanmar primatology. The principal finding is that the populations of nearly all of Myanmar's 20 primate species are declining, and there are gaps in knowledge on species population dynamics which are hindering conservation action. We present an overview of primatology in Myanmar and address the challenges and recommendations for the future of primate conservation in Myanmar.

Traditionally, the genus Rhinopithecus (Milne-Edwards, 1872, Primates, Colobinae) included four allopatric species, restricted in their distributions to China and Vietnam. In 2010, a fifth species, the black snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) was discovered in the Gaoligong Mountains located on the border between China and Myanmar. Despite the remoteness, complex mountainous terrain, dense fog, and armed conflict that characterizes this region, over this past decade Chinese and Myanmar scientists have begun to collect quantitative data on the ecology, behavior and conservation requirements of R. strykeri. In this article, we review the existing data and present new information on the life history, ecology, and population size of R. strykeri. We discuss these data in the context of past and current conservation challenges faced by R. strykeri, and propose a series of both short-term and long-term management actions to ensure the survival of this Critically Endangered primate species. Specifically, we recommend that the governments and stakeholders in China and Myanmar formulate a transboundary conservation agreement that includes a consensus on bilateral exchange mechanisms, scientific research and monitoring goals, local community development, cooperation to prevent the hunting of endangered species and cross-border forest fires. These actions will contribute to the long-term conservation and survival of this Critically Endangered species.

The Ayeyarwady River, Myanmar, is exceptionally important for waterbirds and other riverine species. Results from mid-winter boat-based surveys in 2017-2019 demonstrated the high conservation value of the river's avifauna. We recorded a total of 83 waterbird species and 18 species listed as Globally Threatened (7) or Near Threatened (11) under IUCN criteria, 16 of which were waterbirds. Counts of many waterbird species were in numbers high enough for the designation of seven river sections as Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The middle reaches of the Ayeyarwady River between Myitkyina and Bagan hosted more than 40,000 waterbirds in 2019, qualifying this stretch for Ramsar designation under Criterion 5. However, these numbers were already considerably reduced compared to those regularly observed in similar surveys between 2000 and 2007. Species present in this earlier period, such as Masked Finfoot Heliopais personatus, Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis and Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus, were not recorded during the more recent surveys, and appear to have declined or disappeared. The waterbird species with the highest counts were Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea, Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis and Little Pratincole Glareola lactea, but counts of the shelduck and the pratincole have declined in recent years. Some nesting species, such as the Globally Threatened Black-bellied Tern Sterna acuticauda and River Tern S. aurantia, appear to be on the brink of extinction on this river, and Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis may have already been lost as a breeder. The river is subject to a wide range of increasing pressures from a growing human population, including agriculture, gold mining, sand and pebble abstraction and poaching, and high levels of disturbance associated with these activities, contributing to apparent declines of several species. Recommendations for urgent conservation action include the designation of Ramsar sites, and establishment of community-based conservation areas.

Trachypithecus, which currently contains 20 species divided into four groups, is the most speciose and geographically dispersed genus among Asian colobines. Despite several morphological and molecular studies, however, its evolutionary history and phylogeography remain poorly understood. Phayre’s langur (Trachypithecus phayrei) is one of the most widespread members of the genus, but details on its actual distribution and intraspecific taxonomy are limited and controversial. Thus, to elucidate the evolutionary history of Trachypithecus and to clarify the intraspecific taxonomy and distribution of T. phayrei, we sequenced 41 mitochondrial genomes from georeferenced fecal samples and museum specimens, including two holotypes. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a robustly supported phylogeny of Trachypithecus, suggesting that the T. pileatus group branched first, followed by the T. francoisi group, and the T. cristatus and T. obscurus groups most recently. The four species groups diverged from each other 4.5–3.1 million years ago (Ma), while speciation events within these groups occurred much more recently (1.6–0.3 Ma). Within T. phayrei, we found three clades that diverged 1.0–0.9 Ma, indicating the existence of three rather than two taxa. Following the phylogenetic species concept and based on genetic, morphological, and ecological differences, we elevate the T. phayrei subspecies to species level, describe a new species from central Myanmar, and refine the distribution of the three taxa. Overall, our study highlights the importance of museum specimens and provides new insights not only into the evolutionary history of T. phayrei but the entire Trachypithecus genus as well.

Difficult to study species that inhabit inaccessible terrain, present significant challenges in obtaining accurate ecological, distributional, and conservation information. To address these challenges, we used an effective set of time- and cost-efficient methods including interview-based surveys assisted by Google earth 3D maps to document the distributional range of 32 native animal taxa in the biodiverse but difficult to access Gaoligong Mountains (GLGMS), located on the northern Sino-Myanmar Border. Five threatened flagship species, including the black snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri), the Skywalker hoolock gibbon (Hoolock tianxing), Shortridge's langur (Trachypithecus shortridgei), Sclater's monal (Lophophorus sclateri) and the Mishmi takin (Budorcas taxicolor) were selected for intensive surveys and used as surrogate taxa to study community biodiversity. Field surveys of each species were conducted to determine their presence/absence and to confirm the reliability of species distribution data obtained from interview-based surveys. Multicriteria Decision Analyses were used along with data on habitat suitability (MAXENT) to prioritize transboundary conservation areas. Our results indicate that approximately 83.4% (10,398.7 km(2)) of the remaining habitat with high biodiversity conservation value in the GLGMs is unprotected. This includes six large zones located along the northern Sino-Myanmar border, separated by rivers and human settlements. These areas should be designated as a transboundary World Nature Heritage Site, national parks, or wildlife sanctuaries. This study presents a reliable, rapid and integrative method for developing informed policies for conservation prioritization in data poor areas, which can be applied successfully to assess conservation priorities in other mountainous regions where obtaining data on biodiversity is difficult. (c) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions.

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Abstract The unprecedented political and economic reforms taking place in Myanmar offer new opportunities for biodiversity conservation. They also bring new challenges in the form of rapidly growing extractive industry and agriculture sectors that have been weakly regulated and are often unsustainable. The Endangered hog deer Axis porcinus epitomizes many of these conservation challenges, and those facing most deer species in the Indo–Burma hotspot. The hog deer has disappeared from large parts of its range as a result of overhunting and intense conversion of its floodplain grassland habitat for agriculture. We report on a population of hog deer that was discovered in the Indawgyi landscape in central Myanmar in 2012. We conducted the first rigorous assessment of a hog deer population in Myanmar using an occupancy sampling protocol, tested the protocol's robustness using a power analysis, and present the results to guide management intervention. The results from our study site revealed widespread occurrence of the species, with high precision. The population map was then used to inform the development of a conservation management zone within a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve around Indawgyi Lake. The importance of this population for the status of the hog deer in Myanmar remains unknown because documentation of the species has been sparse. Our survey protocol could make a significant contribution to addressing this knowledge gap and setting an informed agenda for conservation of the hog deer both nationally and more widely across the Indo-Burma hotspot.

Odd-nosed monkeys represent one of the two major groups of Asian colobines. Our knowledge about this primate group is still limited as it is highlighted by the recent discovery of a new species in Northern Myanmar. Although a common origin of the group is now widely accepted, the phylogenetic relationships among its genera and species, and the biogeographic processes leading to their current distribution are largely unknown. To address these issues, we have analyzed complete mitochondrial genomes and 12 nuclear loci, including one X chromosomal, six Y chromosomal and five autosomal loci, from all ten odd-nosed monkey species. The gene tree topologies and divergence age estimates derived from different markers were highly similar, but differed in placing various species or haplogroups within the genera Rhinopithecus and Pygathrix. Based on our data, Rhinopithecus represent the most basal lineage, and Nasalis and Simias form closely related sister taxa, suggesting a Northern origin of odd-nosed monkeys and a later invasion into Indochina and Sundaland. According to our divergence age estimates, the lineages leading to the genera Rhinopithecus, Pygathrix and Nasalis+Simias originated in the late Miocene, while differentiation events within these genera and also the split between Nasalis and Simias occurred in the Pleistocene. Observed gene tree discordances between mitochondrial and nuclear datasets, and paraphylies in the mitochondrial dataset for some species of the genera Rhinopithecus and Pygathrix suggest secondary gene flow after the taxa initially diverged. Most likely such events were triggered by dramatic changes in geology and climate within the region. Overall, our study provides the most comprehensive view on odd-nosed monkey evolution and emphasizes that data from differentially inherited markers are crucial to better understand evolutionary relationships and to trace secondary gene flow.

The January 2011 issue of the American Journal of Primatology included an article published by Geissman et al. [2011] describing a new species of snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) from northeastern Myanmar. The common name proposed for this fifth Rhinopithecus species was the Burmese snub-nosed monkey. The distribution of R. strykeri was reported to include “the mountain forests in the watershed area of the Maw River, a tributary to the N’mai Hka River, and forests across the range to the east above the village of Chichitago. The species therefore appears to be limited in distribution to a small area of the Salween–N’mai Hka divide in northeastern Kachin state and northeastern Myanmar” [Geissman et al. 2011: 102]. The total population size was estimated at approximately 300 individuals within an estimated area of some 273 km2. Here, we report the first evidence, including photographs, of a population of R. strykeri in China. On the morning of October 16, 2011, Mr. Liu Pu, a forest guard for Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve (GNNR), took photos of members of a group of snubnosed monkeys in a patch of evergreen broadleaf forest near Pianma (E98o37′09′′, N26o02′44′′, elevation 2,546 m), a township in Lushui County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Although Mr. Liu Pu knew that the monkey was named Meyah by local Lisu people, none of the reserve staff could provide its scientific name. Two of the photos were sent to the senior author for identification, and it was clearly identified as the black snubnosed monkey, R. strykeri. As described by Geissman et al. [2011:98], R. strykeri differs from other snub-nosed monkeys in possessing “black or blackish ventral parts, all black or blackish limbs, and a white chin beard.” It appears that it exhibits several important similarities with the Yunnan snubnosed monkey, R. bieti. Based on the suggestion of the senior author, GNNR researchers collected feces and hair from monkeys at the site and sent the material to the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) for genetic analysis. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain DNA due to the poor quality of samples. Approximately 5 months later, on March 13, 2012, a group of black snub-nosed monkeys was located at a site near Pianma (E98o37′19.18′′, N26o02′27.34′′, elevation 2,619 m) by two forest guards, Mr. Bo Sifu and Mr. San Yuehua. Following an entire day’s survey, on the afternoon of March 14, 2012, the study group was seen again by Mr. Liu Pu and Mr Bo Sifu at a nearby site (E98o38′21.77′′, N26o02′38.04′′, elevation 2,732 m). The research team took additional photographs and filmed for the first time ever black snub-nosed monkeys! They also collected fresh fecal material that was sent to KIZ for genetic analyses. All three sites where we observed black snub-nosed monkeys were located approximately 50 km to the southwest of the site originally reported by Geissmann et al. [2011]. Our finding of a population of black snub-nosed monkeys was widely celebrated in China (see the following websites):

We describe a snub-nosed monkey that is new to science from the high altitudes of northeastern Kachin state, northeastern Myanmar, the Burmese snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus strykeri sp. nov. Descriptions are based on a skin and skulls of four specimens obtained from local hunters. The new species is geographically isolated from other snub-nosed monkeys and separated from them by two major barriers--the Mekong and the Salween (Thanlwin) rivers. The species is chiefly diagnosed by its almost entirely blackish fur coloration with white fur only on ear tufts, chin beard, and perineal area, and its relatively long tail (140% of head and body length in the adult male). Preliminary surveys and interviews with hunters indicate that the new species is limited in distribution to the Maw River area, a small region of the Salween-N'mai Hka divide in northeastern Kachin state, northeastern Myanmar. The distribution area appears to cover about 270 km(2), and the species may consist of only three groups with a total population of approximately 260-330 individuals. Our data on hunting pressure suggest that the species is Critically Endangered.

4 Introduction 4 Hoolock gibbons 4 Background to the project 5 Materials and methods 7 Training 7 Field survey area 8 Interview survey methods 10 Field survey 10 Mapping and density determination 12 Results 1: Interview survey 13 Farming system 13 Livestock 13 Forest resource use 13 Other income from labour 14 Wildlife conflicts 14 Development initiatives 14 Threats to forests/ habitat 14 Threats to wildlife 15 Results 2: Field survey 16 Gibbons 16 Other mammals 18 Birds 20 Other animals 20 Conclusions 22 Acknowledgements 22 References 23 Appendices 25 Appendix 1. Hoolock Gibbon and Biodiversity Conservation project: Observation sheet 25 Appendix 2. Birds recorded during the survey 26 Appendix 3. Daily bird records during the survey 29 4 Hoolock gibbon and biodiversity survey, southern Rakhine Yoma

Currently, two species of hoolock gibbons are recognized; the western hoolock (H. hoolock) and the eastern hoolock (H. leuconedys) (Geissmann, 2007). Their respective ranges are separated by the Chindwin River (Groves, 1967, 1972). However, the boundary between the two species is uncertain in the Chindwin headwaters in northern Myanmar and possibly includes a zone of intermediates or variable population (e.g. Groves, 1967; Ngwe Lwin et al., 2011, this issue). Furthermore, it has been suggested that an undescribed new taxon of hoolock gibbons may occur in the northeastern part of India’s Arunachal Pradesh State (Das and Biswas, 2009).

The Vietnam Primate Conservation Status Review began implementation in July 1999 with the objective of collating a comprehensive data set for leaf monkeys and gibbons. The results on gibbons have recently been published (Geissmann et al., 2000). This is not only the first nation-wide status review of Vietnamese gibbons, but also the first scientific book publication on gibbons in several years. An edition in the Vietnamese language has also been published. The present text is a short summary of the most interesting findings of the status survey.