A Phylogeny of Gibbons (Hylobates spp.) Based on Morphological and Behavioural Characters

Abstract

A new estimate of the phylogenetic relationships among the nine gibbon taxa is presented, based on a compatibility analysis of 55 morphological and behavioural characters. The phylogeny presented here differs somewhat from those of other studies, but there appears to be a basic consensus that: the siamang and concolor gibbons represent the earliest forms to speciate; the agile, lar, moloch, Müller’s, and pileated gibbons represent the lates forms to speciate; with the Kloss and hoolock gibbons representing intermediate forms. Although the hypotheses regarding the evolutionary direction of these characters remain subjective due to the lack of gibbons in the fossil record, the method used is totally objective in its approach and is repeatable when further data become available.