author(s)
Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai, Ha Thanh Tung, Le Thi Chau, Nguyen Thien Tao and Hoang Nghia Son

abstract
The present study was aimed to evaluate the genetic relationship of otters from Vietnam Central Highland assessed by cytochrome b gene. The results showed that there are 189 polymorphic sites in all haplotypes, representing 20.1% of the total analyzed-DNA sequence (940 bp). The phylogenic analysis revealed that the otters from Vietnam Central Highland were separated into three groups, including Aonyx cinerea (AC group) (samples LD1, LD2, LD3, LD4), Lutrogale perspicillata (LP group) (samples LD5 and LD6), and Lutra lutra (LL group) (samples LD7 and LD8). The otters from VN group 1 showed 8 variable positions (at position 102, 120, 209, 406, 588, 678, 688, and 906) comparing to Aonyx cinerea. The otters of VN group 2 showed 20 variable positions comparing to Lutrogale perspicillata. The otters from VN group 3 showed 2 variable positions (at position 72 and 993) comparing to Lutra lutra. The otters from from Vietnam Central Highland are less variable than other groups such as LL group (0.035 ± 0.005), LP group (0.001 ± 0.001), AC group (0.004 ± 0.001).