Genomic and morphometric evidence for Austronesian-mediated pig translocation in the Pacific

Stanton, David W G; Manin, Aurelie; Evin, Allowen; Tabbada, Kristina; Linderholm, Anna; Drinkwater, Rosie; Thalmann, Olaf; Ng'ang'a, Said I; Amano, Noel; Anderson, Atholl; Barnett, Ross; Barrière, Patrick; Bedford, Stuart; Bellwood, Peter; Brumm, Adam; Cao Tien, Trung; Clark, Geoffrey; Crooijmans, Richard; Cucchi, Thomas; Eusebio, Michelle S

Genomic and morphometric evidence for Austronesian-mediated pig translocation in the Pacific

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Stanton, David W G

Manin, Aurelie

Evin, Allowen

Tabbada, Kristina

Linderholm, Anna

Drinkwater, Rosie

Thalmann, Olaf

Ng'ang'a, Said I

Amano, Noel

Anderson, Atholl

Barnett, Ross

Barrière, Patrick

Bedford, Stuart

Bellwood, Peter

Brumm, Adam

Cao Tien, Trung

Clark, Geoffrey

Crooijmans, Richard

Cucchi, Thomas

Eusebio, Michelle S

Girdland-Flink, Linus

Galbusera, Peter

Groenen, Martien

Hakim, Budianto

Hawkins, Stuart

Heiniger, Holly

Helgen, Kristofer M

Herrera, Michael J

Bolunia, Mary Jane Louise A

Dizon, Eusebio Z

Hung, Hsiao-chun

Greig, Karen

Hunt, Terry

Kitchener, Andrew C

ORCID

Lee, Carol

Macdonald, Alastair A

Megens, Hendrik-Jan

Meijaard, Erik

Mitchell, Kieren J

Moran, Christopher

Mudar, Karen

Nidup, Karma

Oxenham, Marc

Pem, Rinzin

Piper, Philip J

Scarsbrook, Lachie

Schachtschneider, Kyle

Schook, Lawrence

Silva, Pradeepa

Spriggs, Matthew

Turvey, Samuel T

Vià°arsdà³ttir, Una S

Cox, Murray P

Denham, Tim

Gongora, Jaime

Dobney, Keith

Larson, Greger

Frantz, Laurent

Date published

January 1, 2026

Abstract

Several millennia of human-mediated translocation of non-native pig species (genus Sus) to the islands of Wallacea and Oceania have considerably altered local ecosystems. To investigate the timing and trajectory of these introductions, we conducted both genomic analyses of 576 pig nuclear genomes and a geometric morphometric analysis of 708 modern and ancient dental remains. Our analyses demonstrate that free-living and domestic pigs in Wallacea and Oceania have diverse ancestries resulting from the introduction of multiple sequential pig populations followed by gene flow. Despite the variability in their genomic ancestry, these pigs all have a distinct tooth morphology as well as a genetic link to the Chinese domestic pig populations that accompanied the dispersal of Austronesian language speakers ~4000 to 3000 years ago via Taiwan and the Philippines.