Southern pig-tailed macaque Southern pig-tailed macaque The southern pig-tailed macaque ("Macaca nemestrina"), also known as the Sundaland pigtail macaque and Sunda pig-tailed macaque, is a medium-sized macaque that lives in southern Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is known locally as the beruk. The species epithet, "nemestrina", is an adjective (derived from Latin "Nemestrinus", the god of groves) modified to agree in gender with the feminine generic name. "Macaca nemestrina" formerly included the northern pig-tailed, Pagai Island, and Siberut macaques as subspecies. All four are now considered separate species. "Macaca nemestrina" can reach a weight of 5–15 kg in large males. These monkeys are
Rhesus macaque significance because the macaque is used as an experimental model of the human immune system. In humans, the preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma (PRAME) gene family is expanded. It is actively expressed in cancers, but normally is testis-specific, possibly involved in spermatogenesis. The PRAME family has 26 members on human chromosome 1. In the macaque, it has eight, and has been very simple and stable for millions of years. The PRAME family arose in translocations in the common mouse-primate ancestor 85 million years ago, and is expanded on mouse chromosome 4. DNA microarrays are used in macaque research. For example,