The LAVA element displays genus-specific expansion patterns. (A) The full-length composite LAVA element shares structural components with SVA. TSD, target site duplication; U, unique nonrepetitive sequence; CT, cytosine-thymine; L1ME, long interspersed nuclear element subfamily L1ME; SINE-R, short interspersed nuclear element subfamily R. (B) Representative species of the four extant gibbon genera shown along with our WGS sample sizes below each photo. (C) The number of LAVA insertion loci per individual varies greatly across genera. (D) Logarithmic PCA of LAVA genotypes groups individuals based on genus. PC, principal component. (E) Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of individuals, using LAVA genotype at 4,585 unfixed LAVA insertion loci, groups gibbons based on genus. In the heat map, dark gray indicates presence of LAVA, light gray indicates absence of LAVA, and white indicates missing data. Species abbreviations are as follows: Nomascus (Nomascus gabriellae [NGA]), Hylobates (Hylobates lar [HLA], Hylobates moloch [HMO], Hylobates muelleri [HMU], Hylobates pileatus [HPI]), Siamang (Siamang symphalangus [SSY]), and Hoolock (Hoolock [HLE]).