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Umbrello LS, Cooper NK, Adams M, Travouillon KJ, Baker AM, Westerman M, Aplin KP. Hiding in plain sight: two new species of diminutive marsupial (Dasyuridae: Planigale) from the Pilbara, Australia. Zootaxa 2023; 5330:1-46. [PMID: 38220885 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5330.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
Many of Australias smaller marsupial species have been taxonomically described in just the past 50 years, and the Dasyuridae, a speciose family of carnivores, is known to harbour many cryptic taxa. Evidence from molecular studies is being increasingly utilised to help revise species boundaries and focus taxonomic efforts, and research over the past two decades has identified several undescribed genetic lineages within the dasyurid genus Planigale. Here, we describe two new species, Planigale kendricki sp. nov. (formerly known as Planigale 1) and P. tealei sp. nov. (formerly known as Planigale sp. Mt Tom Price). The two new species have broadly overlapping distributions in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The new species are genetically distinct from each other and from all other members of the genus, at both mitochondrial and nuclear loci, and morphologically, in both external and craniodental characters. The new species are found in regional sympatry within the Pilbara but occupy different habitat types at local scales. This work makes a start at resolving the cryptic diversity within Planigale at a time when small mammals are continuing to decline throughout Australia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linette S Umbrello
- School of Biology and Environmental Science; Queensland University of Technology; 2 George Street; Brisbane; QLD 4001; Australia; Collections and Research; Western Australian Museum; Locked Bag 49; Welshpool; WA 6986; Australia.
| | - Norah K Cooper
- Collections and Research; Western Australian Museum; Locked Bag 49; Welshpool; WA 6986; Australia.
| | - Mark Adams
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Adelaide; Adelaide; SA 5000; Australia.; Evolutionary Biology Unit; South Australian Museum; Adelaide; SA 5000; Australia.
| | - Kenny J Travouillon
- Collections and Research; Western Australian Museum; Locked Bag 49; Welshpool; WA 6986; Australia.
| | - Andrew M Baker
- School of Biology and Environmental Science; Queensland University of Technology; 2 George Street; Brisbane; QLD 4001; Australia; Biodiversity and Geosciences Program; Queensland Museum; South Brisbane; QLD 4101; Australia.
| | - Mike Westerman
- Department of Environment and Genetics; La Trobe University; Bundoora; VIC 3086; Australia.
| | - Ken P Aplin
- Collections and Research; Western Australian Museum; Locked Bag 49; Welshpool; WA 6986; Australia; Australian Museum Research Institute; Australian Museum; 1 William Street; Sydney; NSW 2010; Australia.
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Weisbecker V, Beck RMD, Guillerme T, Harrington AR, Lange-Hodgson L, Lee MSY, Mardon K, Phillips MJ. Multiple modes of inference reveal less phylogenetic signal in marsupial basicranial shape compared with the rest of the cranium. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220085. [PMID: 37183893 PMCID: PMC10184248 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/17/2022] [Indexed: 05/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Incorporating morphological data into modern phylogenies allows integration of fossil evidence, facilitating divergence dating and macroevolutionary inferences. Improvements in the phylogenetic utility of morphological data have been sought via Procrustes-based geometric morphometrics (GMM), but with mixed success and little clarity over what anatomical areas are most suitable. Here, we assess GMM-based phylogenetic reconstructions in a heavily sampled source of discrete characters for mammalian phylogenetics-the basicranium-in 57 species of marsupial mammals, compared with the remainder of the cranium. We show less phylogenetic signal in the basicranium compared with a 'Rest of Cranium' partition, using diverse metrics of phylogenetic signal (Kmult, phylogenetically aligned principal components analysis, comparisons of UPGMA/neighbour-joining/parsimony trees and cophenetic distances to a reference phylogeny) for scaled, Procrustes-aligned landmarks and allometry-corrected residuals. Surprisingly, a similar pattern emerged from parsimony-based analyses of discrete cranial characters. The consistent results across methods suggest that easily computed metrics such as Kmult can provide good guidance on phylogenetic information in a landmarking configuration. In addition, GMM data may be less informative for intricate but conservative anatomical regions such as the basicranium, while better-but not necessarily novel-phylogenetic information can be expected for broadly characterized shapes such as entire bones. This article is part of the theme issue 'The mammalian skull: development, structure and function'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vera Weisbecker
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia 5042, Australia
| | - Robin M. D. Beck
- School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK
| | - Thomas Guillerme
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | | | - Leonie Lange-Hodgson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia
| | - Michael S. Y. Lee
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia 5042, Australia
- Earth Sciences Section, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000 Australia
| | - Karine Mardon
- Centre of Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia
| | - Matthew J. Phillips
- School of Biology & Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4000, Australia
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Viacava P, Blomberg SP, Weisbecker V. The relative performance of geometric morphometrics and linear‐based methods in the taxonomic resolution of a mammalian species complex. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9698. [PMID: 37006891 PMCID: PMC10049884 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2022] [Revised: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Morphology-based taxonomic research frequently applies linear morphometrics (LMM) in skulls to quantify species distinctions. The choice of which measurements to collect generally relies on the expertise of the investigators or a set of standard measurements, but this practice may ignore less obvious or common discriminatory characteristics. In addition, taxonomic analyses often ignore the potential for subgroups of an otherwise cohesive population to differ in shape purely due to size differences (or allometry). Geometric morphometrics (GMM) is more complicated as an acquisition technique but can offer a more holistic characterization of shape and provides a rigorous toolkit for accounting for allometry. In this study, we used linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to assess the discriminatory performance of four published LMM protocols and a 3D GMM dataset for three clades of antechinus known to differ subtly in shape. We assessed discrimination of raw data (which are frequently used by taxonomists); data with isometry (i.e., overall size) removed; and data after allometric correction (i.e., with nonuniform effects of size removed). When we visualized the principal component analysis (PCA) plots, we found that group discrimination among raw data was high for LMM. However, LMM datasets may inflate PC variance accounted in the first two PCs, relative to GMM. GMM discriminated groups better after isometry and allometry were removed in both PCA and LDA. Although LMM can be a powerful tool to discriminate taxonomic groups, we show that there is substantial risk that this discrimination comes from variation in size, rather than shape. This suggests that taxonomic measurement protocols might benefit from GMM-based pilot studies, because this offers the option of differentiating allometric and nonallometric shape differences between species, which can then inform on the development of the easier-to-apply LMM protocols.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pietro Viacava
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of QueenslandSt LuciaQLDAustralia
- College of Science and EngineeringFlinders UniversityAdelaideSAAustralia
- Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and HeritageAustralian Research CouncilCanberraACTAustralia
- Australian National Wildlife CollectionCSIRO National Research Collections AustraliaCanberraACTAustralia
| | - Simone P. Blomberg
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of QueenslandSt LuciaQLDAustralia
| | - Vera Weisbecker
- College of Science and EngineeringFlinders UniversityAdelaideSAAustralia
- Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and HeritageAustralian Research CouncilCanberraACTAustralia
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Mein E, Manne T, Veth P, Weisbecker V. Morphometric classification of kangaroo bones reveals paleoecological change in northwest Australia during the terminal Pleistocene. Sci Rep 2022; 12:18245. [PMID: 36309545 PMCID: PMC9617867 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-21021-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Specimen identification is the backbone of archeozoological research. The challenge of differentiating postcranial skeletal elements of closely related wild animals in biodiverse regions can prove a barrier to understanding past human foraging behaviours. Morphometrics are increasingly being employed to classify paleozoological animal remains, however, the potential of these methods to discriminate between wild animal groups has yet to be fully realised. Here we demonstrate the applicability of a traditional morphometric approach to taxonomically classify foot and ankle bones of kangaroos, a large and highly diverse marsupial family. Using multiple discriminant analysis, we classify archaeological specimens from Boodie Cave, in northwest Australia and identify the presence of two locally extinct macropod species during the terminal Pleistocene. The appearance of the banded hare-wallaby and northern nail-tail wallaby in the Pilbara region at this time provides independent evidence of the ecological and human responses to a changing climate at the end of the last Ice Age. Traditional morphometrics provides an accessible, inexpensive, and non-destructive tool for paleozoological specimen classification and has substantial potential for applications to other diverse wild faunas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin Mein
- grid.1003.20000 0000 9320 7537School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
| | - Tiina Manne
- grid.1003.20000 0000 9320 7537School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia ,grid.1007.60000 0004 0486 528XAustralian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia ,Max Plank Institute for Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Peter Veth
- grid.1007.60000 0004 0486 528XAustralian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia ,grid.1012.20000 0004 1936 7910School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia
| | - Vera Weisbecker
- grid.1007.60000 0004 0486 528XAustralian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia ,grid.1014.40000 0004 0367 2697College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia
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