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Fostowicz-Frelik Ł, Cox PG, Li Q. Mandibular characteristics of early Glires (Mammalia) reveal mixed rodent and lagomorph morphotypes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220087. [PMID: 37183896 PMCID: PMC10184241 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Glires (rodents, lagomorphs and their fossil kin) is the most speciose and arguably most diversified clade of living placentals. Different lineages within the Glires evolved basically opposite chewing movements: a mostly transversal power stroke in lagomorphs, and a mostly proal power stroke in rodents, but the ancestral condition for Glires is still unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we studied the mandibles of Chinese Palaeocene Glires representing the duplicidentate (lagomorph-like; Mimotona) and simplicidentate (rodent-like; Eomylus and Heomys) lineages. To assess the mechanical resistance of mandibles to bending and torsion, we calculated the section modulus. The dentaries differ greatly in morphology and the region where the maximum grinding force was likely applied. The early Palaeocene Mimotona lii and the middle Palaeocene Mimotona robusta and Heomys orientalis all show a pattern of increasing strength moving posteriorly along the mandible, similar to sciurids and the mountain beaver. By contrast, the late Palaeocene Eomylus sp. mandible was strongest in the m1 region, a pattern seen in lagomorphs and the stem placental Zofialestes. Our results indicate the early diversification of mandible structure of Glires, demonstrate a mixture of duplicidentate and simplicidentate characters among the basal Glires and suggest an early occurrence of a lagomorph-like morphotype. This article is part of the theme issue 'The mammalian skull: development, structure and function'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Łucja Fostowicz-Frelik
- Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Philip G. Cox
- Centre for Integrative Anatomy, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Qian Li
- Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, People's Republic of China
- Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, People's Republic of China
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2
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Kuderna LFK, Gao H, Janiak MC, Kuhlwilm M, Orkin JD, Bataillon T, Manu S, Valenzuela A, Bergman J, Rousselle M, Silva FE, Agueda L, Blanc J, Gut M, de Vries D, Goodhead I, Harris RA, Raveendran M, Jensen A, Chuma IS, Horvath JE, Hvilsom C, Juan D, Frandsen P, Schraiber JG, de Melo FR, Bertuol F, Byrne H, Sampaio I, Farias I, Valsecchi J, Messias M, da Silva MNF, Trivedi M, Rossi R, Hrbek T, Andriaholinirina N, Rabarivola CJ, Zaramody A, Jolly CJ, Phillips-Conroy J, Wilkerson G, Abee C, Simmons JH, Fernandez-Duque E, Kanthaswamy S, Shiferaw F, Wu D, Zhou L, Shao Y, Zhang G, Keyyu JD, Knauf S, Le MD, Lizano E, Merker S, Navarro A, Nadler T, Khor CC, Lee J, Tan P, Lim WK, Kitchener AC, Zinner D, Gut I, Melin AD, Guschanski K, Schierup MH, Beck RMD, Umapathy G, Roos C, Boubli JP, Rogers J, Farh KKH, Marques Bonet T. A global catalog of whole-genome diversity from 233 primate species. Science 2023; 380:906-913. [PMID: 37262161 DOI: 10.1126/science.abn7829] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 44.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The rich diversity of morphology and behavior displayed across primate species provides an informative context in which to study the impact of genomic diversity on fundamental biological processes. Analysis of that diversity provides insight into long-standing questions in evolutionary and conservation biology and is urgent given severe threats these species are facing. Here, we present high-coverage whole-genome data from 233 primate species representing 86% of genera and all 16 families. This dataset was used, together with fossil calibration, to create a nuclear DNA phylogeny and to reassess evolutionary divergence times among primate clades. We found within-species genetic diversity across families and geographic regions to be associated with climate and sociality, but not with extinction risk. Furthermore, mutation rates differ across species, potentially influenced by effective population sizes. Lastly, we identified extensive recurrence of missense mutations previously thought to be human specific. This study will open a wide range of research avenues for future primate genomic research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas F K Kuderna
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- Illumina Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Illumina Inc., Foster City, CA 94404, USA
| | - Hong Gao
- Illumina Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Illumina Inc., Foster City, CA 94404, USA
| | - Mareike C Janiak
- School of Science, Engineering & Environment, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK
| | - Martin Kuhlwilm
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
- Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Joseph D Orkin
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- Département d'anthropologie, Université de Montréal, 3150 Jean-Brillant, Montréal, QC H3T 1N8, Canada
| | - Thomas Bataillon
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Shivakumara Manu
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
- Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 500007, India
| | - Alejandro Valenzuela
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Juraj Bergman
- Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | | | - Felipe Ennes Silva
- Research Group on Primate Biology and Conservation, Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, Estrada da Bexiga 2584, CEP 69553-225, Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology (EBE), Département de Biologie des Organismes, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Av. Franklin D. Roosevelt 50, CP 160/12, B-1050 Brussels Belgium
| | - Lidia Agueda
- CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri I Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Julie Blanc
- CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri I Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marta Gut
- CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri I Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Dorien de Vries
- School of Science, Engineering & Environment, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK
| | - Ian Goodhead
- School of Science, Engineering & Environment, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK
| | - R Alan Harris
- Human Genome Sequencing Center and Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Muthuswamy Raveendran
- Human Genome Sequencing Center and Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Axel Jensen
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Julie E Horvath
- North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC 27601, USA
- Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
- Renaissance Computing Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | | | - David Juan
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Joshua G Schraiber
- Illumina Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Illumina Inc., Foster City, CA 94404, USA
| | | | - Fabrício Bertuol
- Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Departamento de Genética, Laboratório de Evolução e Genética Animal (LEGAL), Manaus, Amazonas 69080-900, Brazil
| | - Hazel Byrne
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. UT 84102, USA
| | | | - Izeni Farias
- Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Departamento de Genética, Laboratório de Evolução e Genética Animal (LEGAL), Manaus, Amazonas 69080-900, Brazil
| | - João Valsecchi
- Research Group on Terrestrial Vertebrate Ecology, Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil
- Rede de Pesquisa para Estudos sobre Diversidade, Conservação e Uso da Fauna na Amazônia - RedeFauna, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Comunidad de Manejo de Fauna Silvestre en la Amazonía y en Latinoamérica - ComFauna, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru
| | - Malu Messias
- Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil
| | | | - Mihir Trivedi
- Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 500007, India
| | - Rogerio Rossi
- Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil
| | - Tomas Hrbek
- Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Departamento de Genética, Laboratório de Evolução e Genética Animal (LEGAL), Manaus, Amazonas 69080-900, Brazil
- Department of Biology, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212, USA
| | - Nicole Andriaholinirina
- Life Sciences and Environment, Technology and Environment of Mahajanga, University of Mahajanga, Mahajanga, Madagascar
| | - Clément J Rabarivola
- Life Sciences and Environment, Technology and Environment of Mahajanga, University of Mahajanga, Mahajanga, Madagascar
| | - Alphonse Zaramody
- Life Sciences and Environment, Technology and Environment of Mahajanga, University of Mahajanga, Mahajanga, Madagascar
| | - Clifford J Jolly
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Jane Phillips-Conroy
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Gregory Wilkerson
- Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop TX 78602, USA
| | - Christian Abee
- Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop TX 78602, USA
| | - Joe H Simmons
- Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop TX 78602, USA
| | | | - Sree Kanthaswamy
- School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
| | - Fekadu Shiferaw
- Guinea Worm Eradication Program, The Carter Center Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Dongdong Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China
| | - Long Zhou
- Center for Evolutionary and Organismal Biology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Yong Shao
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China
| | - Guojie Zhang
- Center for Evolutionary and Organismal Biology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Villum Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China
- Liangzhu Laboratory, Zhejiang University Medical Center, 1369 West Wenyi Road, Hangzhou 311121, China
- Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 1 Xueshi Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou 310006, China
| | - Julius D Keyyu
- Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Head Office, P.O. Box 661, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - Sascha Knauf
- Institute of International Animal Health/One Health, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany
| | - Minh D Le
- Department of Environmental Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Science and Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Esther Lizano
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Stefan Merker
- Department of Zoology, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Arcadi Navarro
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Pg. Luís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Av. Doctor Aiguader, N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Center, Pasqual Maragall Foundation, C. Wellington 30, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Tilo Nadler
- Cuc Phuong Commune, Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam
| | - Chiea Chuen Khor
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore
| | - Jessica Lee
- Mandai Nature, 80 Mandai Lake Road, Singapore
| | - Patrick Tan
- Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore
- SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Precision Medicine (PRISM), Singapore
- Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
| | - Weng Khong Lim
- SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Precision Medicine (PRISM), Singapore
- Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
- SingHealth Duke-NUS Genomic Medicine Centre, Singapore
| | - Andrew C Kitchener
- Department of Natural Sciences, National Museums Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK, and School of Geosciences, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK
| | - Dietmar Zinner
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, Germany Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Department of Primate Cognition, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Ivo Gut
- CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri I Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Amanda D Melin
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, HMRB 202, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, HMRB 202, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
| | - Katerina Guschanski
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | | | - Robin M D Beck
- School of Science, Engineering & Environment, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK
| | - Govindhaswamy Umapathy
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
- Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 500007, India
| | - Christian Roos
- Gene Bank of Primates and Primate Genetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Jean P Boubli
- School of Science, Engineering & Environment, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK
| | - Jeffrey Rogers
- Human Genome Sequencing Center and Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Kyle Kai-How Farh
- Illumina Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Illumina Inc., Foster City, CA 94404, USA
| | - Tomas Marques Bonet
- IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. PRBB, C. Doctor Aiguader N88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri I Reixac 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Pg. Luís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
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Samuels JX, Calede JJM, Hunt, Jr. RM. The earliest dipodomyine heteromyid in North America and the phylogenetic relationships of geomorph rodents. PeerJ 2023; 11:e14693. [PMID: 36915658 PMCID: PMC10007967 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 03/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Dipodomyine heteromyids (kangaroo rats and mice) are a diverse group of arid-adapted ricochetal rodents of North America. Here, a new genus and species of a large dipodomyine is reported from early Miocene-aged deposits of the John Day Formation in Oregon that represents the earliest record of the subfamily. The taxon is known from a single specimen consisting of a nearly complete skull, dentary, partial pes, and caudal vertebra. The specimen is characterized by a mosaic of ancestral and highly derived cranial features of heteromyids. Specifically, the dental morphology and some cranial characteristics are similar to early heteromyids, but other aspects of morphology, including the exceptionally inflated auditory bullae, are more similar to known dipodomyines. This specimen was included in a phylogenetic analysis comprising 96 characters and the broadest sampling of living and extinct geomorph rodents of any morphological phylogenetic analysis to date. Results support the monophyly of crown-group Heteromyidae exclusive of Geomyidae and place the new taxon within Dipodomyinae. The new heteromyid is the largest known member of the family. Analyses suggest that large body size evolved several times within Heteromyidae. Overall, the morphology of the new heteromyid supports a mosaic evolution of the open-habitat adaptations that characterize kangaroo rats and mice, with the inflation of the auditory bulla appearing early in the group, and bipedality/ricochetal locomotion appearing later. We hypothesize that cooling and drying conditions in the late Oligocene and early Miocene favored adaptations for life in more open habitats, resulting in increased locomotor specialization in this lineage over time from a terrestrial ancestor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua X. Samuels
- Department of Geosciences, Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, United States of America
| | - Jonathan J.-M. Calede
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University—Marion, Marion, OH, United States of America
| | - Robert M. Hunt, Jr.
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States of America
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Zhang Z, Smith MR, Ren X. The Cambrian cirratuliform Iotuba denotes an early annelid radiation. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222014. [PMID: 36722078 PMCID: PMC9890102 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The principal animal lineages (phyla) diverged in the Cambrian, but most diversity at lower taxonomic ranks arose more gradually over the subsequent 500 Myr. Annelid worms seem to exemplify this pattern, based on molecular analyses and the fossil record: Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposits host a single, early-diverging crown-group annelid alongside a morphologically and taxonomically conservative stem group; the polychaete sub-classes diverge in the Ordovician; and many orders and families are first documented in Carboniferous Lagerstätten. Fifteen new fossils of the 'phoronid' Iotuba (=Eophoronis) chengjiangensis from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte challenge this picture. A chaetal cephalic cage surrounds a retractile head with branchial plates, affiliating Iotuba with the derived polychaete families 'Flabelligeridae' and Acrocirridae. Unless this similarity represents profound convergent evolution, this relationship would pull back the origin of the nested crown groups of Cirratuliformia, Sedentaria and Pleistoannelida by tens of millions of years-indicating a dramatic unseen origin of modern annelid diversity in the heat of the Cambrian 'explosion'.
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Affiliation(s)
- ZhiFei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments and Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, People's Republic of China
| | - Martin R. Smith
- Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Mountjoy Site, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - XinYi Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments and Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, People's Republic of China
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Calede JJM. The oldest semi-aquatic beaver in the world and a new hypothesis for the evolution of locomotion in Castoridae. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220926. [PMID: 36016911 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6154283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The North American rodent fossil record includes hundreds of species representing both an incredible taxonomic diversity and great ecological disparity. Although it is during the Oligocene that taxonomic diversity first peaks, it is not until the Miocene, almost 10 Myr later, that many ecologies, particularly locomotory ecologies, are recorded. Here, I present a new Oligocene-aged species of beaver from Montana, Microtheriomys articulaquaticus sp. nov., which represents the oldest semi-aquatic rodent in North America and the oldest amphibious beaver in the world, pushing the advent of semi-aquatic ecology in beavers by 7 Myr. I also provide morphological data supporting a terrestrial ecology for the sister taxon to Castoridae. Together with existing data, these findings lead to a new hypothesis for the evolutionary ecology of castorids whereby swimming was exapted from burrowing during the Oligocene. This evolution of semi-aquatic locomotion may have taken place in North America instead of Eurasia. It started in small beavers with gigantism achieved only much later. Indeed, body size evolution in castoroids follows a directional drift. Beavers obey Cope's rule, a selection for larger size over time that appears associated with semi-aquatic ecology and may well explain their low modern diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan J M Calede
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University at Marion, 1459 Mount Vernon Avenue, Marion, OH 43302, USA
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6
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Calede JJM. The oldest semi-aquatic beaver in the world and a new hypothesis for the evolution of locomotion in Castoridae. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220926. [PMID: 36016911 PMCID: PMC9399697 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The North American rodent fossil record includes hundreds of species representing both an incredible taxonomic diversity and great ecological disparity. Although it is during the Oligocene that taxonomic diversity first peaks, it is not until the Miocene, almost 10 Myr later, that many ecologies, particularly locomotory ecologies, are recorded. Here, I present a new Oligocene-aged species of beaver from Montana, Microtheriomys articulaquaticus sp. nov., which represents the oldest semi-aquatic rodent in North America and the oldest amphibious beaver in the world, pushing the advent of semi-aquatic ecology in beavers by 7 Myr. I also provide morphological data supporting a terrestrial ecology for the sister taxon to Castoridae. Together with existing data, these findings lead to a new hypothesis for the evolutionary ecology of castorids whereby swimming was exapted from burrowing during the Oligocene. This evolution of semi-aquatic locomotion may have taken place in North America instead of Eurasia. It started in small beavers with gigantism achieved only much later. Indeed, body size evolution in castoroids follows a directional drift. Beavers obey Cope's rule, a selection for larger size over time that appears associated with semi-aquatic ecology and may well explain their low modern diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan J. M. Calede
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University at Marion, 1459 Mount Vernon Avenue, Marion, OH 43302, USA
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7
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Vainutis KS, Voronova AN, Duscher GG, Shchelkanov EM, Shchelkanov MY. Origins, phylogenetic relationships and host-parasite interactions of Troglotrematoidea since the cretaceous. INFECTION, GENETICS AND EVOLUTION : JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2022; 101:105274. [PMID: 35337967 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2022.105274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 03/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
In the current study, we raise the issue concerning origins and historical relationships of the trematodes from the families Troglotrematidae and Paragonimidae using phylogenetic analysis and molecular-clock method for estimating evolutionary rates. For the first time we provided 28S rRNA gene fragment (1764 bp) for the type species Troglotrema acutum - zoonotic trematodes that cause cranial lesions (troglotremiasis) in mustelid and canid mammals of the Central Europe, Iberian Peninsula, and North-West Caucasus. Molecular genetic analysis revealed that T. acutum belongs to the monophyletic family Troglotrematidae sister with the family Paragonimidae. The family Troglotrematidae includes five genera: Nanophyetus, Troglotrema, Skrjabinophyetus, Nephrotrema, and Macroorchis; and the family Paragonimidae is monotypic including the only genus Paragonimus. We recover the superfamily Troglotrematoidea for these two families. Divergence of the common ancestor of the superfamily Troglotrematoidea (common troglotrematoid ancestor) likely occurred during the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era and potentially originated in the Asiatic region. The lineage of the family Troglotrematidae is much closer to the common troglotrematoid ancestor than the species of the family Paragonimidae. The radiation time of the common troglotrematoid ancestor (126 Ma, the Early Cretaceous), and formation of the families Troglotrematidae and Paragonimidae (96 Ma and 73 Ma respectively, the Late Cretaceous) corresponds to the time of settling in East Asia by many species of mammaliaforms (about 130-70 Ma).
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Affiliation(s)
- Konstantin S Vainutis
- G.P. Somov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, 1 Selskaya Street, 690087 Vladivostok, Russian Federation; Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia.
| | - Anastasia N Voronova
- G.P. Somov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, 1 Selskaya Street, 690087 Vladivostok, Russian Federation; Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia.
| | - Georg G Duscher
- Institute of Parasitology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, A-1210 Vienna, Austria; AGES-Austrian Agency for Health & Food Safety, Robert-Koch-Gasse 17, A-2340 Moedling, Austria.
| | - Egor M Shchelkanov
- Moscow Region State University, Moscow Region, Radio street, 10/1, Moscow 105005, Russia
| | - Mikhail Yu Shchelkanov
- G.P. Somov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, 1 Selskaya Street, 690087 Vladivostok, Russian Federation; Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia; Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the RAS, pr. 100-letija, 159, Vladivostok 690022, Russia.
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8
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Pugh KD. Phylogenetic analysis of Middle-Late Miocene apes. J Hum Evol 2022; 165:103140. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 12/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
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9
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Bertrand OC, Shelley SL, Williamson TE, Wible JR, Chester SGB, Flynn JJ, Holbrook LT, Lyson TR, Meng J, Miller IM, Püschel HP, Smith T, Spaulding M, Tseng ZJ, Brusatte SL. Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction. Science 2022; 376:80-85. [PMID: 35357913 DOI: 10.1126/science.abl5584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Mammals are the most encephalized vertebrates, with the largest brains relative to body size. Placental mammals have particularly enlarged brains, with expanded neocortices for sensory integration, the origins of which are unclear. We used computed tomography scans of newly discovered Paleocene fossils to show that contrary to the convention that mammal brains have steadily enlarged over time, early placentals initially decreased their relative brain sizes because body mass increased at a faster rate. Later in the Eocene, multiple crown lineages independently acquired highly encephalized brains through marked growth in sensory regions. We argue that the placental radiation initially emphasized increases in body size as extinction survivors filled vacant niches. Brains eventually became larger as ecosystems saturated and competition intensified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ornella C Bertrand
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3FE, UK
| | - Sarah L Shelley
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3FE, UK.,Section of Mammals, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | | | - John R Wible
- Section of Mammals, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Stephen G B Chester
- Department of Anthropology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY, USA.,Department of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.,New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA
| | - John J Flynn
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior subprogram, PhD Program in Biology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.,PhD Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Luke T Holbrook
- Department of Biological Sciences, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA
| | | | - Jin Meng
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ian M Miller
- Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, CO, USA.,National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Hans P Püschel
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3FE, UK
| | - Thierry Smith
- Directorate Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Michelle Spaulding
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University Northwest, Westville, IN, USA
| | - Z Jack Tseng
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Stephen L Brusatte
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland EH9 3FE, UK.,New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, NM, USA
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10
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Gupta RS, Suggett C. Conserved Signatures in Protein Sequences Reliably Demarcate Different Clades of Rodents/Glires Species and Consolidate Their Evolutionary Relationships. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13020288. [PMID: 35205335 PMCID: PMC8871558 DOI: 10.3390/genes13020288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2022] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The grandorder Glires, consisting of the orders Rodentia and Lagomorpha, encompasses a significant portion of the extant mammalian species including Rat, Mouse, Squirrel, Guinea pig and Beaver. Glires species play an important role in the ecosystem and provide valuable animal models for genetic studies and animal testing. Thus, it is important to reliably determine their evolutionary relationships and identify molecular characteristics that are specific for different species groups within the Glires. In this work, we have constructed a phylogenetic tree for >30 genome sequenced Glires species based on concatenated sequences of 25 conserved proteins. In this tree, members of different orders, suborders, and families within Glires formed strongly supported clades, and their interrelationships were also generally reliably resolved. In parallel, we conducted comparative analyses on more than 1500 protein sequences from Glires species to identify highly conserved molecular markers. These markers were comprised of conserved signature indels (CSIs) in proteins, which are specific for different Rodentia/Glires clades. Of the 41 novel CSIs identified in this work, some are specific for the entire Glires, Rodentia, or Lagomorpha clades, whereas many others reliably demarcate different family/suborder level clades of Rodentia (viz. Myomorpha, Castorimorpha, Sciuromorpha, Hystricomorpha, and Muroidea). Additionally, some of the CSIs also provide information regarding the interrelationships among Rodentia subgroups. Our analysis has also identified one CSI that is commonly shared by the Glires and Scandentia species (tree shrew), however, its evolutionary significance is unclear. Several of the identifed rodents-specific CSIs are present in conserved disease-related proteins. Thus, they provide novel molecular markers for genetic and biochemical studies on the functions of these proteins.
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11
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Farid DS, Sallam NH, Eldein AMS, Soliman ES. Cross-sectional seasonal prevalence and relative risk of ectoparasitic infestations of rodents in North Sinai, Egypt. Vet World 2021; 14:2996-3006. [PMID: 35017849 PMCID: PMC8743766 DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.2996-3006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background and Aim: Rodents are ubiquitous animals that host ectoparasites and transmit zoonotic diseases. We conducted a cross-sectional study on the seasonal variation, period prevalence (Pp), and relative risk of ectoparasitic infestations in rodents collected in North Sinai, Egypt, from September 2019 to August 2020. Materials and Methods: We captured 380 rodents during the study period. Rodents were euthanized to perform species identification, and 2930 external parasites were collected and identified using light microscopic examination with systemic keys depending on morphological characters. Results: Rattus norvegicus (brown rat), Rattus rattus frugivorus (white-bellied rat), Rattus rattus alexandrines (gray-bellied rat), and Mus musculusdomesticus (house mouse) were captured at the highest frequencies during summer (n=186), followed by spring (n=84), fall (n=71), and winter (n=39), with a higher proportion of males captured in all seasons. Analysis of the infestation Pp revealed highly significant increases (p<0.01) in ectoparasites during the winter. Temperature, humidity, and dew point were significantly (p<0.01) correlated with the numbers of captured and infested rodents. Parasitological examinations showed the higher risks of flea (Echidnophaga gallinacea, Xenopsylla cheopis, and Leptopsylla segnis) and lice (Hoplopleura hirsuta, Hoplopleura ocanthopus, Hoplopleura oenomydis, and Polyplax spinulosa) infestations during winter and mite (Laelaps nuttalli, Dermanyssus gallinae, Ornithonyssus bacoti, and Myobia musculi) infestations during summer. Conclusion: We conclude that ectoparasitic infestation prevalence and risk varies with predominating macroclimatic conditions. Strict preventive and biosecurity measures should be applied to combat rodent-related problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doaa S. Farid
- Department of Environmental Protection, Faculty of Environmental Agricultural Sciences, Arish University, Arish 45516, Egypt
| | - Nahla H. Sallam
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
| | - Ahmed M. Salah Eldein
- Department of Wildlife and Zoo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
| | - Essam S. Soliman
- Animal, Poultry, and Environmental Hygiene Division, Department of Animal Hygiene, Zoonosis, and Animal Behavior, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
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12
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Brady PL, Springer MS. The effects of fossil taxa, hypothetical predicted ancestors, and a molecular scaffold on pseudoextinction analyses of extant placental orders. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0257338. [PMID: 34534236 PMCID: PMC8448315 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Pseudoextinction analyses, which simulate extinction in extant taxa, use molecular phylogenetics to assess the accuracy of morphological phylogenetics. Previous pseudoextinction analyses have shown a failure of morphological phylogenetics to place some individual placental orders in the correct superordinal clade. Recent work suggests that the inclusion of hypothetical ancestors of extant placental clades, estimated by ancestral state reconstructions of morphological characters, may increase the accuracy of morphological phylogenetic analyses. However, these studies reconstructed direct hypothetical ancestors for each extant taxon based on a well-corroborated molecular phylogeny, which is not possible for extinct taxa that lack molecular data. It remains to be determined if pseudoextinct taxa, and by proxy extinct taxa, can be accurately placed when their immediate hypothetical ancestors are unknown. To investigate this, we employed molecular scaffolds with the largest available morphological data set for placental mammals. Each placental order was sequentially treated as pseudoextinct by exempting it from the molecular scaffold and recoding soft morphological characters as missing for all its constituent species. For each pseudoextinct data set, we omitted the pseudoextinct taxon and performed a parsimony ancestral state reconstruction to obtain hypothetical predicted ancestors. Each pseudoextinct order was then evaluated in seven parsimony analyses that employed combinations of fossil taxa, hypothetical predicted ancestors, and a molecular scaffold. In treatments that included fossils, hypothetical predicted ancestors, and a molecular scaffold, only 8 of 19 pseudoextinct placental orders (42%) retained the same interordinal placement as on the molecular scaffold. In treatments that included hypothetical predicted ancestors but not fossils or a scaffold, only four placental orders (21%) were recovered in positions that are congruent with the scaffold. These results indicate that hypothetical predicted ancestors do not increase the accuracy of pseudoextinct taxon placement when the immediate hypothetical ancestor of the taxon is unknown. Hypothetical predicted ancestors are not a panacea for morphological phylogenetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peggy L. Brady
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States of America
| | - Mark S. Springer
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States of America
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13
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Asher RJ, Smith MR. Phylogenetic Signal and Bias in Paleontology. Syst Biol 2021; 71:986-1008. [PMID: 34469583 PMCID: PMC9248965 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syab072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
An unprecedented amount of evidence now illuminates the phylogeny of living mammals and birds on the Tree of Life. We use this tree to measure phylogenetic value of data typically used in paleontology (bones and teeth) from six datasets derived from five published studies. We ask three interrelated questions: 1) Can these data adequately reconstruct known parts of the Tree of Life? 2) Is accuracy generally similar for studies using morphology, or do some morphological datasets perform better than others? 3) Does the loss of non-fossilizable data cause taxa to occur in misleadingly basal positions? Adding morphology to DNA datasets usually increases congruence of resulting topologies to the well corroborated tree, but this varies among morphological datasets. Extant taxa with a high proportion of missing morphological characters can greatly reduce phylogenetic resolution when analyzed together with fossils. Attempts to ameliorate this by deleting extant taxa missing morphology are prone to decreased accuracy due to long-branch artefacts. We find no evidence that fossilization causes extinct taxa to incorrectly appear at or near topologically basal branches. Morphology comprises the evidence held in common by living taxa and fossils, and phylogenetic analysis of fossils greatly benefits from inclusion of molecular and morphological data sampled for living taxa, whatever methods are used for phylogeny estimation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J Asher
- Department of Zoology, Downing St., University of Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - Martin R Smith
- Department of Earth Sciences, Lower Mount Joy, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
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14
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Kalthoff DC, Mörs T. Biomechanical adaptations for burrowing in the incisor enamel microstructure of Geomyidae and Heteromyidae (Rodentia: Geomyoidea). Ecol Evol 2021; 11:9447-9459. [PMID: 34306634 PMCID: PMC8293781 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The enamel microstructure of fossil and extant Geomyoidea (Geomyidae, Heteromyidae) lower incisors incorporates three- or two-layered schmelzmusters with uniserial, transverse Hunter-Schreger bands having parallel and perpendicular or exclusively perpendicular oriented interprismatic matrix. Phylogenetically, these schmelzmusters are regarded as moderately (enamel type 2) to highly derived (enamel type 3). Our analysis detected a zone of modified radial enamel close to the enamel-dentine junction. Modified radial enamel shows a strong phylogenetic signal within the clade Geomorpha as it is restricted to fossil and extant Geomyoidea and absent in Heliscomyidae, Florentiamyidae, and Eomyidae. This character dates back to at least the early Oligocene (early Arikareean, 29 Ma), where it occurs in entoptychine gophers. We contend that this specialized incisor enamel architecture developed as a biomechanical adaptation to regular burrowing activities including chisel-tooth digging and a fiber-rich diet and was probably present in the common ancestor of the clade. We regard the occurrence of modified radial enamel in lower incisors of scratch-digging Geomyidae and Heteromyidae as the retention of a plesiomorphic character that is selectively neutral. The shared occurrence of modified radial enamel is a strong, genetically anchored argument for the close phylogenetic relationship of Geomyidae and Heteromyidae on the dental microstructure level.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Thomas Mörs
- Department of PalaeobiologySwedish Museum of Natural HistoryStockholmSweden
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15
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Kraatz B, Belabbas R, Fostowicz-Frelik Ł, Ge DY, Kuznetsov AN, Lang MM, López-Torres S, Mohammadi Z, Racicot RA, Ravosa MJ, Sharp AC, Sherratt E, Silcox MT, Słowiak J, Winkler AJ, Ruf I. Lagomorpha as a Model Morphological System. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.636402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Due to their global distribution, invasive history, and unique characteristics, European rabbits are recognizable almost anywhere on our planet. Although they are members of a much larger group of living and extinct mammals [Mammalia, Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, and pikas)], the group is often characterized by several well-known genera (e.g., Oryctolagus, Sylvilagus, Lepus, and Ochotona). This representation does not capture the extraordinary diversity of behavior and form found throughout the order. Model organisms are commonly used as exemplars for biological research, but there are a limited number of model clades or lineages that have been used to study evolutionary morphology in a more explicitly comparative way. We present this review paper to show that lagomorphs are a strong system in which to study macro- and micro-scale patterns of morphological change within a clade that offers underappreciated levels of diversity. To this end, we offer a summary of the status of relevant aspects of lagomorph biology.
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16
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Ruf I, Meng J, Fostowicz-Frelik Ł. Anatomy of the Nasal and Auditory Regions of the Fossil Lagomorph Palaeolagus haydeni: Systematic and Evolutionary Implications. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.636110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Palaeolagus, a late Eocene to early Miocene North American lagomorph genus, represented by numerous and well-preserved specimens, has been long considered a basal leporid, although it is currently understood as a stem lagomorph. Based on micro-computed tomography (μCT) data and 3D reconstructions, here we present the first description of intracranial structures of the nasal and auditory regions of a complete skull of Palaeolagus haydeni from the early Oligocene of Nebraska. Although Palaeolagus haydeni shows a puzzling mixture of extant leporid and ochotonid characters, it helps to polarize and re-evaluate already known lagomorph intracranial characters based on outgroup comparison with Rodentia and Scandentia. Common derived features of Palaeolagus haydeni and extant Lagomorpha are the dendritic maxilloturbinal and the excavated nasoturbinal that contacts the lamina semicircularis. Generally, Palaeolagus haydeni and Leporidae have several characters in common, some of which are certainly plesiomorphic (e.g., thin wall of bulla tympani and flat conic cochlea). Palaeolagus haydeni resembles Leporidae in having an interturbinal between the two frontoturbinals, and three ethmoturbinals plus one interturbinal between ethmoturbinal I and II. Now, this should also be regarded as a plesiomorphic grundplan pattern for Leporidae whereas ochotonids are derived from the lagomorph grundplan as concerns the number of frontoturbinals. Concerning the middle ear, Palaeolagus haydeni significantly contributes to the polarization of the anterior anchoring of the malleus in extant lagomorphs. Palaeolagus haydeni resembles the pattern observed in early ontogenetic stages of Ochotonidae, i.e., the attachment of the malleus to the ectotympanic via a short processus anterior. The patterns in adult ochotonids and leporids now can be regarded as two different and apomorphic character states. Autapomorphic characters of Palaeolagus haydeni are the reduced frontoturbinal 2 and the additional anterolaterally oriented process of the lamina semicircularis. Interestingly, among the investigated intracranial structures the loss of the secondary crus commune is the only apomorphic grundplan character of crown Lagomorpha.
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17
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Marjanović D. The Making of Calibration Sausage Exemplified by Recalibrating the Transcriptomic Timetree of Jawed Vertebrates. Front Genet 2021; 12:521693. [PMID: 34054911 PMCID: PMC8149952 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.521693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Molecular divergence dating has the potential to overcome the incompleteness of the fossil record in inferring when cladogenetic events (splits, divergences) happened, but needs to be calibrated by the fossil record. Ideally but unrealistically, this would require practitioners to be specialists in molecular evolution, in the phylogeny and the fossil record of all sampled taxa, and in the chronostratigraphy of the sites the fossils were found in. Paleontologists have therefore tried to help by publishing compendia of recommended calibrations, and molecular biologists unfamiliar with the fossil record have made heavy use of such works (in addition to using scattered primary sources and copying from each other). Using a recent example of a large node-dated timetree inferred from molecular data, I reevaluate all 30 calibrations in detail, present the current state of knowledge on them with its various uncertainties, rerun the dating analysis, and conclude that calibration dates cannot be taken from published compendia or other secondary or tertiary sources without risking strong distortions to the results, because all such sources become outdated faster than they are published: 50 of the (primary) sources I cite to constrain calibrations were published in 2019, half of the total of 280 after mid-2016, and 90% after mid-2005. It follows that the present work cannot serve as such a compendium either; in the slightly longer term, it can only highlight known and overlooked problems. Future authors will need to solve each of these problems anew through a thorough search of the primary paleobiological and chronostratigraphic literature on each calibration date every time they infer a new timetree, and that literature is not optimized for that task, but largely has other objectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Marjanović
- Department of Evolutionary Morphology, Science Programme “Evolution and Geoprocesses”, Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolutionary and Biodiversity Research, Berlin, Germany
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18
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Mongiardino Koch N, Garwood RJ, Parry LA. Fossils improve phylogenetic analyses of morphological characters. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210044. [PMID: 33947239 PMCID: PMC8246652 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Fossils provide our only direct window into evolutionary events in the distant past. Incorporating them into phylogenetic hypotheses of living clades can help time-calibrate divergences, as well as elucidate macroevolutionary dynamics. However, the effect fossils have on phylogenetic reconstruction from morphology remains controversial. The consequences of explicitly incorporating the stratigraphic ages of fossils using tip-dated inference are also unclear. Here, we use simulations to evaluate the performance of inference methods across different levels of fossil sampling and missing data. Our results show that fossil taxa improve phylogenetic analysis of morphological datasets, even when highly fragmentary. Irrespective of inference method, fossils improve the accuracy of phylogenies and increase the number of resolved nodes. They also induce the collapse of ancient and highly uncertain relationships that tend to be incorrectly resolved when sampling only extant taxa. Furthermore, tip-dated analyses under the fossilized birth-death process outperform undated methods of inference, demonstrating that the stratigraphic ages of fossils contain vital phylogenetic information. Fossils help to extract true phylogenetic signals from morphology, an effect that is mediated by both their distinctive morphology and their temporal information, and their incorporation in total-evidence phylogenetics is necessary to faithfully reconstruct evolutionary history.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Russell J Garwood
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Earth Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Luke A Parry
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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19
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Bertrand OC, Püschel HP, Schwab JA, Silcox MT, Brusatte SL. The impact of locomotion on the brain evolution of squirrels and close relatives. Commun Biol 2021; 4:460. [PMID: 33846528 PMCID: PMC8042109 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01887-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 02/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
How do brain size and proportions relate to ecology and evolutionary history? Here, we use virtual endocasts from 38 extinct and extant rodent species spanning 50+ million years of evolution to assess the impact of locomotion, body mass, and phylogeny on the size of the brain, olfactory bulbs, petrosal lobules, and neocortex. We find that body mass and phylogeny are highly correlated with relative brain and brain component size, and that locomotion strongly influences brain, petrosal lobule, and neocortical sizes. Notably, species living in trees have greater relative overall brain, petrosal lobule, and neocortical sizes compared to other locomotor categories, especially fossorial taxa. Across millions of years of Eocene-Recent environmental change, arboreality played a major role in the early evolution of squirrels and closely related aplodontiids, promoting the expansion of the neocortex and petrosal lobules. Fossoriality in aplodontiids had an opposing effect by reducing the need for large brains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ornella C Bertrand
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
| | - Hans P Püschel
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
| | - Julia A Schwab
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
| | - Mary T Silcox
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Stephen L Brusatte
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
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20
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Wolniewicz AS, Fostowicz-Frelik Ł. CT-Informed Skull Osteology of Palaeolagus haydeni (Mammalia: Lagomorpha) and Its Bearing on the Reconstruction of the Early Lagomorph Body Plan. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.634757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Lagomorpha is a clade of herbivorous mammals nested within Euarchontoglires, one of the major placental groups represented today. It comprises two extant families with markedly different body plans: the long-eared and long-limbed Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and the short-eared and short-limbed Ochotonidae (pikas). These two lagomorph lineages diverged probably during the latest Eocene/early Oligocene, but it is unclear whether the last common ancestor of crown lagomorphs was more leporid- or more ochotonid-like in morphology. Palaeolagus, an early lagomorph dominant in western North America from the late Eocene to Oligocene is of particular importance for addressing this controversy. Here, we present new and comprehensive data on the cranial anatomy of Palaeolagus haydeni, the type species for the genus, based on micro-computed tomography (μCT). Our μCT data allow us to confirm, revise and score for the very first time the states of several leporid-like and ochotonid-like characters in the skull of Palaeolagus. This mixed cranial architecture differentiates Palaeolagus from the crown groups of Lagomorpha and supports its phylogenetic status as a stem taxon.
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21
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Bhagat R, Bertrand OC, Silcox MT. Evolution of arboreality and fossoriality in squirrels and aplodontid rodents: Insights from the semicircular canals of fossil rodents. J Anat 2021; 238:96-112. [PMID: 32812227 PMCID: PMC7754939 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 07/17/2020] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Reconstructing locomotor behaviour for fossil animals is typically done with postcranial elements. However, for species only known from cranial material, locomotor behaviour is difficult to reconstruct. The semicircular canals (SCCs) in the inner ear provide insight into an animal's locomotor agility. A relationship exists between the size of the SCCs relative to body mass and the jerkiness of an animal's locomotion. Additionally, studies have also demonstrated a relationship between SCC orthogonality and angular head velocity. Here, we employ two metrics for reconstructing locomotor agility, radius of curvature dimensions and SCC orthogonality, in a sample of twelve fossil rodents from the families Ischyromyidae, Sciuridae and Aplodontidae. The method utilizing radius of curvature dimensions provided a reconstruction of fossil rodent locomotor behaviour that is more consistent with previous studies assessing fossil rodent locomotor behaviour compared to the method based on SCC orthogonality. Previous work on ischyromyids suggests that this group displayed a variety of locomotor modes. Members of Paramyinae and Ischyromyinae have relatively smaller SCCs and are reconstructed to be relatively slower compared to members of Reithroparamyinae. Early members of the Sciuroidea clade including the sciurid Cedromus wilsoni and the aplodontid Prosciurus relictus are reconstructed to be more agile than ischyromyids, in the range of extant arboreal squirrels. This reconstruction supports previous inferences that arboreality was likely an ancestral trait for this group. Derived members of Sciuridae and Aplodontidae vary in agility scores. The fossil squirrel Protosciurus cf. rachelae is inferred from postcranial material as arboreal, which is in agreement with its high agility, in the range of extant arboreal squirrels. In contrast, the fossil aplodontid Mesogaulus paniensis has a relatively low agility score, similar to the fossorial Aplodontia rufa, the only living aplodontid rodent. This result is in agreement with its postcranial reconstruction as fossorial and with previous indications that early aplodontids were more arboreal than their burrowing descendants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raj Bhagat
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of Toronto ScarboroughTorontoONCanada
| | | | - Mary T. Silcox
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of Toronto ScarboroughTorontoONCanada
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22
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Budd GE, Mann RP. Survival and selection biases in early animal evolution and a source of systematic overestimation in molecular clocks. Interface Focus 2020; 10:20190110. [PMID: 32637066 PMCID: PMC7333906 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2019.0110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Important evolutionary events such as the Cambrian Explosion have inspired many attempts at explanation: why do they happen when they do? What shapes them, and why do they eventually come to an end? However, much less attention has been paid to the idea of a 'null hypothesis'-that certain features of such diversifications arise simply through their statistical structure. Such statistical features also appear to influence our perception of the timing of these events. Here, we show in particular that study of unusually large clades leads to systematic overestimates of clade ages from some types of molecular clocks, and that the size of this effect may be enough to account for the puzzling mismatches seen between these molecular clocks and the fossil record. Our analysis of the fossil record of the late Ediacaran to Cambrian suggests that it is likely to be recording a true evolutionary radiation of the bilaterians at this time, and that explanations involving various sorts of cryptic origins for the bilaterians do not seem to be necessary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Graham E. Budd
- Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, Uppsala 752 36, Sweden
| | - Richard P. Mann
- Department of Statistics, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
- The Alan Turing Institute, London NW1 2DB, UK
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23
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López-Torres S, Bertrand OC, Lang MM, Silcox MT, Fostowicz-Frelik Ł. Cranial endocast of the stem lagomorph Megalagus and brain structure of basal Euarchontoglires. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200665. [PMID: 32576117 PMCID: PMC7329053 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Early lagomorphs are central to our understanding of how the brain evolved in Glires (rodents, lagomorphs and their kin) from basal members of Euarchontoglires (Glires + Euarchonta, the latter grouping primates, treeshrews, and colugos). Here, we report the first virtual endocast of the fossil lagomorph Megalagus turgidus, from the Orella Member of the Brule Formation, early Oligocene, Nebraska, USA. The specimen represents one of the oldest nearly complete lagomorph skulls known. Primitive aspects of the endocranial morphology in Megalagus include large olfactory bulbs, exposure of the midbrain, a small neocortex and a relatively low encephalization quotient. Overall, this suggests a brain morphology closer to that of other basal members of Euarchontoglires (e.g. plesiadapiforms and ischyromyid rodents) than to that of living lagomorphs. However, the well-developed petrosal lobules in Megalagus, comparable to the condition in modern lagomorphs, suggest early specialization in that order for the stabilization of eye movements necessary for accurate visual tracking. Our study sheds new light on the reconstructed morphology of the ancestral brain in Euarchontoglires and fills a critical gap in the understanding of palaeoneuroanatomy of this major group of placental mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergi López-Torres
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.,Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.,New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Evolutionary Paleobiology, Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ornella C Bertrand
- School of Geosciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
| | - Madlen M Lang
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Mary T Silcox
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Łucja Fostowicz-Frelik
- Department of Evolutionary Paleobiology, Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.,Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, People's Republic of China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 100044, People's Republic of China
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24
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Koch NM, Parry LA. Death is on Our Side: Paleontological Data Drastically Modify Phylogenetic Hypotheses. Syst Biol 2020; 69:1052-1067. [DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syaa023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2020] [Revised: 03/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Fossils are the only remaining evidence of the majority of species that have ever existed, providing a direct window into events in evolutionary history that shaped the diversification of life on Earth. Phylogenies underpin our ability to make sense of evolution but are routinely inferred using only data available from living organisms. Although extinct taxa have been shown to add crucial information for inferring macroevolutionary patterns and processes (such as ancestral states, paleobiogeography and diversification dynamics), the role fossils play in reconstructing phylogeny is controversial. Since the early years of phylogenetic systematics, different studies have dismissed the impact of fossils due to their incompleteness, championed their ability to overturn phylogenetic hypotheses or concluded that their behavior is indistinguishable from that of extant taxa. Based on taxon addition experiments on empirical data matrices, we show that the inclusion of paleontological data has a remarkable effect in phylogenetic inference. Incorporating fossils often (yet not always) induces stronger topological changes than increasing sampling of extant taxa. Fossils also produce unique topological rearrangements, allowing the exploration of regions of treespace that are never visited by analyses of only extant taxa. Previous studies have proposed a suite of explanations for the topological behavior of fossils, such as their retention of unique morphologies or their ability to break long branches. We develop predictive models that demonstrate that the possession of distinctive character state combinations is the primary predictor of the degree of induced topological change, and that the relative impact of taxa (fossil and extant) can be predicted to some extent before any phylogenetic analysis. Our results bolster the consensus of recent empirical studies by showing the unique role of paleontological data in phylogenetic inference, and provide the first quantitative assessment of its determinants, with broad consequences for the design of taxon sampling in both morphological and total-evidence analyses. [phylogeny, morphology, fossils, parsimony, Bayesian inference.]
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolás Mongiardino Koch
- Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Luke A Parry
- Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
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25
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Upham NS, Esselstyn JA, Jetz W. Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution, and conservation. PLoS Biol 2019; 17:e3000494. [PMID: 31800571 PMCID: PMC6892540 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 498] [Impact Index Per Article: 99.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Accepted: 10/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Big, time-scaled phylogenies are fundamental to connecting evolutionary processes to modern biodiversity patterns. Yet inferring reliable phylogenetic trees for thousands of species involves numerous trade-offs that have limited their utility to comparative biologists. To establish a robust evolutionary timescale for all approximately 6,000 living species of mammals, we developed credible sets of trees that capture root-to-tip uncertainty in topology and divergence times. Our "backbone-and-patch" approach to tree building applies a newly assembled 31-gene supermatrix to two levels of Bayesian inference: (1) backbone relationships and ages among major lineages, using fossil node or tip dating, and (2) species-level "patch" phylogenies with nonoverlapping in-groups that each correspond to one representative lineage in the backbone. Species unsampled for DNA are either excluded ("DNA-only" trees) or imputed within taxonomic constraints using branch lengths drawn from local birth-death models ("completed" trees). Joining time-scaled patches to backbones results in species-level trees of extant Mammalia with all branches estimated under the same modeling framework, thereby facilitating rate comparisons among lineages as disparate as marsupials and placentals. We compare our phylogenetic trees to previous estimates of mammal-wide phylogeny and divergence times, finding that (1) node ages are broadly concordant among studies, and (2) recent (tip-level) rates of speciation are estimated more accurately in our study than in previous "supertree" approaches, in which unresolved nodes led to branch-length artifacts. Credible sets of mammalian phylogenetic history are now available for download at http://vertlife.org/phylosubsets, enabling investigations of long-standing questions in comparative biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan S. Upham
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
- Center for Biodiversity & Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Jacob A. Esselstyn
- Department of Biological Sciences and Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America
| | - Walter Jetz
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
- Center for Biodiversity & Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
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26
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Springer MS, Foley NM, Brady PL, Gatesy J, Murphy WJ. Evolutionary Models for the Diversification of Placental Mammals Across the KPg Boundary. Front Genet 2019; 10:1241. [PMID: 31850081 PMCID: PMC6896846 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2019] [Accepted: 11/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Deciphering the timing of the placental mammal radiation is a longstanding problem in evolutionary biology, but consensus on the tempo and mode of placental diversification remains elusive. Nevertheless, an accurate timetree is essential for understanding the role of important events in Earth history (e.g., Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution, KPg mass extinction) in promoting the taxonomic and ecomorphological diversification of Placentalia. Archibald and Deutschman described three competing models for the diversification of placental mammals, which are the Explosive, Long Fuse, and Short Fuse Models. More recently, the Soft Explosive Model and Trans-KPg Model have emerged as additional hypotheses for the placental radiation. Here, we review molecular and paleontological evidence for each of these five models including the identification of general problems that can negatively impact divergence time estimates. The Long Fuse Model has received more support from relaxed clock studies than any of the other models, but this model is not supported by morphological cladistic studies that position Cretaceous eutherians outside of crown Placentalia. At the same time, morphological cladistics has a poor track record of reconstructing higher-level relationships among the orders of placental mammals including the results of new pseudoextinction analyses that we performed on the largest available morphological data set for mammals (4,541 characters). We also examine the strengths and weaknesses of different timetree methods (node dating, tip dating, and fossilized birth-death dating) that may now be applied to estimate the timing of the placental radiation. While new methods such as tip dating are promising, they also have problems that must be addressed if these methods are to effectively discriminate among competing hypotheses for placental diversification. Finally, we discuss the complexities of timetree estimation when the signal of speciation times is impacted by incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and hybridization. Not accounting for ILS results in dates that are older than speciation events. Hybridization, in turn, can result in dates than are younger or older than speciation dates. Disregarding this potential variation in "gene" history across the genome can distort phylogenetic branch lengths and divergence estimates when multiple unlinked genomic loci are combined together in a timetree analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark S. Springer
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Nicole M. Foley
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
| | - Peggy L. Brady
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - John Gatesy
- Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, United States
| | - William J. Murphy
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
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27
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Total-Evidence Framework Reveals Complex Morphological Evolution in Nightbirds (Strisores). DIVERSITY-BASEL 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/d11090143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Strisores is a clade of neoavian birds that include diurnal aerial specialists such as swifts and hummingbirds, as well as several predominantly nocturnal lineages such as nightjars and potoos. Despite the use of genome-scale molecular datasets, the phylogenetic interrelationships among major strisorean groups remain controversial. Given the availability of next-generation sequence data for Strisores and the clade’s rich fossil record, we reassessed the phylogeny of Strisores by incorporating a large-scale sequence dataset with anatomical data from living and fossil strisoreans within a Bayesian total-evidence framework. Combined analyses of molecular and morphological data resulted in a phylogenetic topology for Strisores that is congruent with the findings of two recent molecular phylogenomic studies, supporting nightjars (Caprimulgidae) as the extant sister group of the remainder of Strisores. This total-evidence framework allowed us to identify morphological synapomorphies for strisorean clades previously recovered using molecular-only datasets. However, a combined analysis of molecular and morphological data highlighted strong signal conflict between sequence and anatomical data in Strisores. Furthermore, simultaneous analysis of molecular and morphological data recovered differing placements for some fossil taxa compared with analyses of morphological data under a molecular scaffold, highlighting the importance of analytical decisions when conducting morphological phylogenetic analyses of taxa with molecular phylogenetic data. We suggest that multiple strisorean lineages have experienced convergent evolution across the skeleton, obfuscating the phylogenetic position of certain fossils, and that many distinctive specializations of strisorean subclades were acquired early in their evolutionary history. Despite this apparent complexity in the evolutionary history of Strisores, our results provide fossil support for aerial foraging as the ancestral ecological strategy of Strisores, as implied by recent phylogenetic topologies derived from molecular data.
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28
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Asher RJ, Smith MR, Rankin A, Emry RJ. Congruence, fossils and the evolutionary tree of rodents and lagomorphs. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:190387. [PMID: 31417738 PMCID: PMC6689570 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2019] [Accepted: 06/19/2019] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Given an evolutionary process, we expect distinct categories of heritable data, sampled in ever larger amounts, to converge on a single tree of historical relationships. We tested this assertion by undertaking phylogenetic analyses of a new morphology-DNA dataset for mammals, focusing on Glires and including the oldest known skeletons of geomyoid and Ischyromys rodents. Our results support geomyoids in the mouse-related clade (Myomorpha) and a ricochetal locomotor pattern for the common ancestor of geomyoid rodents. They also support Ischyromys in the squirrel-related clade (Sciuromorpha) and the evolution of sciurids and Aplodontia from extinct, 'protrogomorph'-grade rodents. Moreover, ever larger samples of characters from our dataset increased congruence with an independent, well-corroborated tree. Addition of morphology from fossils increased congruence to a greater extent than addition of morphology from extant taxa, consistent with fossils' temporal proximity to the common ancestors of living species, reflecting the historical, phylogenetic signal present in our data, particularly in morphological characters from fossils. Our results support the widely held but poorly tested intuition that fossils resemble the common ancestors shared by living species, and that fossilizable hard tissues (i.e. bones and teeth) help to reconstruct the evolutionary tree of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J. Asher
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Martin R. Smith
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Durham, UK
| | - Aime Rankin
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Robert J. Emry
- Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
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