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Vitek NS, Hoeflich JC, Magallanes I, Moran SM, Narducci RE, Perez VJ, Pirlo J, Riegler MS, Selba MC, Vallejo-Pareja MC, Ziegler MJ, Granatosky MC, Hulbert RC, Bloch JI. An extinct north American porcupine with a South American tail. Curr Biol 2024; 34:2712-2718.e3. [PMID: 38806055 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.069] [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: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024]
Abstract
New World porcupines (Erethizontinae) originated in South America and dispersed into North America as part of the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) 3-4 million years ago.1 Extant prehensile-tailed porcupines (Coendou) today live in tropical forests of Central and South America.2,3 In contrast, North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) are thought to be ecologically adapted to higher-latitude temperate forests, with a larger body, shorter tail, and diet that includes bark.4,5,6,7 Limited fossils8,9,10,11,12,13 have hindered our understanding of the timing of this ecological differentiation relative to intercontinental dispersal during the GABI and expansion into temperate habitats.14,15,16,17,18 Here, we describe functionally important features of the skeleton of the extinct Erethizon poyeri, the oldest nearly complete porcupine skeleton documented from North America, found in the early Pleistocene of Florida. It differs from extant E. dorsatum in having a long, prehensile tail, grasping foot, and lacking dental specializations for bark gnawing, similar to tropical Coendou. Results from phylogenetic analysis suggest that the more arboreal characteristics found in E. poyeri are ancestral for erethizontines. Only after it expanded into temperate, Nearctic habitats did Erethizon acquire the characteristic features that it is known for today. When combined with molecular estimates of divergence times, results suggest that Erethizon was ecologically similar to a larger species of Coendou when it crossed the Isthmus of Panama by the early Pleistocene. It is likely that the range of this more tropically adapted form was limited to a continuous forested biome that extended from South America through the Gulf Coast.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natasha S Vitek
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Department of Ecology & Evolution, Life Sciences Building, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245, USA.
| | - Jennifer C Hoeflich
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Isaac Magallanes
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, E. 57(th) Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Sean M Moran
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, W. Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601, USA
| | - Rachel E Narducci
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA
| | - Victor J Perez
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Environmental Studies Department, St. Mary's College of Maryland, College Drive, St. Mary's City, MD 20686, USA
| | - Jeanette Pirlo
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Stanislaus, Naraghi Hall of Science, Turlock, CA 95382, USA
| | - Mitchell S Riegler
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA
| | - Molly C Selba
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Department of Physical Therapy, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Richard Hazel Hall, Princess Anne, MD 21853, USA
| | - María C Vallejo-Pareja
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Department of Biology, University of Florida, Bartram Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Michael J Ziegler
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; Department of Archaeology, Max Plank Institute of Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Strasse, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Michael C Granatosky
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA; College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, N. Boulevard, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA; Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA
| | - Richard C Hulbert
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA
| | - Jonathan I Bloch
- Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 36211, USA
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Mora JM, Ruedas LA. Updated list of the mammals of Costa Rica, with notes on recent taxonomic changes. Zootaxa 2023; 5357:451-501. [PMID: 38220635 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5357.4.1] [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: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
Although Costa Rica occupies a mere 0.03% of the Earths land area, it nevertheless has recorded within its borders approximately 5% of the global diversity of mammals, thus making it one of the worlds megadiverse countries. Over the past ten years, 22 species have been added to the countrys inventory, bringing the total number known as here documented to 271; Chiroptera account for ten of these, having grown to 124 from 114; rodents have increased by eight species, from 47 to 55, with the caveat that we include three invasive species of Muridae that have gone feral. In contrast, the number of orders has decreased by one, by Artiodactyla incorporating the former Cetacea. Notes are provided for all taxonomic novelties since the last update. Since the first taxonomic compendium of the mammals of Costa Rica in 1869, the number of known species has grown by approximately 1.22 species year-1 (R2 = 0.96). Since 1983 however, this growth rate has been 1.64 species year-1 (R2 = 0.98). Despite this strong growth, an asymptote in the number of known species has not been reached. Conservation remains a primary need: over 60% of the countrys mammal species show population trends that are decreasing (13%), unknown (37%), or not assessed (11%), based on IUCN criteria. These analyses suggest that much remains to be known regarding the number of mammal species living in Costa Rica, but also that much more remains to be done to safeguard Costa Ricas exceptional biodiversity heritage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jos Manuel Mora
- Department of Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Biology; Portland State University; Portland; Oregon 97207-0751; USA; Carrera de Gestin Ecoturstica; Sede Central; Universidad Tcnica Nacional; Alajuela; Costa Rica.
| | - Luis A Ruedas
- Department of Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Biology; Portland State University; Portland; Oregon 97207-0751; USA.
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Menezes FH, Semedo TBF, Saldanha J, Garbino GST, Fernandes-Ferreira H, Cordeiro-Estrela P, da Costa IR. Phylogenetic relationships, distribution, and conservation of Roosmalens' dwarf porcupine, Coendouroosmalenorum Voss & da Silva, 2001 (Rodentia, Erethizontidae). Zookeys 2023; 1179:139-155. [PMID: 37731537 PMCID: PMC10507447 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1179.108766] [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] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The New World porcupines of the genus Coendou comprise 16 species of arboreal nocturnal rodents. Some of these species are poorly known and have not been included in phylogenetic analyses. Based on recently collected specimens with associated tissue from the Brazilian Amazonia, we investigate the distribution and phylogenetic relationships of Roosmalens' dwarf porcupine, Coendouroosmalenorum, using an integrative approach using mitochondrial gene sequences and morphological data from new specimens and localities. Our results recovered C.roosmalenorum in the subgenus Caaporamys. However, analyses of our molecular and combined datasets produced different topologies. The new record shows the presence of C.roosmalenorum 480 km to the southeast of the Rio Madeira and 95 km away from Rio Juruena in Mato Grosso state, indicating a wider distribution in southern Amazonia than suspected. All known records of C.roosmalenorum are in the Madeira biogeographical province, to which it might be endemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Heberson Menezes
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sistemática, Uso e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências, Campus do Pici, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, 60455-760, Brazil
- Laboratório de Mamíferos, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Campus I, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Castelo Branco, João Pessoa, Paraíba, 58051-900, Brazil
| | - Thiago Borges Fernandes Semedo
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - Juliane Saldanha
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
| | - Guilherme Siniciato Terra Garbino
- Laboratório de Mastozoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso 78060-900, Brazil
| | - Hugo Fernandes-Ferreira
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sistemática, Uso e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências, Campus do Pici, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, 60455-760, Brazil
- Museu de Zoologia João Moojen, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, 36570-900, Brazil
- Laboratório de Conservação de Vertebrados Terrestres (Converte), Universidade Estadual do Ceará, Quixadá, Ceará, 63900-000, Brazil
| | - Pedro Cordeiro-Estrela
- Laboratório de Mamíferos, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Campus I, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Castelo Branco, João Pessoa, Paraíba, 58051-900, Brazil
| | - Itayguara Ribeiro da Costa
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sistemática, Uso e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências, Campus do Pici, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, 60455-760, Brazil
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