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Liu G, Pan Q, Dai Y, Wang X, Li M, Zhu P, Zhou X. Phylogenomics of Afrotherian mammals and improved resolution of extant Paenungulata. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2024; 195:108047. [PMID: 38460890 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108047] [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: 10/25/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/11/2024]
Abstract
Molecular investigations have gathered a diverse set of mammals-predominantly African natives like elephants, hyraxes, and aardvarks-into a clade known as Afrotheria. Nevertheless, the precise phylogenetic relationships among these species remain contentious. Here, we sourced orthologous markers and ultraconserved elements to discern the interordinal connections among Afrotherian mammals. Our phylogenetic analyses bolster the common origin of Afroinsectiphilia and Paenungulata, and propose Afrosoricida as the closer relative to Macroscelidea rather than Tubulidentata, while also challenging the notion of Sirenia and Hyracoidea as sister taxa. The approximately unbiased test and the gene concordance factor uniformly recognized the alliance of Proboscidea with Hyracoidea as the dominant topology within Paenungulata. Investigation into sites with extremly high phylogenetic signal unveiled their potential to intensify conflicts in the Paenungulata topology. Subsequent exploration suggested that incomplete lineage sorting was predominantly responsible for the observed contentious relationships, whereas introgression exerted a subsidiary influence. The divergence times estimated in our study hint at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event as a catalyst for Afrotherian diversification. Overall, our findings deliver a tentative but insightful overview of Afrotheria phylogeny and divergence, elucidating these relationships through the lens of phylogenomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaoming Liu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Qi Pan
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yichen Dai
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Xiao Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Meng Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Pingfen Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Xuming Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
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2
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Bobe R, Aldeias V, Alemseged Z, Anemone RL, Archer W, Aumaître G, Bamford MK, Biro D, Bourlès DL, Doyle Boyd M, Braun DR, Capelli C, d’Oliveira Coelho J, Habermann JM, Head JJ, Keddadouche K, Kupczik K, Lebatard AE, Lüdecke T, Macôa A, Martínez FI, Mathe J, Mendes C, Paulo LM, Pinto M, Presnyakova D, Püschel TA, Regala FT, Sier M, Ferreira da Silva MJ, Stalmans M, Carvalho S. The first Miocene fossils from coastal woodlands in the southern East African Rift. iScience 2023; 26:107644. [PMID: 37701811 PMCID: PMC10494320 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The Miocene was a key time in the evolution of African ecosystems witnessing the origin of the African apes and the isolation of eastern coastal forests through an expanding arid corridor. Until recently, however, Miocene sites from the southeastern regions of the continent were unknown. Here, we report the first Miocene fossil teeth from the shoulders of the Urema Rift in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. We provide the first 1) radiometric ages of the Mazamba Formation, 2) reconstructions of paleovegetation in the region based on pedogenic carbonates and fossil wood, and 3) descriptions of fossil teeth. Gorongosa is unique in the East African Rift in combining marine invertebrates, marine vertebrates, reptiles, terrestrial mammals, and fossil woods in coastal paleoenvironments. The Gorongosa fossil sites offer the first evidence of woodlands and forests on the coastal margins of southeastern Africa during the Miocene, and an exceptional assemblage of fossils including new species.
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Affiliation(s)
- René Bobe
- Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
| | - Vera Aldeias
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
| | - Zeresenay Alemseged
- Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Robert L. Anemone
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Anthropology, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, USA
| | - Will Archer
- Max Planck Partner Group, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
- Department of Geology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
| | | | - Marion K. Bamford
- Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Dora Biro
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK
| | | | - Melissa Doyle Boyd
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
| | - David R. Braun
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
- Technological Primate Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Cristian Capelli
- Dipartimento delle Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università di Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
| | - João d’Oliveira Coelho
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
- Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Jörg M. Habermann
- GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Jason J. Head
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | | | - Kornelius Kupczik
- Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Anne-Elisabeth Lebatard
- Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement de Géosciences de l'Environnement, CEREGE - UM 34 Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Collège de France, INRAE, OSU Institut Pythéas, Technopole Environnement Arbois - Méditerranée, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, Les Milles-Aix en Provence BP80, 13545 AIX en Provence, Cedex 04, France
| | - Tina Lüdecke
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
- Emmy Noether Group for Hominin Meat Consumption, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Amélia Macôa
- Departamento de Arqueologia e Antropologia, Faculdade de Letras e Ciências Sociais, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique
| | - Felipe I. Martínez
- Escuela de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Jacinto Mathe
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
| | - Clara Mendes
- Departamento de Arqueologia e Antropologia, Faculdade de Letras e Ciências Sociais, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique
| | - Luis Meira Paulo
- AESDA – Associação de Estudos Subterrâneos e Defesa do Ambiente, Torres Vedras, Portugal
| | - Maria Pinto
- AESDA – Associação de Estudos Subterrâneos e Defesa do Ambiente, Torres Vedras, Portugal
| | - Darya Presnyakova
- CNRS Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Thomas A. Püschel
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Division, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6LA, UK
| | - Frederico Tátá Regala
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
| | - Mark Sier
- CENIEH, 09002 Burgos, Spain
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CS, the Netherlands
| | - Maria Joana Ferreira da Silva
- 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
- ONE - Organisms and Environment Group, Cardiff University, School of Biosciences, Sir Martin Evans Building, c5:15, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
| | | | - Susana Carvalho
- Gorongosa National Park, Sofala, Mozambique
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
- Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB), Universidade do Algarve, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
- Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
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3
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Carlisle E, Janis CM, Pisani D, Donoghue PCJ, Silvestro D. A timescale for placental mammal diversification based on Bayesian modeling of the fossil record. Curr Biol 2023; 33:3073-3082.e3. [PMID: 37379845 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.016] [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: 01/27/2023] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023]
Abstract
The timing of the placental mammal radiation has been the focus of debate over the efficacy of competing methods for establishing evolutionary timescales. Molecular clock analyses estimate that placental mammals originated before the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction, anywhere from the Late Cretaceous to the Jurassic. However, the absence of definitive fossils of placentals before the K-Pg boundary is compatible with a post-Cretaceous origin. Nevertheless, lineage divergence must occur before it can be manifest phenotypically in descendent lineages. This, combined with the non-uniformity of the rock and fossil records, requires the fossil record to be interpreted rather than read literally. To achieve this, we introduce an extended Bayesian Brownian bridge model that estimates the age of origination and, where applicable, extinction through a probabilistic interpretation of the fossil record. The model estimates the origination of placentals in the Late Cretaceous, with ordinal crown groups originating at or after the K-Pg boundary. The results reduce the plausible interval for placental mammal origination to the younger range of molecular clock estimates. Our findings support both the Long Fuse and Soft Explosive models of placental mammal diversification, indicating that the placentals originated shortly prior to the K-Pg mass extinction. The origination of many modern mammal lineages overlapped with and followed the K-Pg mass extinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Carlisle
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK.
| | - Christine M Janis
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Davide Pisani
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK; Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Philip C J Donoghue
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK.
| | - Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 413 19 Gothenburg, Sweden; Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, 413 19 Gothenburg, Sweden.
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4
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Matsui K, Pyenson ND. New evidence for the antiquity of Desmostylus (Desmostylia) from the Skooner Gulch Formation of California. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:221648. [PMID: 37325600 PMCID: PMC10264998 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Desmostylus is an extinct marine mammal genus that belongs to Desmostylia, a clade of extinct herbivorous mammals. While desmostylian remains are widely reported from Paleogene and Neogene marine strata of the North Pacific Rim, occurrences of the genus Desmostylus are almost entirely limited to middle Miocene strata, with only a few early Miocene records from Japan. Here we report a Desmostylus tooth from the earliest Miocene (Aquitanian) Skooner Gulch Formation in northern California, USA. This specimen exhibits cuspules around the crown, a primitive trait of the subfamily Desmostylidae, as seen in more basal branching desmostylid taxa such as Cornwallius and Ounalashkastylus, but with a high tooth crown and thickened enamel. The specimen is also diagnostically different from all other desmostylid genera, such as Cornwallius, and Ounalashklastylus. The Aquitanian age of the Skooner Gulch Formation implies that the distinctive tooth morphology of Desmostylus has persisted, largely unchanged, for more than 15 million years and that desmostylids possibly originated in western North America.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kumiko Matsui
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Kyushu University Museum, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Nicholas D. Pyenson
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Paleontology and Geology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA, USA
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5
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Sanisidro O, Mihlbachler MC, Cantalapiedra JL. A macroevolutionary pathway to megaherbivory. Science 2023; 380:616-618. [PMID: 37167399 DOI: 10.1126/science.ade1833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Several scenarios have been proposed to explain rapid net size increases in some early Cenozoic mammalian lineages: sustained and gradual directional change, successive occupation of adaptive zones associated with progressively larger body sizes, and nondirectional evolution associated with branching events in combination with higher diversification potential of the larger lineages. We test these hypotheses in brontotheres, which are among the first radiations of mammals that consistently evolved multitonne sizes. Body-mass evolution in brontotheres mainly occurred during speciation and had no preferential direction. Long-term directional change stemmed from the higher survival of larger lineages in less-saturated herbivore guilds. Our study emphasizes the role of differential species proliferation in explaining the long-term phenotypic trends observed in the fossil record, which are more than an accumulation of steady microevolutionary changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar Sanisidro
- Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group (GloCEE), Department of Life Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - Matthew C Mihlbachler
- Department of Anatomy, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Juan L Cantalapiedra
- Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group (GloCEE), Department of Life Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
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6
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Hagemann J, Hofreiter M, Bibi F, Holroyd P, Arnold P. Is it inappropriate to ask for your age? Evaluating parameter impact on tree dating in a challenging clade (Macroscelidea). Mol Phylogenet Evol 2023; 183:107756. [PMID: 36906195 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
Sengis (order Macroscelidea) are small mammals endemic to Africa. The taxonomy and phylogeny of sengis has been difficult to resolve due to a lack of clear morphological apomorphies. Molecular phylogenies have already significantly revised sengi systematics, but until now no molecular phylogeny has included all 20 extant species. In addition, the age of origin of the sengi crown clade and the divergence age of its two extant families remain unclear. Two recently published studies based on different datasets and age-calibration parameters (DNA type, outgroup selection, fossil calibration points) proposed highly different divergent age estimates and evolutionary scenarios. We obtained nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from mainly museum specimens using target enrichment of single-stranded DNA libraries to generate the first phylogeny of all extant macroscelidean species. We then explored the effects of different parameters (type of DNA, ratio of ingroup to outgroup sampling, number and type of fossil calibration points) and their resulting impacts on age estimates for the origin and initial diversification of Macroscelidea. We show that, even after correcting for substitution saturation, both using mitochondrial DNA in conjunction with nuclear DNA or alone results in much older ages and different branch lengths than when using nuclear DNA alone. We further show that the former effect can be attributed to insufficient amounts of nuclear data. If multiple calibration points are included, the age of the sengi crown group fossil prior has minimal impact on the estimated time frame of sengi evolution. In contrast, the inclusion or exclusion of outgroup fossil priors has a major effect on the resulting node ages. We also find that a reduced sampling of ingroup species does not significantly affect overall age estimates and that terminal specific substitution rates can serve as a means to evaluate the biological likeliness of the produced temporal estimates. Our study demonstrates how commonly varied parameters in temporal calibration of phylogenies affect age estimates. Dated phylogenies should therefore always be seen in the context of the dataset which was used to produce them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justus Hagemann
- Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany.
| | - Michael Hofreiter
- Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Faysal Bibi
- Museum Für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Patricia Holroyd
- University of California Museum of Paleontology, 1101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
| | - Patrick Arnold
- Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany.
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7
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Diet evolution of carnivorous and herbivorous mammals in Laurasiatheria. BMC Ecol Evol 2022; 22:82. [PMID: 35729512 PMCID: PMC9210794 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-022-02033-6] [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: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Laurasiatheria contains taxa with diverse diets, while the molecular basis and evolutionary history underlying their dietary diversification are less clear. Results In this study, we used the recently developed molecular phyloecological approach to examine the adaptive evolution of digestive system-related genes across both carnivorous and herbivorous mammals within Laurasiatheria. Our results show an intensified selection of fat and/or protein utilization across all examined carnivorous lineages, which is consistent with their high-protein and high-fat diets. Intriguingly, for herbivorous lineages (ungulates), which have a high-carbohydrate diet, they show a similar selection pattern as that of carnivorous lineages. Our results suggest that for the ungulates, which have a specialized digestive system, the selection intensity of their digestive system-related genes does not necessarily reflect loads of the nutrient components in their diets but appears to be positively related to the loads of the nutrient components that are capable of being directly utilized by the herbivores themselves. Based on these findings, we reconstructed the dietary evolution within Laurasiatheria, and our results reveal the dominant carnivory during the early diversification of Laurasiatheria. In particular, our results suggest that the ancestral bats and the common ancestor of ruminants and cetaceans may be carnivorous as well. We also found evidence of the convergent evolution of one fat utilization-related gene, APOB, across carnivorous taxa. Conclusions Our molecular phyloecological results suggest that digestive system-related genes can be used to determine the molecular basis of diet differentiations and to reconstruct ancestral diets. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12862-022-02033-6.
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Heritage S, Seiffert ER. Total evidence time-scaled phylogenetic and biogeographic models for the evolution of sea cows (Sirenia, Afrotheria). PeerJ 2022; 10:e13886. [PMID: 36042864 PMCID: PMC9420408 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Molecular phylogenetic studies that have included sirenians from the genera Trichechus, Dugong, and Hydrodamalis have resolved their interrelationships but have yielded divergence age estimates that are problematically discordant. The ages of these lineage splits have profound implications for how to interpret the sirenian fossil record-including clade membership, biogeographic patterns, and correlations with Earth history events. In an effort to address these issues, here we present a total evidence phylogenetic analysis of Sirenia that includes living and fossil species and applies Bayesian tip-dating methods to estimate their interrelationships and divergence times. In addition to extant sirenians, our dataset includes 56 fossil species from 106 dated localities and numerous afrotherian outgroup taxa. Genetic, morphological, temporal, and biogeographic data are assessed simultaneously to bring all available evidence to bear on sirenian phylogeny. The resulting time-tree is then used for Bayesian geocoordinates reconstruction analysis, which models ancestral geographic areas at splits throughout the phylogeny, thereby allowing us to infer the direction and timing of dispersals. Our results suggest that Pan-Sirenia arose in North Africa during the latest Paleocene and that the Eocene evolution of stem sirenians was primarily situated in the Tethyan realm. In the late Eocene, some lineages moved into more northern European latitudes, an area that became the source region for a key trans-Atlantic dispersal towards the Caribbean and northern-adjacent west Atlantic. This event led to the phylogenetic and biogeographic founding of crown Sirenia with the Dugongidae-Trichechidae split occurring at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (~33.9 Ma), temporally coincident with the onset of dropping global sea levels and temperatures. This region became the nexus of sirenian diversification and supported taxonomically-rich dugongid communities until the earliest Pliocene. The Dugonginae-Hydrodamalinae split occurred near Florida during the early Miocene (~21.2 Ma) and was followed by a west-bound dispersal that gave rise to the Pacific hydrodamalines. The late middle Miocene (~12.2 Ma) split of Dugong from all other dugongines also occurred near Florida and our analyses suggest that the Indo-Pacific distribution of modern dugongs is the result of a trans-Pacific dispersal. From at least the early Miocene, trichechid evolution was based entirely in South America, presumably within the Pebas Wetlands System. We infer that the eventual establishment of Amazon drainage into the South Atlantic allowed the dispersal of Trichechus out of South America no earlier than the mid-Pliocene. Our analyses provide a new temporal and biogeographic framework for understanding major events in sirenian evolution and their possible relationships to oceanographic and climatic changes. These hypotheses can be further tested with the recovery and integration of new fossil evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Heritage
- Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Erik R. Seiffert
- Duke Lemur Center Museum of Natural History, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA,Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Department of Mammalogy, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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9
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Upham NS, Esselstyn JA, Jetz W. Molecules and fossils tell distinct yet complementary stories of mammal diversification. Curr Biol 2021; 31:4195-4206.e3. [PMID: 34329589 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Reconstructing the tempo at which biodiversity arose is a fundamental goal of evolutionary biologists, yet the relative merits of evolutionary-rate estimates are debated based on whether they are derived from the fossil record or time-calibrated phylogenies (timetrees) of living species. Extinct lineages unsampled in timetrees are known to "pull" speciation rates downward, but the temporal scale at which this bias matters is unclear. To investigate this problem, we compare mammalian diversification-rate signatures in a credible set of molecular timetrees (n = 5,911 species, ∼70% from DNA) to those in fossil genus durations (n = 5,320). We use fossil extinction rates to correct or "push" the timetree-based (pulled) speciation-rate estimates, finding a surge of speciation during the Paleocene (∼66-56 million years ago, Ma) between the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). However, about two-thirds of the K-Pg-to-PETM originating taxa did not leave modern descendants, indicating that this rate signature is likely undetectable from extant lineages alone. For groups without substantial fossil records, thankfully all is not lost. Pushed and pulled speciation rates converge starting ∼10 Ma and are equal at the present day when recent evolutionary processes can be estimated without bias using species-specific "tip" rates of speciation. Clade-wide moments of tip rates also enable enriched inference, as the skewness of tip rates is shown to approximate a clade's extent of past diversification-rate shifts. Molecular timetrees need fossil-correction to address deep-time questions, but they are sufficient for shallower time questions where extinctions are fewer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan S Upham
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
| | - Jacob A Esselstyn
- Department of Biological Sciences and Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
| | - Walter Jetz
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
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MacPhee R, Del Pino SH, Kramarz A, Forasiepi AM, Bond M, Sulser RB. Cranial Morphology and Phylogenetic Relationships of Trigonostylops wortmani, an Eocene South American Native Ungulate. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2021. [DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.449.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- R.D.E. MacPhee
- Department of Mammalogy/Vertebrate Zoology and Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History
| | | | - Alejandro Kramarz
- Sección Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - Mariano Bond
- Departamento Científico de Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
| | - R. Benjamin Sulser
- Department of Mammalogy/Vertebrate Zoology and Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History
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11
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Gheerbrant E, Khaldoune F, Schmitt A, Tabuce R. Earliest Embrithopod Mammals (Afrotheria, Tethytheria) from the Early Eocene of Morocco: Anatomy, Systematics and Phylogenetic Significance. J MAMM EVOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-020-09509-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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12
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Heritage S, Rayaleh H, Awaleh DG, Rathbun GB. New records of a lost species and a geographic range expansion for sengis in the Horn of Africa. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9652. [PMID: 32879790 PMCID: PMC7441985 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The Somali Sengi or Somali Elephant-shrew ('Elephantulus' revoilii, Macroscelidea, Mammalia) has been considered a "lost species" and is primarily known from about 39 museum specimens, with no new vouchered occurrence records since the early 1970s. The scientific literature contains no data concerning living Somali Sengi individuals and the species' current Data Deficient conservation status is attributable to an absence of modern information. Almost everything that has been published about the species is derived from anatomical examinations of historic specimens, gleaned from museum collection notes, or inferred from the known habits and ecology of other sengi taxa. Here we report new evidence that the Somali Sengi is currently extant. These data include voucher specimens, georeferenced occurrence localities, body measurements, habitat parameters, and DNA sequences. While the species is historically documented as endemic to Somalia, these new records are from the neighboring Republic of Djibouti and thus expand the Somali Sengi's known range in the Horn of Africa. Furthermore, Djiboutian locality data near international borders suggests that the Somali Sengi is also a current inhabitant of both Somalia and Ethiopia. Criteria that inform conservation status assessments (e.g., suitable habitat contiguity and occurrence in wildlife protected areas) can be positively characterized in Djibouti and therefore bode well for the survival of the Somali Sengi species. New data also inform previously undocumented substrate and sheltering affiliations. DNA analyses indicate that the Somali Sengi is a descendant of the Macroscelidini lineage and therefore reveal that the species' referral to the genus Elephantulus is incompatible with sengi phylogeny. This taxonomic issue is resolved by recognizing a new genus replacement and recombinant binomial that redesignates the Somali Sengi as Galegeeska revoilii (gen. nov., nov. comb). An analysis of ancestral biogeography suggests that the Somali Sengi has inhabited the Horn of Africa for more than 5.4 million years-and the recognition of the species' phylogenetic ancestry appends the already remarkable biogeographic story of the Macroscelidini tribe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Heritage
- Division of Fossil Primates, Duke Lemur Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Houssein Rayaleh
- Association Djibouti Nature, Djibouti City, Republic of Djibouti
| | - Djama G. Awaleh
- Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Urban Affairs, Environment and Tourism, Djibouti City, Republic of Djibouti
| | - Galen B. Rathbun
- Institute of Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA
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13
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Chimento NR, Agnolin FL. Phylogenetic tree of Litopterna and Perissodactyla indicates a complex early history of hoofed mammals. Sci Rep 2020; 10:13280. [PMID: 32764723 PMCID: PMC7413542 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-70287-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The Litopterna is an extinct clade of endemic South American ungulates that range from Paleocene up to late Pleistocene times. Because of their unique anatomy, litopterns are of uncertain phylogenetic affinities. However, some nineteenth century authors, considered litopterns as related to perissodactyl ungulates, a hypothesis recently sustained by molecular data. The aim of the present contribution is to include litopterns and other South American related taxa in a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis together with several extant and extinct basal perissodactyl ungulates. The analysis resulted in the nesting of litopterns and kin as successive stem-clades of crown Perissodactyla. Further, litopterns are not phylogenetically grouped with any North American basal ungulate, in agreement with some previous proposals. Presence of pan-perissodactyls in South America and India indicates that southern continents probably played an important role in the early evolution of hoofed mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolás R Chimento
- Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados (LACEV) Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" (MACN), Av. Ángel Gallardo 470 (C1405DJR), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Federico L Agnolin
- Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados (LACEV) Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" (MACN), Av. Ángel Gallardo 470 (C1405DJR), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Fundación de Historia Natural "Félix de Azara", Centro de Ciencias Naturales, Ambientales y Antropológicas, Universidad Maimónides, Hidalgo 775 (C1405BDB), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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14
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Gomes Rodrigues H, Tabuce R, Asher RJ, Hautier L. Developmental origins and homologies of the hyracoid dentition. Evol Dev 2020; 22:323-335. [PMID: 32353920 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2019] [Revised: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the origins of morphological specializations in mammals is a key goal in evolutionary biology. It can be accomplished by studying dental homology, which is at the core of most evolutionary and developmental studies. Here, we focused on the evolution and development of the specialized dentition of hyraxes for which dental homologies have long been debated, and could have implications on early placental evolution. Specifically, we analysed dental mineralization sequences of the three living genera of hyraxes and 17 fossil species using X-ray computed microtomography. Our results point out the labile position of vestigial upper teeth on jaw bones in extant species, associated with the frequently unusual premolar shape of deciduous canines over 50 Ma of hyracoid evolution. We proposed two evolutionary and developmental hypotheses to explain these original hyracoid dental characteristics. (a) The presence of a vestigial teeth on the maxilla in front of a complex deciduous canine could be interpreted as extra-teeth reminiscent of early placental evolution or sirenians, an order phylogenetically close to hyracoids and showing five premolars. (b) These vestigial teeth could also correspond to third incisors with a position unusually shifted on the maxilla, which could be explained by the dual developmental origin of these most posterior incisors and their degenerated condition. This integrative study allows discussion on the current evolutionary and developmental paradigms associated with the mammalian dentition. It also highlights the importance of nonmodel species to understand dental homologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helder Gomes Rodrigues
- Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie-Paris (CR2P), UMR CNRS 7207, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.,Mécanismes adaptatifs et évolution (MECADEV), UMR 7179, CNRS, Funevol team, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.,Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France
| | - Rodolphe Tabuce
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France
| | - Robert J Asher
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Lionel Hautier
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France.,Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Mammal Section, Life Sciences, Vertebrate Division, The Natural History Museum, London, UK
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15
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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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16
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Matsui K, Tsuihiji T. The phylogeny of desmostylians revisited: proposal of new clades based on robust phylogenetic hypotheses. PeerJ 2019; 7:e7430. [PMID: 31637114 PMCID: PMC6800978 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2019] [Accepted: 07/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Desmostylia is a clade of extinct aquatic mammals with no living members. Today, this clade is considered belonging to either Afrotheria or Perissodactyla. In the currently-accepted taxonomic scheme, Desmostylia includes two families, 10 to 12 genera, and 13–14 species. There have been relatively few phylogenetic analyses published on desmostylian interrelationship compared to other vertebrate taxa, and two main, alternative phylogenetic hypotheses have been proposed in previous studies. One major problem with those previous studies is that the numbers of characters and OTUs were small. Methods In this study, we analyzed the phylogenetic interrelationship of Desmostylia based on a new data matrix that includes larger numbers of characters and taxa than in any previous studies. The new data matrix was compiled mainly based on data matrices of previous studies and included three outgroups and 13 desmostylian ingroup taxa. Analyses were carried out using five kinds of parsimonious methods. Results Strict consensus trees of the most parsimonious topologies obtained in all analyses supported the monophyly of Desmostylidae and paraphyly of traditional Paleoparadoxiidae. Based on these results, we propose phylogenetic definitions of the clades Desmostylidae and Paleoparadoxiidae based on common ancestry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kumiko Matsui
- The Kyushu University Museum, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.,The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takanobu Tsuihiji
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate school of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Geology and Paleontology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan
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17
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Matsui K, Kimura Y, Nagata M, Inose H, Ikeda K, Beatty BL, Obayashi H, Hirata T, Otoh S, Shinmura T, Agematsu S, Sashida K. A long-forgotten 'dinosaur' bone from a museum cabinet, uncovered to be a Japan's iconic extinct mammal, Paleoparadoxia (Desmostylia, Mammalia). ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:172441. [PMID: 30109064 PMCID: PMC6083731 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.172441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Here, we report a new 'discovery' of a desmostylian fossil in the geological collection at a national university in Japan. This fossil was unearthed over 60 years ago and donated to the university. Owing to the original hand-written note kept with the fossil in combination with interview investigation, we were able to reach two equally possible fossil sites in the town of Tsuchiyu Onsen, Fukushima. Through the interviews, we learned that the fossil was discovered during construction of a debris flow barrier and that it was recognized as a 'dinosaur' bone among the locals and displayed in the Village Hall before/until the town experienced a fire disaster in 1954. As scientific findings, the fossil was identified to be a right femur of Paleoparadoxia (Desmostylia), which shows well-preserved muscle scars on the surface. The age was estimated to be 15.9 Ma or younger in zircon-dating. This study shows an excellent case that historical and scientific significances could be extracted from long-forgotten uncatalogued specimens as long as the original information is retained with the specimens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kumiko Matsui
- Kyushu University Museum, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City, 812-8581, Japan
- University Museum, the University of Tokyo, 7 Chome-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyō, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Yuri Kimura
- Department of Geology and Paleontology, National Museum of Nature and Science, 4-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0005, Japan
| | - Mitsuhiro Nagata
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering for Education, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Inose
- Fukushima Museum, Aizu-wakamatsu, Fukushima 965-0807, Japan
| | - Kazuya Ikeda
- Tsuchiyu-Onsen Tourism Association, Tsuchiyu Onsen Town, Fukushima 960-2157, Japan
| | - Brian Lee Beatty
- Department of Anatomy, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Northern Boulevard, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - Hideyuki Obayashi
- Graduate School of Sciences, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Takafumi Hirata
- Geochemical Research Center, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Shigeru Otoh
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering for Research, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
| | | | - Sachiko Agematsu
- Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan
| | - Katsuo Sashida
- Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan
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18
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Gheerbrant E, Schmitt A, Kocsis L. Early African Fossils Elucidate the Origin of Embrithopod Mammals. Curr Biol 2018; 28:2167-2173.e2. [PMID: 30008332 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2017] [Revised: 03/14/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Modern mammals rapidly evolved in the early Cenozoic in all continental provinces, including in Africa, with one of the first placental branches, the Afrotheria [1, 2]. Afrotherian evolution is at the origin of the major radiation of African ungulate-like mammals, including extant hyrax, elephant, and sea cow orders, which all belong to the Paenungulata. The paenungulate radiation also includes the extinct order Embrithopoda of uncertain interordinal relationships, which is best known for the giant and strangely specialized Oligocene genus Arsinoitherium. The Ouled Abdoun basin, Morocco, yielded exceptional Paleocene-Eocene fossils documenting the early paenungulate evolution [3-8]. Here we report two new small Ypresian species, Stylolophus minor n.g., n.sp. and cf. Stylolophus sp., which are the earliest and most primitive embrithopods. The cladistic analysis relates the Embrithopoda to crown paenungulates as the stem-group of the Tethytheria, which makes crown tethytherians restricted to extant elephant and sea cow orders. The Embrithopoda is therefore an early tethytherian offshoot predating the elephant and sea cow divergence. The resulting phylogeny supports a strictly African early radiation of the paenungulates excluding the Phenacolophidae and Anthracobunia. It sustains an at least early Paleocene African origin of the Embrithopoda. The unique tooth pattern of the embrithopods (hyperdilambdodont and pseudolophodont molars) is resolved as evolving early and directly from the dilambdodont (W-shaped labial molar crests) ancestral paenungulate morphotype. The specialized upper molar morphology with two transverse crests is convergent and non-homologous in embrithopods and crown Tethytheria. These convergences for specialized folivorous diet were driven by free herbivorous African niches in the early Paleogene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Gheerbrant
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements; UMR 7207, CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Département Origines et Evolution, CP 38, 8 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Arnaud Schmitt
- CR2P, Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements; UMR 7207, CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Département Origines et Evolution, CP 38, 8 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - László Kocsis
- Geology Group, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Gadong, Brunei Darussalam
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19
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Emerling CA, Delsuc F, Nachman MW. Chitinase genes ( CHIAs) provide genomic footprints of a post-Cretaceous dietary radiation in placental mammals. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018; 4:eaar6478. [PMID: 29774238 PMCID: PMC5955627 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar6478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2017] [Accepted: 03/30/2018] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
The end-Cretaceous extinction led to a massive faunal turnover, with placental mammals radiating in the wake of nonavian dinosaurs. Fossils indicate that Cretaceous stem placentals were generally insectivorous, whereas their earliest Cenozoic descendants occupied a variety of dietary niches. It is hypothesized that this dietary radiation resulted from the opening of niche space, following the extinction of dinosaurian carnivores and herbivores. We provide the first genomic evidence for the occurrence and timing of this dietary radiation in placental mammals. By comparing the genomes of 107 placental mammals, we robustly infer that chitinase genes (CHIAs), encoding enzymes capable of digesting insect exoskeletal chitin, were present as five functional copies in the ancestor of all placental mammals, and the number of functional CHIAs in the genomes of extant species positively correlates with the percentage of invertebrates in their diets. The diverse repertoire of CHIAs in early placental mammals corroborates fossil evidence of insectivory in Cretaceous eutherians, with descendant lineages repeatedly losing CHIAs beginning at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary as they radiated into noninsectivorous niches. Furthermore, the timing of gene loss suggests that interordinal diversification of placental mammals in the Cretaceous predates the dietary radiation in the early Cenozoic, helping to reconcile a long-standing debate between molecular timetrees and the fossil record. Our results demonstrate that placental mammal genomes, including humans, retain a molecular record of the post-K/Pg placental adaptive radiation in the form of numerous chitinase pseudogenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher A. Emerling
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier (ISEM), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France
- Corresponding author.
| | - Frédéric Delsuc
- Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier (ISEM), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France
| | - Michael W. Nachman
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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20
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Matsui K. How can we reliably identify a taxon based on humeral morphology? Comparative morphology of desmostylian humeri. PeerJ 2017; 5:e4011. [PMID: 29134151 PMCID: PMC5683048 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Desmostylia is a clade of marine mammals belonging to either Tethytheria or Perissodactyla. Rich fossil records of Desmostylia were found in the Oligocene to Miocene strata of the Northern Pacific Rim, especially in the northwestern region, which includes the Japanese archipelago. Fossils in many shapes and forms, including whole or partial skeletons, skulls, teeth, and fragmentary bones have been discovered from this region. Despite the prevalent availability of fossil records, detailed taxonomic identification based on fragmentary postcranial materials has been difficult owing to to our limited knowledge of the postcranial diagnostic features of many desmostylian taxa. In this study, I propose the utilization of diagnostic characters found in the humerus to identify desmostylian genus. These characters can be used to identify isolated desmostylian humeri at the genus level, contributing to a better understanding of the stratigraphic and geographic distributions of each genus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kumiko Matsui
- Department of Geology and Paleontology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan
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21
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Bai B, Wang YQ, Mao FY, Meng J. New Material of Eocene Helaletidae (Perissodactyla, Tapiroidea) from the Irdin Manha Formation of the Erlian Basin, Inner Mongolia, China and Comments on Related Localities of the Huheboerhe Area. AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES 2017. [DOI: 10.1206/3878.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bin Bai
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing
| | - Yuan-Qing Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
- College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
| | - Fang-Yuan Mao
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
| | - Jin Meng
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York
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22
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Samuels ME, Regnault S, Hutchinson JR. Evolution of the patellar sesamoid bone in mammals. PeerJ 2017; 5:e3103. [PMID: 28344905 PMCID: PMC5363259 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2016] [Accepted: 02/17/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The patella is a sesamoid bone located in the major extensor tendon of the knee joint, in the hindlimb of many tetrapods. Although numerous aspects of knee morphology are ancient and conserved among most tetrapods, the evolutionary occurrence of an ossified patella is highly variable. Among extant (crown clade) groups it is found in most birds, most lizards, the monotreme mammals and almost all placental mammals, but it is absent in most marsupial mammals as well as many reptiles. Here, we integrate data from the literature and first-hand studies of fossil and recent skeletal remains to reconstruct the evolution of the mammalian patella. We infer that bony patellae most likely evolved between four and six times in crown group Mammalia: in monotremes, in the extinct multituberculates, in one or more stem-mammal genera outside of therian or eutherian mammals and up to three times in therian mammals. Furthermore, an ossified patella was lost several times in mammals, not including those with absent hindlimbs: once or more in marsupials (with some re-acquisition) and at least once in bats. Our inferences about patellar evolution in mammals are reciprocally informed by the existence of several human genetic conditions in which the patella is either absent or severely reduced. Clearly, development of the patella is under close genomic control, although its responsiveness to its mechanical environment is also important (and perhaps variable among taxa). Where a bony patella is present it plays an important role in hindlimb function, especially in resisting gravity by providing an enhanced lever system for the knee joint. Yet the evolutionary origins, persistence and modifications of a patella in diverse groups with widely varying habits and habitats-from digging to running to aquatic, small or large body sizes, bipeds or quadrupeds-remain complex and perplexing, impeding a conclusive synthesis of form, function, development and genetics across mammalian evolution. This meta-analysis takes an initial step toward such a synthesis by collating available data and elucidating areas of promising future inquiry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark E. Samuels
- Department of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Centre de Recherche du CHU Ste-Justine, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Sophie Regnault
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Structure and Motion Laboratory, The Royal Veterinary College, London Hertfordshire, UK
| | - John R. Hutchinson
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Structure and Motion Laboratory, The Royal Veterinary College, London Hertfordshire, UK
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Gould FDH. Testing the Role of Cursorial Specializations as Adaptive Key Innovations in Paleocene-Eocene Ungulates of North America. J MAMM EVOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-016-9359-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Cooper LN, Clementz MT, Usip S, Bajpai S, Hussain ST, Hieronymus TL. Aquatic Habits of Cetacean Ancestors: Integrating Bone Microanatomy and Stable Isotopes. Integr Comp Biol 2016; 56:1370-1384. [PMID: 27697778 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icw119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The earliest cetaceans were interpreted as semi-aquatic based on the presence of thickened bones and stable oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel. However, the origin of aquatic behaviors in cetacean relatives (e.g., raoellids, anthracotheres) remains unclear. This study reconstructs the origins of aquatic behaviors based on long bone microanatomy and stable oxygen isotopes of tooth enamel in modern and extinct cetartiodactylans. Our findings are congruent with published accounts that microanatomy can be a reliable indicator of aquatic behaviors in taxa that are obligatorily aquatic, and also highlight that some "semi-aquatic" behaviors (fleeing into the water to escape predation) may have a stronger relationship to bone microanatomy than others (herbivory in near-shore aquatic settings). Bone microanatomy is best considered with other lines of information in the land-to-sea transition of cetaceans, such as stable isotopes. This study extends our understanding of the progression of skeletal phenotypes associated with habitat shifts in the relatives of cetaceans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Noelle Cooper
- *Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, 4209 State Route 44, Rootstown, OH 44272-0095, USA
| | - Mark T Clementz
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave, Laramie, WY 82071-3006, USA
| | - Sharon Usip
- *Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, 4209 State Route 44, Rootstown, OH 44272-0095, USA
| | - Sunil Bajpai
- Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow, (UP) 226007, India
| | - S Taseer Hussain
- Department of Anatomy, Howard University, College of Medicine, 520 W Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20059, USA
| | - Tobin L Hieronymus
- *Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, 4209 State Route 44, Rootstown, OH 44272-0095, USA
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Gheerbrant E, Filippo A, Schmitt A. Convergence of Afrotherian and Laurasiatherian Ungulate-Like Mammals: First Morphological Evidence from the Paleocene of Morocco. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0157556. [PMID: 27384169 PMCID: PMC4934866 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2016] [Accepted: 06/01/2016] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Molecular-based analyses showed that extant "ungulate" mammals are polyphyletic and belong to the two main clades Afrotheria (Paenungulata) and Laurasiatheria (Euungulata: Cetartiodactyla-Perissodactyla). However, paleontological and neontological studies hitherto failed to demonstrate the morphological convergence of African and Laurasian "ungulate" orders. They support an "Altungulata" group including the Laurasian order Perissodactyla and the African superorder Paenungulata and characterized especially by quadritubercular and bilophodont molars adapted for a folivorous diet. We report new critical fossils of one of the few known African condylarth-like mammal, the enigmatic Abdounodus from the middle Paleocene of Morocco. They show that Abdounodus and Ocepeia display key intermediate morphologies refuting the homology of the fourth main cusp of upper molars in Paenungulata and Perissodactyla: Paenungulates unexpectedly have a metaconule-derived pseudohypocone, instead of a cingular hypocone. Comparative and functional dental anatomy of Abdounodus demonstrates indeed the convergence of the quadritubercular and bilophodont pattern in "ungulates". Consistently with our reconstruction of the structural evolution of paenungulate bilophodonty, the phylogenetic analysis relates Abdounodus and Ocepeia to Paenungulata as stem taxa of the more inclusive new clade Paenungulatomorpha which is distinct from the Perissodactyla and Anthracobunidae. Abdounodus and Ocepeia help to identify the first convincing synapomorphy within the Afrotheria-i.e., the pseudohypocone-that demonstrates the morphological convergence of African and Laurasian ungulate-like placentals, in agreement with molecular phylogeny. Abdounodus and Ocepeia are the only known representatives of the early African ungulate radiation predating the divergence of extant paenungulate orders. Paenungulatomorpha evolved in Africa since the early Tertiary independently from laurasiatherian euungulates and "condylarths" such as apheliscids. The rapid early Tertiary radiation of the Afrotheria and Paenungulatomorpha, as illustrated by the Paleocene Moroccan mammals, is concurrent with that of the Laurasiatheria in a general, explosive mammal evolution in both the South and North Tethyan continents following the K/Pg event.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Gheerbrant
- CR2P –Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités. MNHN, CP38, Paris, France
| | - Andrea Filippo
- CR2P –Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités. MNHN, CP38, Paris, France
| | - Arnaud Schmitt
- CR2P –Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, UPMC, Sorbonne Universités. MNHN, CP38, Paris, France
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26
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Canoville A, de Buffrénil V, Laurin M. Microanatomical diversity of amniote ribs: an exploratory quantitative study. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Aurore Canoville
- Bonn University; Steinmann Institute for Geology; Mineralogy and Paleontology; Nußallee 8 53115 Bonn Germany
| | - Vivian de Buffrénil
- CR2P; Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements; Sorbonne Universités; CNRS/MNHN/UPMC; Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Bâtiment de Géologie; Case postale 48, 43 rue Buffon, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05 Paris France
| | - Michel Laurin
- CR2P; Centre de Recherches sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements; Sorbonne Universités; CNRS/MNHN/UPMC; Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Bâtiment de Géologie; Case postale 48, 43 rue Buffon, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05 Paris France
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27
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Tabuce R, Seiffert ER, Gheerbrant E, Alloing-Séguier L, von Koenigswald W. Tooth Enamel Microstructure of Living and Extinct Hyracoids Reveals Unique Enamel Types Among Mammals. J MAMM EVOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-015-9317-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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28
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Kolb C, Scheyer TM, Veitschegger K, Forasiepi AM, Amson E, Van der Geer AAE, Van den Hoek Ostende LW, Hayashi S, Sánchez-Villagra MR. Mammalian bone palaeohistology: a survey and new data with emphasis on island forms. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1358. [PMID: 26528418 PMCID: PMC4627922 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2015] [Accepted: 10/07/2015] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The interest in mammalian palaeohistology has increased dramatically in the last two decades. Starting in 1849 via descriptive approaches, it has been demonstrated that bone tissue and vascularisation types correlate with several biological variables such as ontogenetic stage, growth rate, and ecology. Mammalian bone displays a large variety of bone tissues and vascularisation patterns reaching from lamellar or parallel-fibred to fibrolamellar or woven-fibred bone, depending on taxon and individual age. Here we systematically review the knowledge and methods on cynodont and mammalian bone microstructure as well as palaeohistology and discuss potential future research fields and techniques. We present new data on the bone microstructure of two extant marsupial species and of several extinct continental and island placental mammals. Extant marsupials display mainly parallel-fibred primary bone with radial and oblique but mainly longitudinal vascular canals. Three juvenile specimens of the dwarf island hippopotamid Hippopotamus minor from the Late Pleistocene of Cyprus show reticular to plexiform fibrolamellar bone. The island murid Mikrotia magna from the Late Miocene of Gargano, Italy displays parallel-fibred primary bone with reticular vascularisation and strong remodelling in the middle part of the cortex. Leithia sp., the dormouse from the Pleistocene of Sicily, is characterised by a primary bone cortex consisting of lamellar bone and a high amount of compact coarse cancellous bone. The bone cortex of the fossil continental lagomorph Prolagus oeningensis and three fossil species of insular Prolagus displays mainly parallel-fibred primary bone and reticular, radial as well as longitudinal vascularisation. Typical for large mammals, secondary bone in the giant rhinocerotoid Paraceratherium sp. from the Late Oligocene of Turkey is represented by dense Haversian bone. The skeletochronological features of Sinomegaceros yabei, a large-sized deer from the Pleistocene of Japan closely related to Megaloceros, indicate a high growth rate. These examples and the synthesis of existing data show the potential of bone microstructure to reveal essential information on life history evolution. The bone tissue and the skeletochronological data of the sampled island species suggest the presence of various modes of bone histological modification and mammalian life history evolution on islands to depend on factors of island evolution such as island size, distance from mainland, climate, phylogeny, and time of evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Kolb
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich , Zürich , Switzerland
| | - Torsten M Scheyer
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich , Zürich , Switzerland
| | - Kristof Veitschegger
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich , Zürich , Switzerland
| | - Analia M Forasiepi
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales, Centro Científico y Tecnológico , Mendoza , Argentina
| | - Eli Amson
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich , Zürich , Switzerland
| | - Alexandra A E Van der Geer
- Department of Geology, Naturalis Biodiversity Center , Leiden , The Netherlands ; Department of Historical Geology and Palaeontology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Zografou , Greece
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29
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Springer MS, Signore AV, Paijmans JLA, Vélez-Juarbe J, Domning DP, Bauer CE, He K, Crerar L, Campos PF, Murphy WJ, Meredith RW, Gatesy J, Willerslev E, MacPhee RDE, Hofreiter M, Campbell KL. Interordinal gene capture, the phylogenetic position of Steller's sea cow based on molecular and morphological data, and the macroevolutionary history of Sirenia. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2015; 91:178-93. [PMID: 26050523 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2015.05.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2015] [Revised: 05/22/2015] [Accepted: 05/28/2015] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
The recently extinct (ca. 1768) Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was a large, edentulous North Pacific sirenian. The phylogenetic affinities of this taxon to other members of this clade, living and extinct, are uncertain based on previous morphological and molecular studies. We employed hybridization capture methods and second generation sequencing technology to obtain >30kb of exon sequences from 26 nuclear genes for both H. gigas and Dugong dugon. We also obtained complete coding sequences for the tooth-related enamelin (ENAM) gene. Hybridization probes designed using dugong and manatee sequences were both highly effective in retrieving sequences from H. gigas (mean=98.8% coverage), as were more divergent probes for regions of ENAM (99.0% coverage) that were designed exclusively from a proboscidean (African elephant) and a hyracoid (Cape hyrax). New sequences were combined with available sequences for representatives of all other afrotherian orders. We also expanded a previously published morphological matrix for living and fossil Sirenia by adding both new taxa and nine new postcranial characters. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses of the molecular data provide robust support for an association of H. gigas and D. dugon to the exclusion of living trichechids (manatees). Parsimony analyses of the morphological data also support the inclusion of H. gigas in Dugongidae with D. dugon and fossil dugongids. Timetree analyses based on calibration density approaches with hard- and soft-bounded constraints suggest that H. gigas and D. dugon diverged in the Oligocene and that crown sirenians last shared a common ancestor in the Eocene. The coding sequence for the ENAM gene in H. gigas does not contain frameshift mutations or stop codons, but there is a transversion mutation (AG to CG) in the acceptor splice site of intron 2. This disruption in the edentulous Steller's sea cow is consistent with previous studies that have documented inactivating mutations in tooth-specific loci of a variety of edentulous and enamelless vertebrates including birds, turtles, aardvarks, pangolins, xenarthrans, and baleen whales. Further, branch-site dN/dS analyses provide evidence for positive selection in ENAM on the stem dugongid branch where extensive tooth reduction occurred, followed by neutral evolution on the Hydrodamalis branch. Finally, we present a synthetic evolutionary tree for living and fossil sirenians showing several key innovations in the history of this clade including character state changes that parallel those that occurred in the evolutionary history of cetaceans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark S Springer
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
| | - Anthony V Signore
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Johanna L A Paijmans
- Department of Biology, The University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jorge Vélez-Juarbe
- Department of Mammalogy, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
| | - Daryl P Domning
- Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Anatomy, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA; Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Cameron E Bauer
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Kai He
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Lorelei Crerar
- Department of Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Paula F Campos
- Center for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark; CIMAR/CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, Rua dos Bragas 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal
| | - William J Murphy
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | - Robert W Meredith
- Department of Biology and Molecular Biology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA
| | - John Gatesy
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Eske Willerslev
- Center for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Ross D E MacPhee
- Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Michael Hofreiter
- Department of Biology, The University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK; Adaptive and Evolutionary Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-24, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Kevin L Campbell
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada.
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Sarko DK, Rice FL, Reep RL. Elaboration and Innervation of the Vibrissal System in the Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis). BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2015; 85:170-88. [PMID: 26022696 PMCID: PMC4490970 DOI: 10.1159/000381415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2014] [Accepted: 03/04/2015] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Mammalian tactile hairs are commonly found on specific, restricted regions of the body, but Florida manatees represent a unique exception, exhibiting follicle-sinus complexes (FSCs, also known as vibrissae or tactile hairs) on their entire body. The orders Sirenia (including manatees and dugongs) and Hyracoidea (hyraxes) are thought to have diverged approximately 60 million years ago, yet hyraxes are among the closest relatives to sirenians. We investigated the possibility that hyraxes, like manatees, are tactile specialists with vibrissae that cover the entire postfacial body. Previous studies suggested that rock hyraxes possess postfacial vibrissae in addition to pelage hair, but this observation was not verified through histological examination. Using a detailed immunohistochemical analysis, we characterized the gross morphology, innervation and mechanoreceptors present in FSCs sampled from facial and postfacial vibrissae body regions to determine that the long postfacial hairs on the hyrax body are in fact true vibrissae. The types and relative densities of mechanoreceptors associated with each FSC also appeared to be relatively consistent between facial and postfacial FSCs. The presence of vibrissae covering the hyrax body presumably facilitates navigation in the dark caves and rocky crevices of the hyrax's environment where visual cues are limited, and may alert the animal to predatory or conspecific threats approaching the body. Furthermore, the presence of vibrissae on the postfacial body in both manatees and hyraxes indicates that this distribution may represent the ancestral condition for the supraorder Paenungulata.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana K. Sarko
- Dept of Anatomy, Cell Biology & Physiology, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, 350 Howard Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303
| | - Frank L. Rice
- Integrated Tissue Dynamics, 7 University Place, Suite B236, Rensselaer, NY 12144
| | - Roger L. Reep
- Department of Physiological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610
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31
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Backus TC, Solounias N, Mihlbachler MC. The Brachial Plexus of the Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and Application of Brachial Plexus Anatomy Toward Mammal Phylogeny. J MAMM EVOL 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-015-9297-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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