Revising the recent evolutionary history of equids using ancient DNA.

The rich fossil record of the family Equidae (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) over the past 55 MY has made it an icon for the patterns and processes of macroevolution. Despite this, many aspects of equid phylogenetic relationships and taxonomy remain unresolved. Recent genetic analyses of extinct equids have revealed unexpected evolutionary patterns and a need for major revisions at the generic, subgeneric, and species levels. To investigate this issue we examine 35 ancient equid specimens from four geographic regions (South America, Europe, Southwest Asia, and South Africa), of which 22 delivered 87-688 bp of reproducible aDNA mitochondrial sequence. Phylogenetic analyses support a major revision of the recent evolutionary history of equids and reveal two new species, a South American hippidion and a descendant of a basal lineage potentially related to Middle Pleistocene equids. Sequences from specimens assigned to the giant extinct Cape zebra, Equus capensis, formed a separate clade within the modern plain zebra species, a phenotypicically plastic group that also included the extinct quagga. In addition, we revise the currently recognized extinction times for two hemione-related equid groups. However, it is apparent that the current dataset cannot solve all of the taxonomic and phylogenetic questions relevant to the evolution of Equus. In light of these findings, we propose a rapid DNA barcoding approach to evaluate the taxonomic status of the many Late Pleistocene fossil Equidae species that have been described from purely morphological analyses.

A new species of Trachytherus (Notoungulata: Mesotheriidae) from the late Oligocene (Deseadan) of Southern Peru and the middle latitude diversification of early diverging mesotheriids.

Herein we describe a new species of early diverging mesotheriid notoungulate from the late Oligocene of Moquegua, Peru. This taxon, Trachytherus ramirezi sp. nov., is distinctive in terms of a few characteristics that appear plesiomorphic as compared to those of other described mesotheriids, even other species referred to Trachytherus. Such plesiomorphic traits include the absence of an upper diastema and a lack of heart-shaped incisive foramina, traits that are generally present in other mesotheriids. Our phylogenetic analysis of described early divergent mesotheriids indicates that T. ramirezi was the earliest to diverge. This analysis also confirms the paraphyletic nature of the "genus" Trachytherus.          Geographically, T. ramirezi clusters among T. alloxus, T. subandinus, and T. spegazzinianus, all of which are known from a discrete region in the middle latitudes of western South America that we refer to as the Bolivian Orocline Region (BOR). Our palaeobiogeographic reconstruction using maximum parsimony identifies the BOR as a possible ancestral area for the Mesotheriidae and as an important region for their diversification. For the more exclusive Mesotheriinae, the BOR was reconstructed as the ancestral area, an area from which some mesotheriines would have later dispersed to southern South America. Uncertainty concerning the ancestral area, for the Mesotheriidae-which could be BOR or southern South America area (or both)-is possibly due to the ignorance of the phylogenetic affinities for the undescribed mesotheriid remains reported from Tinguirirican localities. The present description of T. ramirezi therefore adds to the high taxonomic diversity of early mesotheriid species in the relatively small area of the BOR and emphasizes the likely role played by this topographically dynamic area on mesotheriid evolution during a significant time in the history of the clade.