A mitogenomic timetree for Darwin's enigmatic South American mammal Macrauchenia patachonica.
Nat Commun
; 8: 15951, 2017 06 27.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28654082
ABSTRACT
The unusual mix of morphological traits displayed by extinct South American native ungulates (SANUs) confounded both Charles Darwin, who first discovered them, and Richard Owen, who tried to resolve their relationships. Here we report an almost complete mitochondrial genome for the litoptern Macrauchenia. Our dated phylogenetic tree places Macrauchenia as sister to Perissodactyla, but close to the radiation of major lineages within Laurasiatheria. This position is consistent with a divergence estimate of â¼66 Ma (95% credibility interval, 56.64-77.83 Ma) obtained for the split between Macrauchenia and other Panperissodactyla. Combined with their morphological distinctiveness, this evidence supports the positioning of Litopterna (possibly in company with other SANU groups) as a separate order within Laurasiatheria. We also show that, when using strict criteria, extinct taxa marked by deep divergence times and a lack of close living relatives may still be amenable to palaeogenomic analysis through iterative mapping against more distant relatives.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Evolução Molecular
/
Genoma Mitocondrial
/
Eutérios
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
America do sul
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Commun
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha