DOCSLIB.ORG

Systematics of Mustelid-Like Carnivores

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

SYSTEMATICS OF MUSTELID-LIKE CARNIVORES JERRY W. DRAGOO AND RODNEY L. HONEYCUTT Departmentof Wildlifeand Fisheries Sciences, TexasA&M University,College Station, TX 77843 Present address of JWD: Museumof SouthwesternBiology, Departmentof Biology, Universityof New Mexico, Albuquerque,NM 87131 The phylogenetic relationships of the skunks to the Mustelidae and other caniform carni- vores were examined using mitochondrial-DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from portions of the 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Data were combined with partial sequences of the cytochrome b gene and morphological data obtained from the literature, and used in a total-evidence analysis. The Mustelidae represented a paraphyletic group, with the skunks (Conepatus, Mephitis, and Spilogale) and the Oriental stink badger (Mydaus) forming a monophyletic clade separate from a clade containing the rest of the Mustelidae and the monophyletic Procyonidae. Within the Mustelidae, minus the skunks and stink badger, only one currently recognized subfamily, the Lutrinae, represented a monophyletic group. The families Phocidae, Otariidae, and Odobenidae formed a monophyletic group that was the sister group to the clade composed of the skunks, procyonids, and mustelids. The families Ursidae and Canidae occurred at the base of the Caniformia clade. It is proposed that the skunks be elevated to the level of family and be referred to as the Mephitidae. The family Mephitidae includes the genera Mephitis (striped and hooded skunks), Conepatus (hog-nosed skunks), Spilogale (spotted skunks), and Mydaus (Oriental stink badgers). Key words: Mephitidae, Mustelidae, Carnivora, skunks, phylogeny, taxonomy In F. Gabriel Sagard-Theodat's "Histoire itinae (skunks), Melinae (badgers), Lu- du Canada," skunks were described as "les trinae (otters), and Mustelinae (the rest of enfants du diable," children of the devil the mustelids). Classically, the Mellivorinae (Coues, 1877; Seton, 1926), and their (honey badger) has been recognized as a unique method of defense and self- fifth subfamily (Anderson, 1989; Simp- preservation has sustained that reputation. son, 1945; Wozencraft, 1993). Wozencraft The enlarged anal scent glands of skunks (1989, 1993) placed the American badger have long been one of the characters that (Taxidea) as a separate subfamily, the Taxid- unites them with the weasel family, Musteli- iinae, and Anderson (1989) recognized the dae. However, this character alone does not South American genera Eira, Galictis, and define the relationship of skunks to any of Lyncodon as components of a distinct sub- the other mustelids. family, the Galictinae. Anderson (1989) also Extant members of the Mustelidae are di- mentioned the possibility of distinguishing agnosed as a monophyletic group on the the South American subgenus Grammogale basis of the loss of the carnassial notch on (genus Mustela) as a distinct subfamily. the upper fourth premolar, the loss of the Not only has the designation of subfami- upper second molar, as well as the enlarged lies in the Mustelidae been problematic, but scent glands (Bryant et al., 1993; Martin, the relationships among taxa within sub- 1989; Wozencraft, 1989). Four, to as many families and among many subfamilies have as seven, subfamilies are recognized cur- been difficult to decipher. The monophyly rently (Anderson, 1989; Eisenberg, 1989; of the North American skunks (Mephitinae) Wozencraft, 1989, 1993). The four sub- is well supported (Anderson, 1989; Dragoo families commonly accepted are the Meph- et al., 1993; Wozencraft, 1989, 1993), with Journal of Mammalogy, 78(2):426-443, 1997 426 May 1997 DRAGOO AND HONEYCUTT-SYSTEMATICS OF SKUNKS 427 three extant genera recognized, including (1993) based on a cladistic analysis of the Mephitis (hooded and striped skunks), Spi- Mustelidae using cranial, post-cranial, and logale (spotted skunks), and Conepatus soft anatomy suggested that Mydaus is a (hog-nosed skunks). Two Old World taxa, member of the Mephitinae. Ictonyx (African zorilla) and Mydaus (Ori- Recent morphological data (several fea- ental stink badger), among others, have tures of the cranium, dentition, and soft been included at various times in the sub- anatomy) have indicated a sister-group re- family Mephitinae. lationship between the Lutrinae and the Me- The inability to determine monophyletic phitinae (Hunt, 1974; Wozencraft, 1989; groups within the Mustelidae has contrib- Wyss and Flynn, 1993). These studies, how- uted to confusion regarding sister-group ever, were interested in higher-level rela- relations within the family. The African tionships and, thus, did not examine rela- zorilla (Ictonyx) has a color pattern that tionships below the familial level, except converges on that of the North American within the Mustelidae, which was analyzed spotted skunks (Spilogale). Many of the at the subfamilial level. early naturalists confused the two genera One of the primary difficulties in deter- (Nowak, 1991). Coues (1877) recognized mining the relationships among subfamilies the African Zorillinae as the Old World of mustelids is the diagnosis of monophy- representative nearest to the Mephitinae. letic groups on the basis of synapomorphies O'Brien et al. (1989), in a protein electro- as opposed to symplesiomorphies. The mor- phoresis study of black-footed ferrets and phological data uniting the skunks with any other weasels in the genus Mustela, used particular subfamily of the Mustelidae, or skunks, including Ictonyx (which was re- even to the family, have been based on ple- ferred to as the African striped skunk) as an siomorphic character states and convergent outgroup. They suggested an ancient split similarity. Recent examinations of non- between the skunks sensu lato and the ge- morphological characters have revealed a nus Mustela. somewhat different picture of relationships Traditionally, Mydaus has been placed of mustelids. For example, Wurster and Be- within the subfamily Melinae, yet some nirschke (1968:374) studied chromosomal consider the Melinae to be a polyphyletic data of various carnivores and indicated that group, primarily based on its inclusion the "skunks are remarkably different from (Bryant et al., 1993; Petter, 1971; Pocock, the rest of the family." These data suggest 1921; Radinsky, 1973; Simpson, 1945). that, karyologically, skunks are apomorphic Earlier researchers (Petter, 1971; Pocock, relative to other mustelids; however, these 1921; Simpson, 1945) suggested a sister- characters provide little information about group relationship between the skunks and the relationships of skunks to the mustelids. the badgers based on similar cranial char- Ledoux and Kenyon (1975) studied serum acters shared by the stink badger and the proteins and suggested that the Mustelinae, Mephitinae. Radinsky (1973) asked the Melinae, and Lutrinae shared a common an- question: Are stink badgers skunks? His an- cestry long after the lineage leading to the swer was inconclusive because the charac- modem Mephitinae diverged. ters he identified as being shared were Recent molecular studies of relationships symplesiomorphies. Although the shared of carnivores based on DNA hybridization characters were plesiomorphic, Radinsky (Arnason and Widegren, 1986; Wayne et al., (1973) argued that the fossil record pro- 1989) suggested that the family Musteli- vided support for the skunks and stink bad- dae is paraphyletic. Although nucleotide- gers being a monophyletic group, with fos- sequence data (Vrana et al., 1994) have pro- sil skunks dating from the Miocene and vided additional support for this observa- Pliocene in the Old World. Bryant et al. tion, these authors did suggest that data for 428 JOURNALOF MAMMALOGY Vol. 78, No. 2 more taxa of both skunks and mustelids vores by increasing the sampling of taxa, es- were needed. Finally, Ledje and Arnason pecially within the family Mustelidae, and (1996) examined sequence data for the en- in so far as possible, taxa were selected in tire cytochrome b gene and concluded that a manner that would allow for the consid- Mephitis and Spilogale were not part of the eration of both morphological and molecu- mustelid clade. lar data. Is the family Mustelidae monophyletic? Part of the answer to this question pertains MATERIALSAND METHODS to the of the placement subfamily Mephiti- Molecularcharacters were used to examinere- nae. The mustelids have been a difficult lationships among 26 species of carnivores to and the Mustelidae is in group classify, (Table 1). Representativesof the Feliformia(Fe- need of systematic revision. The objective lidae andHerpestidae) were used as the outgroup of this research was to address, using a mo- for analyses of the suborderCaniformia, which lecular approach, the phylogenetic relation- includes the skunks and the mustelids. The mo- ships among taxa of mustelids, especially lecular data consisted of mitochondrial-DNA those pertinent to the problem of mono- (mtDNA) sequences obtained during this study phyly of mustelids. Sequence data from two and, wheneverpossible, comparedto data in the GenBank databaseand recent mitochondrial genes (12S and 16S riboso- publications(Ar- nason and Johnsson, 1992; Janczewski et al., mal RNA) were used to assess the phylo- 1992; Vranaet al., 1994). genetic relationships among lineages of car- Total genomic DNA was isolated from frozen nivores, with a focus on primary diagnos- tissue, blood, and skin samples using the the clades within the Mustelidae ing major method of Hillis et al. (1990). Specific regions and examining the relationship of
Recommended publications
  • Cheetah Conservation Fund Farmlands Wild and Native Species

    Cheetah Conservation Fund Farmlands Wild and Native Species

    Cheetah Conservation Fund Farmlands Wild and Native Species List Woody Vegetation Silver terminalia Terminalia sericea Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC 3: List of com- Blue green sour plum Ximenia Americana mon trees, scrub, and understory vegeta- Buffalo thorn Ziziphus mucronata tion found on CCF farms (2005). Warm-cure Pseudogaltonia clavata albizia Albizia anthelmintica Mundulea sericea Shepherds tree Boscia albitrunca Tumble weed Acrotome inflate Brandy bush Grevia flava Pig weed Amaranthus sp. Flame acacia Senegalia ataxacantha Wild asparagus Asparagus sp. Camel thorn Vachellia erioloba Tsama/ melon Citrullus lanatus Blue thorn Senegalia erubescens Wild cucumber Coccinea sessilifolia Blade thorn Senegalia fleckii Corchorus asplenifolius Candle pod acacia Vachellia hebeclada Flame lily Gloriosa superba Mountain thorn Senegalia hereroensis Tribulis terestris Baloon thron Vachellia luederitziae Solanum delagoense Black thorn Senegalia mellifera subsp. Detin- Gemsbok bean Tylosema esculentum ens Blepharis diversispina False umbrella thorn Vachellia reficience (Forb) Cyperus fulgens Umbrella thorn Vachellia tortilis Cyperus fulgens Aloe littoralis Ledebouria spp. Zebra aloe Aloe zebrine Wild sesame Sesamum triphyllum White bauhinia Bauhinia petersiana Elephant’s ear Abutilon angulatum Smelly shepherd’s tree Boscia foetida Trumpet thorn Catophractes alexandri Grasses Kudu bush Combretum apiculatum Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC 4: List of com- Bushwillow Combretum collinum mon grass species found on CCF farms Lead wood Combretum imberbe (2005). Sand commiphora Commiphora angolensis Annual Three-awn Aristida adscensionis Brandy bush Grevia flava Blue Buffalo GrassCenchrus ciliaris Common commiphora Commiphora pyran- Bottle-brush Grass Perotis patens cathioides Broad-leaved Curly Leaf Eragrostis rigidior Lavender bush Croton gratissimus subsp. Broom Love Grass Eragrostis pallens Gratissimus Bur-bristle Grass Setaria verticillata Sickle bush Dichrostachys cinerea subsp.
  • 2018 Annual Progress Report Reporting Period January-December 2018

    2018 Annual Progress Report Reporting Period January-December 2018

    2018 Annual Progress Report Reporting Period January-December 2018 By Dr Laurie Marker Executive Director Cheetah Conservation Fund P.O. Box 1755 Otjiwarongo, Namibia Phone: 067 306225 Fax: 067 306247 Email: [email protected] Internal Use Only 1 Table Of Contents I. Executive Summary 4 II. Organisational Structure 6 III. Research 7 A. POPULATION DYNAMICS 7 B. MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS 8 1. EXAMINATIONS UNDER ANAESTHESIA 8 2. EXAMINATIONS WITHOUT ANAESTHESIA 9 3. HEALTH-RELATED MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS: CAPTIVE CHEETAHS 10 4. DENTAL PROCEDURES ON CCF’S WILD AND CAPTIVE CHEETAHS 12 5. RELEASED CHEETAH EXAMINATIONS 12 6. WILD CHEETAH EXAMINATIONS 13 7. DEATHS, EUTHANASIA, AND NECROPSIES 13 8. NON-CHEETAH CARNIVORE EXAMINATIONS AND NECROPSIES 14 C. HEALTH AND REPRODUCTION 16 1. GENOME RESOURCE BANK 16 D. CONSERVATION GENETICS 16 1. LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CONSERVATION GENETICS LABORATORY 16 2. SCAT DETECTION DOGS 20 E. LARGE CARNIVORE RESEARCH AND ECOLOGY 23 1. GO GREEN PROJECT – CARNIVORE LANDSCAPE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE 23 2. PILOT PROJECTS: E-SHEPHERD COLLARS AND FOXLIGHTS 32 3. CHEETAH RELEASES AND MONITORING 46 F. ECOSYSTEM RESEARCH 54 1. WEATHER MONITORING 54 2. GAME MONITORING 55 3. BUSH ENCROACHMENT AND BIODIVERSITY 62 4. CHEETAH/LEOPARD CAMERA TRAP STUDY 63 5. GIRAFFE IDENTIFICATION 64 6. CCF RHINO RESERVE 66 7. VISITING RESEARCHERS 66 G. SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS 67 1. BOOKS 67 2. BOOK CHAPTERS 67 3. PAPERS 70 4. SUBMITTED PAPERS 70 5. PAPERS IN PREPARATION 70 IV. Conservation 71 A. LIVESTOCK GUARDING DOG PROGRAMME 71 1. PROGRAMME OVERVIEW 71 2. BREEDING AND PUPPY PLACEMENTS 72 3. FOLLOW-UP ON PRIOR PLACEMENTS AND HEALTH SURVEY 74 4.
  • The Status and Distribution of Mediterranean Mammals

    The Status and Distribution of Mediterranean Mammals

    THE STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION OF MEDITERRANEAN MAMMALS Compiled by Helen J. Temple and Annabelle Cuttelod AN E AN R R E IT MED The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ – Regional Assessment THE STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION OF MEDITERRANEAN MAMMALS Compiled by Helen J. Temple and Annabelle Cuttelod The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ – Regional Assessment The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN or other participating organizations, concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN or other participating organizations. Published by: IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK Copyright: © 2009 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Red List logo: © 2008 Citation: Temple, H.J. and Cuttelod, A. (Compilers). 2009. The Status and Distribution of Mediterranean Mammals. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK : IUCN. vii+32pp. ISBN: 978-2-8317-1163-8 Cover design: Cambridge Publishers Cover photo: Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus © Antonio Rivas/P. Ex-situ Lince Ibérico All photographs used in this publication remain the property of the original copyright holder (see individual captions for details).
  • Musteloidea (Carnivora, Mammalia)

    Musteloidea (Carnivora, Mammalia)

    e390-11 Montoya.qxd 1/2/12 09:36 Página 193 Estudios Geológicos, 67(2) julio-diciembre 2011, 193-206 ISSN: 0367-0449 doi:10.3989/egeol.40576.183 Musteloidea (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene of Venta del Moro (Valencia, Spain) Musteloidea (Carnivora, Mammalia) del Mioceno Superior de Venta del Moro (Valencia, España) P.Montoya1, J. Morales2, J. Abella2 ABSTRACT The purpose of the present work is to describe the Musteloidea from the Late Miocene locality of Venta del Moro (Valencia, Spain). We have identified the following species: Martes ginsburgi nov. sp., Lutra affinis Gervais, 1859, Plesiogulo monspessulanus Viret, 1939 and Promephitis alexejewi Schloss- er, 1924. Besides Plesiogulo monspessulanus which was already described in this locality and in Las Casiones (MN 13, Teruel Basin), we are approaching an unedited Musteloidea assemblage from the Miocene of the Iberian Peninsula. The m1 of Martes ginsburgi nov. sp. is similar in size and morphology to the Asian species of the genus, M. anderssoni and M. zdanskyi, but it differs in having a very wide M1 with a developed lingual platform. The presence of Lutra affinis is the third register of this species in the fossil record, since it was only previously known from the Pliocene of Montpellier (France) and the termi- nal Miocene of Maramena (Greece). Promephitis alexejewi is the first appearance of this species in Europe, which has been only registered until now in several localities of Mongolia and China. It differs from the rest of Promephitis species in the possession of a narrower m1, with a very sectorial trigonid. Keywords: Mammalia, Carnivora, Musteloidea, Martes, Lutra, Plesiogulo, Promephitis, Venta del Moro, Spain, Upper Miocene RESUMEN Se describen los Musteloidea procedentes del Mioceno terminal (MN13) de Venta del Moro (Valencia, España).
  • Brain-Size Evolution and Sociality in Carnivora

    Brain-Size Evolution and Sociality in Carnivora

    Brain-size evolution and sociality in Carnivora John A. Finarellia,b,1 and John J. Flynnc aDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2534 C.C. Little Building, 1100 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; bMuseum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 1529 Ruthven Museum, 1109 Geddes Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and cDivision of Paleontology and Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024 Edited by Alan Walker, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, and approved April 22, 2009 (received for review February 16, 2009) Increased encephalization, or larger brain volume relative to body develop a comprehensive view of the evolutionary history of mass, is a repeated theme in vertebrate evolution. Here we present encephalization across 289 terrestrial species (including 125 an extensive sampling of relative brain sizes in fossil and extant extinct species) of Carnivora, providing an extensive sampling of taxa in the mammalian order Carnivora (cats, dogs, bears, weasels, fossil and living taxa for both major subclades: Caniformia and and their relatives). By using Akaike Information Criterion model Feliformia. selection and endocranial volume and body mass data for 289 species (including 125 fossil taxa), we document clade-specific Results evolutionary transformations in encephalization allometries. Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) model selection recovered These evolutionary transformations include multiple independent 4 optimal models (OM) within 2 log-likelihood units of the encephalization increases and decreases in addition to a remark- highest score (Table 1). There is broad agreement among the ably static basal Carnivora allometry that characterizes much of the OM with differences primarily in estimates of allometric slopes.
  • References: Future Works

    References: Future Works

    Phylogenomics and Evolution of the Ursidae Family Department of Biology Ammary Jackson, Keanu Spencer, & Alissya Theis Fig 8. Red Panda Fig. 6. American Black Bear (Ailurus fulgens) (Ursus americanus) Introduction: Ursidae is a family of generally omnivorous mammals colloquially Objectives: Results: referred to as bears. The family consists of five genera: Ailuropoda ● To determine the relatedness among the 30 individual bear taxa. Red Panda (giant panda), Helarctos (sun bear), Melursus (sloth bear), Tremarctos Spectacled Bear ● To determine if Ailurus fulgens obtained its common Spectacled Bear (spectacled bear), and Ursus (black, brown, and polar bears) all of Polar Bear name (Red Panda) from similarities to the genes Polar Bear which are found in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa Polar Bear belonging to the Ursidae family or if it’s simply based on Polar Bear (Kumar et al. 2017.) The phylogenetic relationship between Ursidae Polar Bear phenotypic attributes. Polar Bear bears and the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) has been somewhat Brown Bear inconsistent and controversial. Previous phylogenetic analyses have Brown Bear Brown Bear placed the red panda within the families Ursidae (bears), Procyonidae Polar Bear Brown Bear (raccoons), Pinnepedia (seals), and Musteloidea (raccoons and weasels, Brown Bear Brown Bear skunks, and badgers) (Flynn et al. 2000.) Determining monophyly Methods: Cave Bear Cave Bear would elucidate the evolutionary relationship between Ursidae bears Sloth Bear ● Mitochondrial gene sequences of the ATP6 and ND1 genes Sloth Bear and the Red Panda. This analysis (i) tested the monophyly of the family Sun Bear were taken from a sample of 31 species (30 Ursidae family Sun Bear Ursidae; and (ii) determined how the Red Panda fits within the Black Bear and 1 Ailuridae family).

  • Download PDF File

    1.08 1.19 1.46 Nimravus brachyops Nandinia binotata Neofelis nebulosa 115 Panthera onca 111 114 Panthera atrox 113 Uncia uncia 116 Panthera leo 112 Panthera pardus Panthera tigris Lynx issiodorensis 220 Lynx rufus 221 Lynx pardinus 222 223 Lynx canadensis Lynx lynx 119 Acinonyx jubatus 110 225 226 Puma concolor Puma yagouaroundi 224 Felis nigripes 228 Felis chaus 229 Felis margarita 118 330 227 331Felis catus Felis silvestris 332 Otocolobus manul Prionailurus bengalensis Felis rexroadensis 99 117 334 335 Leopardus pardalis 44 333 Leopardus wiedii 336 Leopardus geoffroyi Leopardus tigrinus 337 Pardofelis marmorata Pardofelis temminckii 440 Pseudaelurus intrepidus Pseudaelurus stouti 88 339 Nimravides pedionomus 442 443 Nimravides galiani 22 338 441 Nimravides thinobates Pseudaelurus marshi Pseudaelurus validus 446 Machairodus alberdiae 77 Machairodus coloradensis 445 Homotherium serum 447 444 448 Smilodon fatalis Smilodon gracilis 66 Pseudaelurus quadridentatus Barbourofelis morrisi 449 Barbourofelis whitfordi 550 551 Barbourofelis fricki Barbourofelis loveorum Stenogale Hemigalus derbyanus 554 555 Arctictis binturong 55 Paradoxurus hermaphroditus Genetta victoriae 553 558 Genetta maculata 559 557 660 Genetta genetta Genetta servalina Poiana richardsonii 556 Civettictis civetta 662 Viverra tangalunga 661 663 552 Viverra zibetha Viverricula indica Crocuta crocuta 666 667 Hyaena brunnea 665 Hyaena hyaena Proteles cristata Fossa fossana 664 669 770 Cryptoprocta ferox Salanoia concolor 668 772 Crossarchus alexandri 33 Suricata suricatta 775
  • The Role of Small Private Game Reserves in Leopard Panthera Pardus and Other Carnivore Conservation in South Africa

    The Role of Small Private Game Reserves in Leopard Panthera Pardus and Other Carnivore Conservation in South Africa

    The role of small private game reserves in leopard Panthera pardus and other carnivore conservation in South Africa Tara J. Pirie Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of The University of Reading for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Biological Sciences November 2016 Acknowledgements I would first like to thank my supervisors Professor Mark Fellowes and Dr Becky Thomas, without whom this thesis would not have been possible. I am sincerely grateful for their continued belief in the research and my ability and have appreciated all their guidance and support. I especially would like to thank Mark for accepting this project. I would like to acknowledge Will & Carol Fox, Alan, Lynsey & Ronnie Watson who invited me to join Ingwe Leopard Research and then aided and encouraged me to utilize the data for the PhD thesis. I would like to thank Andrew Harland for all his help and support for the research and bringing it to the attention of the University. I am very grateful to the directors of the Protecting African Wildlife Conservation Trust (PAWct) and On Track Safaris for their financial support and to the landowners and participants in the research for their acceptance of the research and assistance. I would also like to thank all the Ingwe Camera Club members; without their generosity this research would not have been possible to conduct and all the Ingwe Leopard Research volunteers and staff of Thaba Tholo Wilderness Reserve who helped to collect data and sort through countless images. To Becky Freeman, Joy Berry-Baker
  • Evolutionary History of Carnivora (Mammalia, Laurasiatheria) Inferred

    Evolutionary History of Carnivora (Mammalia, Laurasiatheria) Inferred

    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.05.326090; this version posted October 5, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. This article is a US Government work. It is not subject to copyright under 17 USC 105 and is also made available for use under a CC0 license. 1 Manuscript for review in PLOS One 2 3 Evolutionary history of Carnivora (Mammalia, Laurasiatheria) inferred 4 from mitochondrial genomes 5 6 Alexandre Hassanin1*, Géraldine Véron1, Anne Ropiquet2, Bettine Jansen van Vuuren3, 7 Alexis Lécu4, Steven M. Goodman5, Jibran Haider1,6,7, Trung Thanh Nguyen1 8 9 1 Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Sorbonne Université, 10 MNHN, CNRS, EPHE, UA, Paris. 11 12 2 Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, 13 United Kingdom. 14 15 3 Centre for Ecological Genomics and Wildlife Conservation, Department of Zoology, 16 University of Johannesburg, South Africa. 17 18 4 Parc zoologique de Paris, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. 19 20 5 Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA. 21 22 6 Department of Wildlife Management, Pir Mehr Ali Shah, Arid Agriculture University 23 Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 24 25 7 Forest Parks & Wildlife Department Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. 26 27 28 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.05.326090; this version posted October 5, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. This article is a US Government work.
  • Interspecific Killing Among Mammalian Carnivores

    Interspecific Killing Among Mammalian Carnivores

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital.CSIC vol. 153, no. 5 the american naturalist may 1999 Interspeci®c Killing among Mammalian Carnivores F. Palomares1,* and T. M. Caro2,² 1. Department of Applied Biology, EstacioÂn BioloÂgica de DonÄana, thought to act as keystone species in the top-down control CSIC, Avda. MarõÂa Luisa s/n, 41013 Sevilla, Spain; of terrestrial ecosystems (Terborgh and Winter 1980; Ter- 2. Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology and borgh 1992; McLaren and Peterson 1994). One factor af- Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, fecting carnivore populations is interspeci®c killing by California 95616 other carnivores (sometimes called intraguild predation; Submitted February 9, 1998; Accepted December 11, 1998 Polis et al. 1989), which has been hypothesized as having direct and indirect effects on population and community structure that may be more complex than the effects of either competition or predation alone (see, e.g., Latham 1952; Rosenzweig 1966; Mech 1970; Polis and Holt 1992; abstract: Interspeci®c killing among mammalian carnivores is Holt and Polis 1997). Currently, there is renewed interest common in nature and accounts for up to 68% of known mortalities in some species. Interactions may be symmetrical (both species kill in intraguild predation from a conservation standpoint each other) or asymmetrical (one species kills the other), and in since top predator removal is thought to release other some interactions adults of one species kill young but not adults of predator populations with consequences for lower trophic the other.
  • Phylogeny of the Procyonidae (Mammalia: Carnivora): Molecules, Morphology and the Great American Interchange

    Phylogeny of the Procyonidae (Mammalia: Carnivora): Molecules, Morphology and the Great American Interchange

    Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43 (2007) 1076–1095 www.elsevier.com/locate/ympev Phylogeny of the Procyonidae (Mammalia: Carnivora): Molecules, morphology and the Great American Interchange a, b c a Klaus-Peter KoepXi ¤, Matthew E. Gompper , Eduardo Eizirik , Cheuk-Chung Ho , Leif Linden a, Jesus E. Maldonado d, Robert K. Wayne a a Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA b Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, University of Missouri, Colombia, MO 65211, USA c Faculdade de Biociencias, PUCRS, Av. Ipiranga, 6681, Predio 12, Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil d Smithsonian Institution, NMNH/NZP—Genetic Program, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA Received 10 June 2006; revised 22 September 2006; accepted 2 October 2006 Available online 11 October 2006 Abstract The Procyonidae (Mammalia: Carnivora) have played a central role in resolving the controversial systematics of the giant and red pandas, but phylogenetic relationships of species within the family itself have received much less attention. Cladistic analyses of morpho- logical characters conducted during the last two decades have resulted in topologies that group ecologically and morphologically similar taxa together. SpeciWcally, the highly arboreal and frugivorous kinkajou (Potos Xavus) and olingos (Bassaricyon) deWne one clade, whereas the more terrestrial and omnivorous coatis (Nasua), raccoons (Procyon), and ringtails (Bassariscus) deWne another clade, with the similar-sized Nasua and Procyon joined as sister taxa in this latter group. These relationships, however, have not been tested with molecu- lar sequence data. We examined procyonid phylogenetics based on combined data from nine nuclear and two mitochondrial gene seg- ments totaling 6534 bp.
  • Brain-Size Evolution and Sociality in Carnivora

    Brain-Size Evolution and Sociality in Carnivora

    Brain-size evolution and sociality in Carnivora John A. Finarellia,b,1 and John J. Flynnc aDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, 2534 C.C. Little Building, 1100 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; bMuseum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 1529 Ruthven Museum, 1109 Geddes Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and cDivision of Paleontology and Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024 Edited by Alan Walker, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, and approved April 22, 2009 (received for review February 16, 2009) Increased encephalization, or larger brain volume relative to body develop a comprehensive view of the evolutionary history of mass, is a repeated theme in vertebrate evolution. Here we present encephalization across 289 terrestrial species (including 125 an extensive sampling of relative brain sizes in fossil and extant extinct species) of Carnivora, providing an extensive sampling of taxa in the mammalian order Carnivora (cats, dogs, bears, weasels, fossil and living taxa for both major subclades: Caniformia and and their relatives). By using Akaike Information Criterion model Feliformia. selection and endocranial volume and body mass data for 289 species (including 125 fossil taxa), we document clade-specific Results evolutionary transformations in encephalization allometries. Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) model selection recovered These evolutionary transformations include multiple independent 4 optimal models (OM) within 2 log-likelihood units of the encephalization increases and decreases in addition to a remark- highest score (Table 1). There is broad agreement among the ably static basal Carnivora allometry that characterizes much of the OM with differences primarily in estimates of allometric slopes.