1 Frédéric Delsuc,* Mark Scally,†Fl Ole Madsen,§ Michael J. Stanhope,†|| Wilfried W. De Jong,§¶ François M. Catzeflis

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

1 Frédéric Delsuc,* Mark Scally,†Fl Ole Madsen,§ Michael J. Stanhope,†|| Wilfried W. De Jong,§¶ François M. Catzeflis MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF LIVING XENARTHRANS AND THE IMPACT OF CHARACTER AND TAXON SAMPLING ON THE PLACENTAL TREE ROOTING. Frédéric Delsuc,* Mark Scally,fl Ole Madsen,§ Michael J. Stanhope, Wilfried W. de Jong,§$ Fran%ois M. Catzeflis,* Mark S. Springer,fl and Emmanuel J. P. Douzery* *La,oratoire de Paléontologie, Paléo,iologie et Phylogénie, Institut des Sciences de l.Evolution, 0niversité Montpellier II, Montpellier, France 1ueen.s 0niversity of 2elfast, 2iology and 2iochemistry, 37 Lis,urn Road, 2elfast, 2T3 72L, 0nited 7ingdom flDepartment of 2iology, 0niversity of California, Riverside, California 32521, 0SA §Department of 2iochemistry, 0niversity of Nijmegen, PO 2ox 3101, 6500 H2 Nijmegen, The Netherlands 2ioinformatics, AlaxoSmith7line, 1250 South Collegeville Road, 0P13C5, Collegeville Pennsylvania 13C26, 0SA $Institute for 2iodiversity and Ecosystems Dynamics, 0niversity of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Author for correspondence and reprintsD Emmanuel J. P. Douzery La,oratoire de Paléontologie, Paléo,iologie et Phylogénie E CC06C Institut des Sciences de l.Evolution 0MR 555C / CNRS, 0niversité Montpellier II Place EugGne 2ataillon, 3C 035 MONTPELLIER Cedex 05 E France Tel.D 33 C 67 1C C8 63 / FAID 33 C 67 1C 36 10 E-mailD douzeryKisem.univ-montp2.fr Running titleD Molecular phylogeny of living xenarthrans 1 ABSTRACT Extant xenarthrans Larmadillos, anteaters and slothsM are among the most derived placental mammals ever evolved. South America Nas the cradle of their evolutionary history. During the Tertiary, xenarthrans experienced an extraordinary radiation Nhile South America remained isolated from other continents. The 13 living genera are relicts of this earlier diversification and represent one of the four major clades of placental mammals. SeOuences of the three independent protein-coding nuclear markers α22 adrenergic receptor LADRA22M, ,reast cancer suscepti,ility L2RCA1M, and von Wille,rand Factor LPWFM Nere determined for 12 of the 13 living xenarthran genera. Comparative evolutionary dynamics of these nuclear exons using a likelihood frameNork revealed contrasting patterns of molecular evolution. All codon positions of 2RCA1 Nere shoNn to evolve in a strikingly similar manner, and third codon positions appeared less saturated Nithin placentals than those of ADRA22 and PWF. Maximum likelihood and 2ayesian phylogenetic analyses of a C7 placental data set rooted ,y three marsupial outgroups resolved the phylogeny of Ienarthra Nith some evidence for tNo radiation events in armadillos and provided a strongly supported picture of placental interordinal relationships. This topology Nas fully compati,le Nith recent studies dividing placentals into the Southern Hemisphere clades Afrotheria and Ienarthra and a monophyletic Northern Hemisphere clade L2oreoeutheriaM composed of Laurasiatheria and Euarchontoglires. Partitioned likelihood statistical tests of the position of the root, under different character partition schemes, identified three almost eOually likely hypotheses for early placental divergencesD a ,asal Afrotheria, an Afrotheria Q Ienarthra clade or a ,asal Ienarthra LEpitheria hypothesisM. We took advantage of the extensive sampling realized Nithin Ienarthra to assess its impact on the location of the root on the placental tree. 2y resampling taxa Nithin Ienarthra, the conservative Shimodaira-HasegaNa likelihood ,ased test of alternative topologies Nas shoNn to ,e sensitive to ,oth character and taxon sampling. 2 7eyNordsD Ienarthran phylogeny E Taxon and character sampling E Placentals E Evolutionary dynamics E Nuclear markers E Maximum Likelihood and 2ayesian phylogenetics. 3 INTRODUCTION Living xenarthrans are represented ,y three morphologically distinct lineagesD armored armadillos, toothless anteaters, and phyllophagous tree-sloths. The 30 living species of the order Ienarthra LWetzel 1385R PizcaSno 1335M are relics of an impressive South-American Tertiary radiation that gave ,irth to giant extinct forms like glyptodonts and ground-dNelling sloths LPatterson and Pascual 1372M. The monophyly of the order is strongly supported ,y numerous morphological LEngelmann 1385R Patterson, Segall, and Turn,ull 1383R Patterson et al. 1332R Rose and Emry 1333R Aaudin 1333M and molecular Lde Jong et al. 1385R van Dijk et al. 1333R Delsuc et al. 2001M synapomorphies. Morphological LEngelmann 1385R Patterson et al. 1332M and molecular LDelsuc et al. 2001R Madsen et al. 2001R Murphy et al. 2001aM studies unam,iguously supported the division of Ienarthra into tNo su,ordersD Cingulata represented ,y armadillos LDasypodidaeM, and Pilosa represented ,y anteaters LPermilinguaD MyrmecophagidaeM plus sloths LFolivoraD Megalonychidae and 2radypodidaeM. HoNever, Nhereas the phylogeny of living pilosans is Nell resolved LAaudin and 2ranham 1338R Delsuc et al. 2001R AreenNood et al. 2001M, this is not the case for cingulates. Armadillos are the most diversified xenarthrans and comprise 21 extant species classified in eight genera LWetzel 1385R PizcaSno 1335M. This ecologically and morphologically diverse group contains enigmatic taxa like the dNarf su,terranean pink-fairy armadillos Lgenus ChlamyphorusM and the endangered giant armadillo LPriodontes maximusM. Some striking adaptations can ,e found in armadillos. Three-,anded armadillos LTolypeutesM developed a uniOue anti-predator strategy ,y entirely rolling up into a ,all, and nine-,anded armadillos LDasypusM are the only verte,rates to reproduce ,y o,ligate monozygotic polyem,ryony LLoughry et al. 1338M. NotNithstanding these fascinating peculiarities, phylogenetic studies on armadillos are still scarce LAuth 1361R Engelmann 1385R Patterson, Segall, and Turn,ull 1383R Cetica et al. 1338R Delsuc et al. 2001M and relationships among the eight living genera remain unclear. C Solving the phylogenetic position of the order Ienarthra Nithin Mammalia is of primary importance to understand the morphological and ,iogeographical processes that shaped the early stages of placental evolution. Indeed, despite their highly specialized morphology, xenarthrans retain anatomical and physiological characters thought to ,e primitive for placental mammals LMc7enna 1375M. This composite morphology, mixing ancestral and derived characters, has made the orderTs position Nithin placentals very difficult to assess LEngelmann 1385R Aaudin et al. 1336M. 2ased on the retention of numerous UarchaicU features, morphologists LAregory 1310R Mc7enna 1375R Novacek 1332R Shoshani and Mc7enna 1338M have long proposed that Ienarthra represents the sister-group to all other eutherians there,y named Epitheria. HoNever, morphological synapomorphies defining epitherians are Neak and their phylogenetic distri,ution is eOuivocal LAaudin et al. 1336M. Early studies of complete mitochondrial genomes did not support a ,asal position for Ienarthra LArnason, Aull,erg, and Janke 1337M. More recent analysesVincluding a larger taxon samplingVsuggested a sister-group relationship ,etNeen the nine-,anded armadillo LDasypus novemcinctusM and representatives of the African clade LWaddell et al. 1333R Cao et al. 2000R Mouchaty et al. 2000aM. HoNever, complete mitochondrial genome analyses appear to ,e affected ,y insufficient taxon samplingVespecially Nithin IenarthraVlikely responsi,le for long-,ranch attraction and rooting artifacts LWaddell et al. 1333M, and suffer from saturation in the deepest parts of the tree LCao et al. 2000R Springer et al. 2001M. 2y contrast tNo recent independent analyses ,ased on the large concatenation of mainly nuclear genes for a ,road taxon sampling of eutherian mammals have shoNn that the order Ienarthra on its oNn represents one of the major clades of placentals LMadsen et al. 2001R Murphy et al. 2001a, ,M. These studies provided convincing evidence for an arrangement of placental orders into four major cladesD IM Afrotheria, IIM Ienarthra, IIIM Euarchontoglires and IPM Laurasiatheria, emphasizing the crucial influence of tectonic events in their early differentiation. A close relationship ,etNeen the Northern Hemisphere clades III and IP has ,een proposed Li. e. 5 U2oreoeutheriaU R Springer and de Jong 2001M Nith either Afrotheria or Ienarthra as the most ,asal clade, suggesting a Southern Hemisphere origin for eutherian mammals LEizirik, Murphy, and OT2rien 2001R Madsen et al. 2001M. In fact, the relationships ,etNeen these four clades directly depend on the unsta,le position of the root. Recent application of the 2ayesian approach LYang and Rannala 1337R Huelsen,eck et al. 2001M to this pro,lem using a large character sampling supported a ,asal position of Afrotheria LMurphy et al. 2001,M. HoNever, in this study, Ienarthra suffers from poor taxonomic representation Lonly three taxaM relative to the other three major clades that include eight LAfrotheriaM, 11 LEuarchontogliresM, and 20 LLaurasiatheriaM taxa. Here Ne present a study including the ,roadest taxonomic representation so far considered in a molecular approach to xenarthran phylogeny. We constructed a supermatrix of C7 placental taxa and three marsupial outgroups, including 12 of the 13 living xenarthran genera, for three genetically independent protein-coding nuclear genesD α22 Adrenergic receptor LADRA22M, 2reast Cancer Suscepti,ility exon 11 L2RCA1M, and von Wille,rand Factor exon 28 LPWFM representing a total of 5130 aligned nucleotide sites. Choice of these nuclear markers Nas guided ,y their Nide use for inferring the phylogeny of placental mammals LSpringer et al. 1337R Stanhope et al. 1338a, ,R Madsen et al. 2001M and their resolving
Recommended publications
  • Evolution of the Patellar Sesamoid Bone in Mammals
    A peer-reviewed version of this preprint was published in PeerJ on 21 March 2017. View the peer-reviewed version (peerj.com/articles/3103), which is the preferred citable publication unless you specifically need to cite this preprint. Samuels ME, Regnault S, Hutchinson JR. 2017. Evolution of the patellar sesamoid bone in mammals. PeerJ 5:e3103 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3103 Evolution of the patellar sesamoid bone in mammals Mark E Samuels 1, 2 , Sophie Regnault 3 , John R Hutchinson Corresp. 3 1 Department of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2 Centre de Recherche du CHU Ste-Justine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 3 Structure & Motion Laboratory, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, The Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Corresponding Author: John R Hutchinson Email address: [email protected] 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 to 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Reconstruction of the Inner Ear of Leptictidium Auderiense
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RERO DOC Digital Library Published in "Paläontologische Zeitschrift 90(1): 153–171, 2016" which should be cited to refer to this work. Digital reconstruction of the inner ear of Leptictidium auderiense (Leptictida, Mammalia) and North American leptictids reveals new insight into leptictidan locomotor agility Irina Ruf1,2 • Virginie Volpato1,3 • Kenneth D. Rose4 • Guillaume Billet2,5 • Christian de Muizon5 • Thomas Lehmann1 Abstract Leptictida are basal Paleocene to Oligocene semicircular canals than the leptictids under study. Our eutherians from Europe and North America comprising estimations reveal that Leptictidium was a very agile ani- species with highly specialized postcranial features mal with agility score values (4.6 and 5.5, respectively) including elongated hind limbs. Among them, the Euro- comparable to Macroscelidea and extant bipedal saltatory pean Leptictidium was probably a bipedal runner or jum- placentals. Leptictis and Palaeictops have lower agility per. Because the semicircular canals of the inner ear are scores (3.4 to 4.1), which correspond to the more gener- involved in detecting angular acceleration of the head, their alized types of locomotion (e.g., terrestrial, cursorial) of morphometry can be used as a proxy to elucidate the agility most extant mammals. In contrast, the angular velocity in fossil mammals. Here we provide the first insight into magnitude predicted from semicircular canal angles sup- inner ear anatomy and morphometry of Leptictida based on ports a conflicting pattern of agility among leptictidans, but high-resolution computed tomography of a new specimen the significance of these differences might be challenged of Leptictidium auderiense from the middle Eocene Messel when more is known about intraspecific variation and the Pit (Germany) and specimens of the North American pattern of semicircular canal angles in non-primate Leptictis and Palaeictops.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of Micro-Cursoriality in Mammals
    © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd | The Journal of Experimental Biology (2014) 217, 1316-1325 doi:10.1242/jeb.095737 RESEARCH ARTICLE The evolution of micro-cursoriality in mammals Barry G. Lovegrove* and Metobor O. Mowoe* ABSTRACT Perissodactyla) in response to the emergence of open landscapes and In this study we report on the evolution of micro-cursoriality, a unique grasslands following the Eocene Thermal Maximum (Janis, 1993; case of cursoriality in mammals smaller than 1 kg. We obtained new Janis and Wilhelm, 1993; Yuanqing et al., 2007; Jardine et al., 2012; running speed and limb morphology data for two species of elephant- Lovegrove, 2012b; Lovegrove and Mowoe, 2013). shrews (Elephantulus spp., Macroscelidae) from Namaqualand, Loosely defined, cursorial mammals are those that run fast. South Africa, which we compared with published data for other However, more explicit definitions of cursoriality remain obscure mammals. Elephantulus maximum running speeds were higher than because locomotor performance is influenced by multiple variables, those of most mammals smaller than 1 kg. Elephantulus also including behaviour, biomechanics, physiology and morphology possess exceptionally high metatarsal:femur ratios (1.07) that are (Taylor et al., 1970; Garland, 1983a; Garland, 1983b; Garland and typically associated with fast unguligrade cursors. Cursoriality evolved Janis, 1993; Stein and Casinos, 1997; Carrano, 1999). In an in the Artiodactyla, Perissodactyla and Carnivora coincident with evaluation of these definition problems, Carrano (Carrano, 1999) global cooling and the replacement of forests with open landscapes argued that ‘…morphology should remain the fundamental basis for in the Oligocene and Miocene. The majority of mammal species, making distinctions between locomotor performance…’.
    [Show full text]
  • New Large Leptictid Insectivore from the Late Paleogene of South Dakota, USA
    New large leptictid insectivore from the Late Paleogene of South Dakota, USA TJ MEEHAN and LARRY D. MARTIN Meehan, T.J. and Martin, L.D. 2012. New large leptictid insectivore from the Late Paleogene of South Dakota, USA. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 57 (3): 509–518. From a skull and mandible, we describe a new genus and species of a primitive insectivore (Mammalia: Insectivora: Leptictida: Leptictidae). Its large body size and higher−crowned teeth indicate a different feeding ecology from other leptictid insectivores. With evidence of some heavy, flat wear on the molariform teeth, its shift in diet was likely to greater herbivory. Unlike the narrow snout of Blacktops, this new leptictid retains a broad snout, suggesting that small verte− brates were still important dietary components. The specimen was collected from the floodplain deposits of the lower or middle White River Group of South Dakota, which represent the latest Eocene to earliest Oligocene (Chadronian and Orellan North American Land Mammal “Ages”). Key words: Mammalia, Leptictidae, Leptictis, Megaleptictis, Eocene, Oligocene, White River Group, South Dakota, North America. TJ Meehan [[email protected]], Research Associate, Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Larry D. Martin [[email protected]], Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Re− search Center, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. Received 4 April 2011, accepted 25 July 2011, available online 17 August 2011. Introduction molariform teeth. A fossa in this region at least suggests in− creased snout mobility, but no definitive anatomical argument Leptictida is a primitive order of placental, insectivorous has been made to support a highly mobile cartilaginous snout mammals convergent to extant sengis or elephant “shrews” tip, as in sengis.
    [Show full text]
  • Afrotherian Conservation – Number 16
    AFROTHERIAN CONSERVATION Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Afrotheria Specialist Group Number 16 Edited by PJ Stephenson September 2020 Afrotherian Conservation is published annually by the measure the effectiveness of SSC’s actions on biodiversity IUCN Species Survival Commission Afrotheria Specialist conservation, identification of major new initiatives Group to promote the exchange of news and information needed to address critical conservation issues, on the conservation of, and applied research into, consultations on developing policies, guidelines and aardvarks, golden moles, hyraxes, otter shrews, sengis and standards, and increasing visibility and public awareness of tenrecs. the work of SSC, its network and key partners. Remarkably, 2020 marks the end of the current IUCN Published by IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. quadrennium, which means we will be dissolving the © 2020 International Union for Conservation of Nature membership once again in early 2021, then reassembling it and Natural Resources based on feedback from our members. I will be in touch ISSN: 1664-6754 with all members at the relevant time to find out who wishes to remain a member and whether there are any Find out more about the Group people you feel should be added to our group. No one is on our website at http://afrotheria.net/ASG.html automatically re-admitted, however, so you will all need to and on Twitter @Tweeting_Tenrec actively inform me of your wishes. We will very likely need to reassess the conservation status of all our species during the next quadrennium, so get ready for another round of Red Listing starting Message from the Chair sometime in the not too distant future.
    [Show full text]
  • Eutheria (Placental Mammals)
    Eutheria (Placental Introductory article Mammals) Article Contents . Introduction J David Archibald, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA . Basic Design . Taxonomic and Ecological Diversity Eutheria includes one of three major clades of mammals, the extant members of which are . Fossil History and Distribution referred to as placentals. Phylogeny Introduction have supernumerary teeth (e.g. some whales, armadillos, Eutheria (or Placentalia) is the most taxonomically diverse etc.), in extant placentals the number of teeth is at most of three branches or clades of mammals, the other two three upper and lower incisors, one upper and lower being Metatheria (or Marsupialia) and Prototheria (or canine, four upper and lower premolars, and three upper Monotremata). When named by Gill in 1872, Eutheria and lower molars. Except for one fewer upper molar, a included both marsupials and placentals. It was Huxley in domestic dog retains this pattern. Compared to reptiles, 1880 that recognized Eutheria basically as used today to mammals have fewer skull bones through fusion and loss, include only placentals. McKenna and Bell in their although bones are variously emphasized in each of the Classification of Mammals, published in 1997, chose to three major mammalian taxa. use Placentalia rather than Eutheria to avoid the confusion Physiologically, mammals are all endotherms of varying of what taxa should be included in Eutheria. Others such as degrees of efficiency. They are also homeothermic with a Rougier have used Eutheria and Placentalia in the sense relatively high resting temperature. These characteristics used here. Placentalia includes all extant placentals and are also found in birds, but because of anatomical their most recent common ancestor.
    [Show full text]
  • Review Article Why Is There Discordant Diversity in Sengi
    Review article Why is there discordant diversity in sengi (Mammalia: Afrotheria: Macroscelidea) taxonomy and ecology? Galen B. Rathbun* Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy, California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco), c ⁄ o P.O. Box 202, Cambria, CA 93428, U.S.A. allant de de´serts coˆtiers a` des foreˆts de montagne. En raison Abstract de leur isolement sur le continent africain tre`s vite apre`sla The seventeen species of sengis or elephant-shrews form a scission du Gondwana, les sengis ont the´oriquement well-defined clade of mammals endemic to Africa that e´volue´ au de´part sans qu’il existe beaucoup de compe´tition occupy the extremes of terrestrial habitats, from coastal avec les radiations d’autres placentaires. Les caracte´ris- deserts to montane forests. Because of their isolation on tiques de leur histoire incluent de la myrme´cophagie, des Africa soon after the break-up of Gondwanaland, theo- de´placements par bonds, un usage de nids limite´, voire retically sengis initially evolved with little competition inexistant, la monogamie sociale, de petites porte´es de from other placental radiations. Their life history features jeunes pre´coces et l’inexistence de soins maternels pour les include myrmecophagy, saltatorial gaits, no or limited nouveau-ne´s. Toutes ces caracte´ristiques sont uniques use of nests, social monogamy, small litters of precocial pour les Macrosce´lide´s et repre´sentent un regroupement de young and absentee maternal care of neonates. These caracte´ristiques d’habitude associe´es a` de petites antilopes traits together are unique to the Macroscelidea and rep- ou a` des fourmiliers.
    [Show full text]
  • SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Tables, Figures and References
    Samuels et al. Evolution of the patellar sesamoid bone in mammals SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Tables, Figures and References Supplementary Table S1: Mammals$ Higher taxa Genus sp. Estimated. age of Patellar Comments# (partial) specimen, location state 0/1/2 (absent/ ‘patelloid’/ present) Sinoconodonta Sinoconodon Jurassic 0 Patellar groove absent, suggests no rigneyi (Kielan- patella Jaworowska, Cifelli & Luo, Sinoconodon is included on our 2004) phylogeny within tritylodontids. Morganucodonta Megazostrodon Late Triassic, southern 0 rudnerae (Jenkins Africa & Parrington, 1976) Morganucodonta Eozostrodon sp. Late Triassic, Wales 0 Asymmetric patellar groove, (Jenkins et al., specimens disarticulated so it is hard 1976) to assess the patella but appears absent Docodonta Castorocauda 164 Mya, mid-Jurassic, 0 Semi-aquatic adaptations lutrasimilis (Ji, China Luo, Yuan et al., 2006) Docodonta Agilodocodon 164 Mya, mid-Jurassic, 0 scansorius China (Meng, Ji, Zhang et al., 2015) Docodonta Docofossor 160 Mya 0 brachydactylus (Luo, Meng, Ji et al., 2015) Docodonta Haldanodon 150-155 Mya, Late 0 Shallow patellar groove exspectatus Jurassic, Portugal (Martin, 2005b) Australosphenida Asfaltomylos Mid-Jurassic, South ? Postcranial material absent patagonicus America (Martin, 2005a) Australosphenida Ornithorhynchus Extant 2 Platypus, genome sequenced Monotremata anatinus (Warren, Hillier, Marshall Graves et (Herzmark, 1938; al., 2008) Rowe, 1988) Samuels et al. Australosphenida Tachyglossus + Extant 2 Echidnas Monotremata Zaglossus spp. (Herzmark, 1938; Rowe, 1988) Mammaliaformes Fruitafossor 150 Mya, Late Jurassic, 0 Phylogenetic status uncertain indet. windscheffeli (Luo Colorado & Wible, 2005) Mammaliaformes Volaticotherium Late Jurassic/Early ? Hindlimb material incomplete indet. antiquus (Meng, Cretaceous Hu, Wang et al., 2006) Eutriconodonta Jeholodens 120-125 Mya, Early 0 Poorly developed patellar groove jenkinsi (Ji, Luo Cretaceous, China & Ji, 1999) Eutriconodonta Gobiconodon spp.
    [Show full text]
  • To Link and Cite This Article: Doi
    Submitted: October 1st, 2019 – Accepted: June 8th, 2020 – Published online: June 11th, 2020 To link and cite this article: doi: https://doi.org/10.5710/AMGH.08.06.2020.3306 1 COTYLAR FOSSA, ITS INTERPRETATION AND FUNCTIONALITY. 2 THE CASE FROM SOUTH AMERICAN NATIVE UNGULATES 3 4 MALENA LORENTE1,2, 3 5 1 División Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n B1900FWA, La 6 Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina; [email protected]; 2 CONICET; 3 Facultad de Ciencias 7 Naturales y Museo 8 9 Number of pages: 21, 7 figures 10 Proposed header: LORENTE, COTYLAR FOSSA 1 11 12 Abstract. The cotylar fossa is a complex anatomical character in the astragalar medial malleolar 13 facet. It represents a dynamic relationship between the astragalus and the tibia in the upper tarsal 14 joint. The astragalus must accommodate the medial tibial malleolus when the tibia is in an extreme 15 flexion. It is one of the three morphological synapomorphies considered for Afrotheria, although it 16 is also a recurrent trait among different groups of mammals. Here, fossil South American Native 17 Ungulates and extant mammals were surveyed to reevaluate how much this character is spread and 18 how variable it is. Beyond afrotherians, it is observed that it also appears in primates, macropodid 19 marsupials, laurasiatherian archaic ungulates, perissodactyls, pantodonts, and dinoceratans; it is also 20 in some but not all of the extinct endemic ungulates from South America. No function has been 21 suggested before for the presence of a cotylar fossa. The cotylar fossa could be an adaptation to a 22 passive, rest related posture.
    [Show full text]
  • Afrotheria Slide Show
    Afrotheria Specialist Group Afrotheria SPECIALIST GROUP 3) 2) 1) Afrotheria SpecialistfacilitatesGroupIUCN/SSC The programmes. developingconservation researchand and publicraisingawareness; interested groups; otherand conservationists,governments, providingscientific sound guidance toadviceand golden-moles,theirtenrecs,habitatsand by: sengis, aardvark, the hyraxes, the of conservation The AfrotheriaIUCN/SSC Specialist Group © Stephanie Mansourian P U The Afrotheria Specialist Group Is Concerned With 76 Species O a R i Of Mammals From Africa And Madagascar G r T S I e L A I C h E t P S o r © S. Cilliers f © Peter J. Stephenson 1 Aardvark A 33 Tenrecs © H. Hoeck 5 Hyraxes © G.B. Rathbun © G.B. Rathbun 16 Sengis 21 Golden Moles One quarter are Threatened, and several others are NearThreatened or too Data Deficient to categorize Afrotheria SPECIALIST GROUP • • • and distribution of its ant and termite prey. and might be definedby the abundance Aardvark distribution is not well known up to Weighs 60 kgand occursacross mostof Africa south of the Sahara. evolution. South America, but this onlywas based on superficial resemblancesdue to convergent The last used it living species to be ofconsidered its Order, a relativeof anteaters from Aardvark (Tubulidentata) Aardvark © T. Lehmann Afrotheria SPECIALIST GROUP • • • • • • • • • 10golden mole species are greatestThe goldendiversity of moles Africa.southernisin smallthese mammalsblind,issubterranean stilllimited. firstLinnaeusdescribe goldenknowledge yet of moles ago, 250nearly years forests. managementofindigenous development,orpoor urbanization, agricultural degradationfrom mining, threateneddue tohabitat GoldenMoles (Chrysochloridae) © G.Bronner Afrotheria SPECIALIST GROUP • • • mostofallrisk at hyraxes. are probably TreeHyraxes the alarmingthe rateanat Africa, in forests Because are disappearing Kilimanjaro.Mt. around the inforestbelt itsforfur hunted heavilyis TreeHyrax Eastern The seacows,otherelephantstheand afrotheriantwo taxa.
    [Show full text]
  • Full-Text PDF (Final Published Version)
    Tarver, J. E., dos Reis, M., Mirarab, S., Moran, R., Parker, S., O'Reilly, J., King, B. L., O'Connell, M. J., Asher, R. J., Warnow, T., Peterson, K. J., Donoghue, P. C. J., & Pisani, D. (2016). The interrelationships of placental mammals and the limits of phylogenetic inference. Genome Biology and Evolution, 8(2), 330-344. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evv261 Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record License (if available): CC BY Link to published version (if available): 10.1093/gbe/evv261 Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ GBE The Interrelationships of Placental Mammals and the Limits of Phylogenetic Inference James E. Tarver1,2,*, Mario dos Reis3,4, Siavash Mirarab5,6, Raymond J. Moran7, Sean Parker2, Joseph E. O’Reilly2,BenjaminL.King8, Mary J. O’Connell7, Robert J. Asher9, Tandy Warnow5,6,10, Kevin J. Peterson11,
    [Show full text]
  • Afrotherian Conservation Number 13 (2017)
    From the editors: It seems our appeal for more input for this issue from members and interested parties has borne fruit, with a bumper issue. We thank all contributors, especially the 'golden molers' who from nothing in issue number 12 have contributed greatly to issue number 13. Thank you one and all! One of the most important issues pointed out in several of the articles here, is how many 'new' species and subspecies are hiding in plain sight. This has very important implications for the successful conservation of many species, in particular the poorly known golden moles, many tenrecs and even the hyraxes. We would like to have some feedback from you, the reader, as to whether you think the newsletter still has a place, or do you think articles, notes, new literature should just be placed on the Afrotheria webpage as they become available? For issue number 14 we would greatly appreciate receiving material for publication well before the 2018 July deadline, as we will be spending lengthy periods in the field. So to another good afrotherian year ahead! C. & M. Stuart, Loxton, South Africa August 2017 (www.stuartonnature.com) Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec Echinops telfairi (© C.& M. Stuart) In This Issue - Number 13 - September 2017 Editorial 1 Features Presence of Chequered Giant Sengi (Rhynchocyon cirnei) at Shiwa N'gandu 3 in northern Zambia Identifying the different forms of giant sengi (Rhynchocyon) based on 7 external colour pattern Sengi Taxonomy - a 2017 update 10 Cape Rock Hyrax research update: Cryptic diversity in the rock hyrax from
    [Show full text]