TY  - JOUR
A1  - Palkopoulou, Eleftheria
A1  - Lipson, Mark
A1  - Mallick, Swapan
A1  - Nielsen, Svend
A1  - Rohland, Nadin
A1  - Baleka, Sina Isabelle
A1  - Karpinski, Emil
A1  - Ivancevici, Atma M.
A1  - Thu-Hien To, 
A1  - Kortschak, Daniel
A1  - Raison, Joy M.
A1  - Qu, Zhipeng
A1  - Chin, Tat-Jun
A1  - Alt, Kurt W.
A1  - Claesson, Stefan
A1  - Dalen, Love
A1  - MacPhee, Ross D. E.
A1  - Meller, Harald
A1  - Rocar, Alfred L.
A1  - Ryder, Oliver A.
A1  - Heiman, David
A1  - Young, Sarah
A1  - Breen, Matthew
A1  - Williams, Christina
A1  - Aken, Bronwen L.
A1  - Ruffier, Magali
A1  - Karlsson, Elinor
A1  - Johnson, Jeremy
A1  - Di Palma, Federica
A1  - Alfoldi, Jessica
A1  - Adelsoni, David L.
A1  - Mailund, Thomas
A1  - Munch, Kasper
A1  - Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
A1  - Poinar, Hendrik
A1  - Reich, David
T1  - A comprehensive genomic history of extinct and living elephants
JF  - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
KW  - paleogenomics
KW  - elephantid evolution
KW  - mammoth
KW  - admixture
KW  - species divergence
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1720554115
SN  - 0027-8424
VL  - 115
IS  - 11
SP  - E2566
EP  - E2574
PB  - National Acad. of Sciences
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Westbury, Michael V.
A1  - Baleka, Sina Isabelle
A1  - Barlow, Axel
A1  - Hartmann, Stefanie
A1  - Paijmans, Johanna L. A.
A1  - Kramarz, Alejandro
A1  - Forasiepi, Analia M.
A1  - Bond, Mariano
A1  - Gelfo, Javier N.
A1  - Reguero, Marcelo A.
A1  - Lopez-Mendoza, Patricio
A1  - Taglioretti, Matias
A1  - Scaglia, Fernando
A1  - Rinderknecht, Andres
A1  - Jones, Washington
A1  - Mena, Francisco
A1  - Billet, Guillaume
A1  - de Muizon, Christian
A1  - Luis Aguilar, Jose
A1  - MacPhee, Ross D. E.
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
T1  - A mitogenomic timetree for Darwin’s enigmatic South American mammal  Macrauchenia patachonica
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - 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 B66Ma (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.
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15951
SN  - 2041-1723
VL  - 8
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Meyer, Matthias
A1  - Palkopoulou, Eleftheria
A1  - Baleka, Sina Isabelle
A1  - Stiller, Mathias
A1  - Penkman, Kirsty E. H.
A1  - Alt, Kurt W.
A1  - Ishida, Yasuko
A1  - Mania, Dietrich
A1  - Mallick, Swapan
A1  - Meijer, Tom
A1  - Meller, Harald
A1  - Nagel, Sarah
A1  - Nickel, Birgit
A1  - Ostritz, Sven
A1  - Rohland, Nadin
A1  - Schauer, Karol
A1  - Schueler, Tim
A1  - Roca, Alfred L.
A1  - Reich, David
A1  - Shapiro, Beth
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
T1  - Palaeogenomes of Eurasian straight-tusked elephants challenge the current view of elephant evolution
JF  - eLife
N2  - The straight-tusked elephants Palaeoloxodon spp. were widespread across Eurasia during the Pleistocene. Phylogenetic reconstructions using morphological traits have grouped them with Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and many paleontologists place Palaeoloxodon within Elephas. Here, we report the recovery of full mitochondrial genomes from four and partial nuclear genomes from two P. antiquus fossils. These fossils were collected at two sites in Germany, Neumark-Nord and Weimar-Ehringsdorf, and likely date to interglacial periods similar to 120 and similar to 244 thousand years ago, respectively. Unexpectedly, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses suggest that P. antiquus was a close relative of extant African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis). Species previously referred to Palaeoloxodon are thus most parsimoniously explained as having diverged from the lineage of Loxodonta, indicating that Loxodonta has not been constrained to Africa. Our results demonstrate that the current picture of elephant evolution is in need of substantial revision.
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25413
SN  - 2050-084X
VL  - 6
PB  - eLife Sciences Publications
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -