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  - 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  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Paijmans, Johanna L. A.
A1  - Barnett, Ross
A1  - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
A1  - Zepeda-Mendoza, M. Lisandra
A1  - Reumer, Jelle W. F.
A1  - de Vos, John
A1  - Zazula, Grant
A1  - Nagel, Doris
A1  - Baryshnikov, Gennady F.
A1  - Leonard, Jennifer A.
A1  - Rohland, Nadin
A1  - Westbury, Michael V.
A1  - Barlow, Axel
A1  - Hofreiter, Michael
T1  - Evolutionary History of Saber-Toothed Cats Based on Ancient Mitogenomics
JF  - Current biology
N2  - Saber-toothed cats (Machairodontinae) are among the most widely recognized representatives of the now largely extinct Pleistocene megafauna. However, many aspects of their ecology, evolution, and extinction remain uncertain. Although ancient-DNA studies have led to huge advances in our knowledge of these aspects of many other megafauna species (e.g., mammoths and cave bears), relatively few ancient-DNA studies have focused on saber-toothed cats [1-3], and they have been restricted to short fragments of mitochondrial DNA. Here we investigate the evolutionary history of two lineages of saber-toothed cats (Smilodon and Homotherium) in relation to living carnivores and find that the Machairodontinae form a well-supported clade that is distinct from all living felids. We present partial mitochondrial genomes from one S. populator sample and three Homotherium sp. samples, including the only Late Pleistocene Homotherium sample from Eurasia [4]. We confirm the identification of the unique Late Pleistocene European fossil through ancient-DNA analyses, thus strengthening the evidence that Homotherium occurred in Europe over 200,000 years later than previously believed. This in turn forces a re-evaluation of its demography and extinction dynamics. Within the Machairodontinae, we find a deep divergence between Smilodon and Homotherium (similar to 18 million years) but limited diversity between the American and European Homotherium specimens. The genetic data support the hypothesis that all Late Pleistocene (or post-Villafrancian) Homotherium should be considered a single species, H. latidens, which was previously proposed based on morphological data [5, 6].
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.033
SN  - 0960-9822
SN  - 1879-0445
VL  - 27
SP  - 3330
EP  - +
PB  - Cell Press
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -