TY - GEN 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 - Schüler, 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 T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe 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. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 790 KW - genome sequence KW - woolly mammoth KW - Palaeoloxodon-antiquus KW - phylogenetic analysis KW - African elephants KW - DNA KW - Pleistocene KW - alignment KW - ancient KW - reveal Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-440139 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 790 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Li, Chenhong A1 - Corrigan, Shannon A1 - Yang, Lei A1 - Straube, Nicolas A1 - Harris, Mark A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - White, William T. A1 - Naylor, Gavin J. P. T1 - DNA capture reveals transoceanic gene flow in endangered river sharks JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America N2 - For over a hundred years, the "river sharks" of the genus Glyphis were only known from the type specimens of species that had been collected in the 19th century. They were widely considered extinct until populations of Glyphis-like sharks were rediscovered in remote regions of Borneo and Northern Australia at the end of the 20th century. However, the genetic affinities between the newly discovered Glyphis-like populations and the poorly preserved, original museum-type specimens have never been established. Here, we present the first (to our knowledge) fully resolved, complete phylogeny of Glyphis that includes both archival-type specimens and modern material. We used a sensitive DNA hybridization capture method to obtain complete mitochondrial genomes from all of our samples and show that three of the five described river shark species are probably conspecific and widely distributed in Southeast Asia. Furthermore we show that there has been recent gene flow between locations that are separated by large oceanic expanses. Our data strongly suggest marine dispersal in these species, overturning the widely held notion that river sharks are restricted to freshwater. It seems that species in the genus Glyphis are euryhaline with an ecology similar to the bull shark, in which adult individuals live in the ocean while the young grow up in river habitats with reduced predation pressure. Finally, we discovered a previously unidentified species within the genus Glyphis that is deeply divergent from all other lineages, underscoring the current lack of knowledge about the biodiversity and ecology of these mysterious sharks. KW - freshwater sharks KW - DNA KW - museum specimens Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1508735112 SN - 0027-8424 VL - 112 IS - 43 SP - 13302 EP - 13307 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - GEN A1 - Beermann, Jan A1 - Westbury, Michael V. A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - Hilgers, Leon A1 - Deister, Fabian A1 - Neumann, Hermann A1 - Raupach, Michael J. T1 - Cryptic species in a well-known habitat BT - applying taxonomics to the amphipod genus Epimeria (Crustacea, Peracarida) T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Taxonomy plays a central role in biological sciences. It provides a communication system for scientists as it aims to enable correct identification of the studied organisms. As a consequence, species descriptions should seek to include as much available information as possible at species level to follow an integrative concept of 'taxonomics'. Here, we describe the cryptic species Epimeria frankei sp. nov. from the North Sea, and also redescribe its sister species, Epimeria cornigera. The morphological information obtained is substantiated by DNA barcodes and complete nuclear 18S rRNA gene sequences. In addition, we provide, for the first time, full mitochondrial genome data as part of a metazoan species description for a holotype, as well as the neotype. This study represents the first successful implementation of the recently proposed concept of taxonomics, using data from high-throughput technologies for integrative taxonomic studies, allowing the highest level of confidence for both biodiversity and ecological research. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1059 KW - multiple sequence alignment KW - Oxidase Subunit-I KW - mitochondrial genome KW - control region KW - Ribosomal-RNA KW - asellota crustacea KW - gammarus crustacea KW - deep-sea KW - DNA KW - evolution Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-460792 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1059 ER -