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
T2  - 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
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46597
SN  - 2050-084X
VL  - 6
PB  - eLife Sciences Publications
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -