Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/46200
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Type: Journal article
Title: Ancient DNA clarifies the evolutionary history of American late Pleistocene equids
Author: Orlando, L.
Male, D.
Alberdi, M.
Prado, J.
Prieto, A.
Cooper, A.
Hanni, C.
Citation: Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2008; 66(5):533-538
Publisher: Springer
Issue Date: 2008
ISSN: 0022-2844
1432-1432
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Ludovic Orlando, Dean Male, Maria Teresa Alberdi, Jose Luis Prado, Alfredo Prieto, Alan Cooper and Catherine Hänni
Abstract: Hippidions are past members of the equid lineage which appeared in the South American fossil record around 2.5 Ma but then became extinct during the great late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. According to fossil records and numerous dental, cranial, and postcranial characters, Hippidion and Equus lineages were expected to cluster in two distinct phylogenetic groups that diverged at least 10 MY, long before the emergence of the first Equus. However, the first DNA sequence information retrieved from Hippidion fossils supported a striking different phylogeny, with hippidions nesting inside a paraphyletic group of Equus. This result indicated either that the currently accepted phylogenetic tree of equids was incorrect regarding the timing of the evolutionary split between Hippidion and Equus or that the taxonomic identification of the hippidion fossils used for DNA analysis needed to be reexamined (and attributed to another extinct South American member of the equid lineage). The most likely candidate for the latter explanation is Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus. Here, we show by retrieving new ancient mtDNA sequences that hippidions and Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus were members of two distinct lineages. Furthermore, using a rigorous phylogenetic approach, we demonstrate that while formerly the largest equid from Southern America, Equus (Amerhippus) was just a member of the species Equus caballus. This new data increases the known phenotypic plasticity of horses and consequently casts doubt on the taxonomic validity of the subgenus Equus (Amerhippus).
Keywords: Animals
Equidae
DNA, Mitochondrial
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Evolution, Molecular
Phylogeny
Fossils
Molecular Sequence Data
Description: The original publication can be found at www.springerlink.com
Provenance: This is a reply to the Comment published by Alberdi et al. (2005).
Published online: 9 April 2008
DOI: 10.1007/s00239-008-9100-x
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00239-008-9100-x
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest
Australian Centre for Ancient DNA publications
Earth and Environmental Sciences publications
Environment Institute Leaders publications

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