Ancient DNA Clarifies the Evolutionary History of American Late Pleistocene Equids (original) (raw)

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).

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Université de Lyon, Paleogenetics and Molecular Evolution, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242 – INRA – Université Claude Bernard Lyon I–Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 Allée d’Italie, 69364, Lyon Cedex 07, France
   Ludovic Orlando & Catherine Hänni
2. Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
   Dean Male & Alan Cooper
3. Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain
   Maria Teresa Alberdi
4. INCUAPA, Departamento de Arqueología, Universidad Nacional del Centro Del Valle, 5737, B7400JWI, Olavarría, Argentina
   Jose Luis Prado
5. Centro de Estudios del Cuaternario, Instituto de la Patagonia, Universidad de Magallanes, Magallanes, Chile
   Alfredo Prieto

Authors

1. Ludovic Orlando
2. Dean Male
3. Maria Teresa Alberdi
4. Jose Luis Prado
5. Alfredo Prieto
6. Alan Cooper
7. Catherine Hänni

Corresponding author

Correspondence toLudovic Orlando.

Additional information

This is a reply to the Comment published by Alberdi et al. (2005).

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Orlando, L., Male, D., Alberdi, M.T. et al. Ancient DNA Clarifies the Evolutionary History of American Late Pleistocene Equids.J Mol Evol 66, 533–538 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-008-9100-x

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• Received: 16 April 2007
• Revised: 20 February 2008
• Accepted: 28 February 2008
• Published: 09 April 2008
• Issue date: May 2008
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-008-9100-x

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