Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships
Presslee, Samantha
University of York - UK
Slater, Graham J.
University of Chicago
Pujos, Francois
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
Forasiepi, Analia M.
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
Fischer, Roman
University of Oxford
Molloy, Kelly
Rockefeller University
Mackie, Meaghan
Nat Hist Museum Denmark
Olsen, Jesper
Novo Nordisk Fdn Ctr Prot Res
Kramarz, Alejandro
Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia (MACN)
Taglioretti, Matias
Museo Municipal Ciencias Nat Lorenzo Scaglia
Scaglia, Fernando
Museo Municipal Ciencias Nat Lorenzo Scaglia
Lezcano, Maximiliano
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
Lanata, Jose Luis
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET)
Southon, John
University of California System
Feranec, Robert
New York State Museum & Sci Serv
Bloch, Jonathan
State University System of Florida
Hajduk, Adam
Museo Patagonia FP Moreno
Gismondi, Rodolfo Salas
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Reguero, Marcelo
National University of La Plata
de Muizon, Christian
Sorbonne Universite
Greenwood, Alex
Leibniz Institut fur Zoo und Wildtierforschung
Chait, Brian T.
Rockefeller University
Penkman, Kirsty
University of York - UK
Collins, Matthew
Nat Hist Museum Denmark
MacPhee, Ross D. E.
American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
Journal
Nature Ecology and Evolution
ISSN
2397-334X
Open Access
green
Volume
3
Start page
1121
End page
1130
The living tree sloths Choloepus and Bradypus are the only remaining members of Folivora, a major xenarthran radiation that occupied a wide range of habitats in many parts of the western hemisphere during the Cenozoic, including both continents and the West Indies. Ancient DNA evidence has played only a minor role in folivoran systematics, as most sloths lived in places not conducive to genomic preservation. Here we utilize collagen sequence information, both separately and in combination with published mitochondrial DNA evidence, to assess the relationships of tree sloths and their extinct relatives. Results from phylogenetic analysis of these datasets differ substantially from morphology-based concepts: Choloepus groups with Mylodontidae, not Megalonychidae; Bradypus and Megalonyx pair together as megatherioids, while monophyletic Antillean sloths may be sister to all other folivorans. Divergence estimates are consistent with fossil evidence for mid-Cenozoic presence of sloths in the West Indies and an early Miocene radiation in South America.
Name
document.pdf
Type
Main Article
Size
2.18 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):f42d5ba1af4e34caff4520e8ff92ddf5