Multilocus phylogeny of Sciurini tree squirrels

Phylogenetic relationships inside the tribe Sciurini produce conflict between older morphological research and modern molecular studies. We provided a detailed phylogenetic analysis by incorporating eight loci and various methods of data processing. We used prevailing and user-friendly software packages (Geneious, BioEdit, MrBayes, ModelTest). Evolutionary history of Sciurini squirrels was examined by means of Bayesian inference of concatenated data set and six supertree construction methods. The concatenated data and supertrees generated by SuperTriplets, modified MinCut, standard MRP and veto supertree (without source tree correction) yielded similar results with taxa grouped according to their zoogeographic distribution. The genus Tamiasciurus formed a separate evolutionary lineage at the base of our trees and the other taxa gradually diverged into Palaearctic/Indomalayan, Nearctic and Neotropical groups. The other used methods, MinCut, Purvis-MRP and veto (with source tree correction) showed deviations from this pattern

Data from: Testosterone in ancient hair from an extinct species

Testosterone is a key regulator in vertebrate development, physiology, and behaviour. Whereas technology allows extraction of a wealth of genetic information from extant as well as extinct species, complimentary information on steroid hormone levels may add a social, sexual, and environmental context. Hair shafts have been previously used to sequence DNA from >50,000 14C years old Siberian woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius). Hair-testing has also been used to measure endogenous steroids in multiple extant species. Here we use small quantities of woolly mammoth hair samples to measure testosterone, and a genomics-based approach to determine sex, in permafrost-preserved mammoths dated to circa 10-60 thousand 14C years. Our validated method opens up exciting opportunities to measure multiple steroids in keratinized tissues from extinct populations of mammals. This may be specifically applied to investigating life histories, including the extinct Quaternary megafauna populations whose remains are preserved in the permafrost throughout the northern hemisphere

4000-year-old reindeer mitogenomes from the Volga-Kama region reveal continuity among the forest reindeer in northeastern part of European Russia

Abstract There are three main ecotypes of reindeer in Eurasia: tundra reindeer, boreal forest reindeer and High Arctic reindeer. Of these, especially the forest reindeer has suff ered due to human over hunting and habitat fragmentation. Forest reindeer was still found in the Volga-Kama region at the beginning of the 20th century, but has since disappeared from the region. In order to investigate the genetic relationships of these histori-cal, southernly distributed forest reindeer populations, the authors obtained mitogenome sequences from six individuals from Pestretsy II, an archaeological site located in Tatarstan and dated to around 4000 calibrated years before the present (cal BP). The sequences reported in this study represent the fi rst published ancient reindeer mitogenomes. The authors observed genetic continuity between the historical reindeer from Tatarstan and present day wild populations from the taiga zone of northeastern part of European Russia. Interestingly, four out of the six studied individuals belong to mitochondrial control region haplogroup II, which today is a major haplogroup among the semi-domestic reindeer in Fennoscandia. Even though the haplotypes observed in Pestretsy II site are not closely related to the major haplotypes observed among the Fennoscandian semi-domestic reindeer, the results suggest that this haplogroup may have its origin east of Fennoscandia. It is also interesting to note that the size of the reindeers from the Pestretsy II site was one of the largest observed in the Holocene.Аннотация В Евразии существует три основных экотипа северного оленя: тундровый северный олень, таежный северный олень и высокоарктический северный олень. Из них лесные северные олени особенно пострадали из-за чрезмерной охоты человека и фрагментации среды обитания. Лесной северный олень еще встречался в Волго-Камском регионе в начале XX века, но с тех пор исчез из данного региона. Чтобы исследовать генетические связи этих исторических, южно-распределенных популяций лесных северных оленей, авторы получили последовательности митогенома от шести особей из Пестречинской II стоянки, археологического памятника, расположенного в Татарстане и датируемого около 4000 калиброванных лет назад (кал. л.н.). Последовательности митохондриального ДНК, описанные в этом исследовании, представляют собой первые опубликованные древние митогеномы северного оленя. Авторы выявили генетическую преемственность между историческим северным оленем из Татарстана и современными дикими популяциями из таежной зоны северо-восточной части европейской части России. Интересно, что четыре из шести исследованных особей принадлежат к гаплогруппе II, она сегодня является основной гаплогруппой среди полудомашних оленей в Фенноскандии. Несмотря на то, что гаплотипы, наблюдаемые у северных оленей из Пестречинской II стоянки, не тесно связаны с основными гаплотипами, наблюдаемыми среди полудомашних северных оленей Фенноскандии, результаты показывают, что эта гаплогруппа может иметь свое происхождение к востоку от Фенноскандии. Интересно также отметить, что размеры северных оленей из Пестречинской II стоянки были одними из самых крупных наблюдавшихся в голоцене

‘Semi-dwarf’ woolly mammoths from the East Siberian Sea coast, continental Russia

A pioneer comprehensive study of several diminutive last-generation woolly mammoth teeth (M3) found on the coast of the East Siberian Sea between the mouths of the Alazeya and Malaya Kuropatoch'ya rivers was conducted. Two teeth belonged to one individual. These teeth have a similar lamellar frequency and enamel thickness as teeth of Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach. The molar crowns from the lower Alazeya region are similar in size to those of the small Late Pleistocene–Holocene mammoths from Wrangel Island. However, the number of plates (17–19, excluding talons) is much lower than that in the teeth of typical Late Pleistocene M. primigenius (23–25). The age data of the examined teeth are beyond the limits of the 14C dating method (>45 000 years BP). Nevertheless, palaeobotanical data allow correlation of the enclosing sediments with the warm Kazantsevo Interglacial (Eemian, MIS 5e) and reconstruction of the average annual temperature, which was warmer than present-day temperatures. These conditions are confirmed by the δ18O isotopes from the structurally bound carbonate in tooth enamel. The ancient landscape was wetter and more forested than modern landscapes. The diminution of M3 size and loss of posterior plates were a result of the overall decrease in body size, likely in response to landscape change and narrowing of resource space. Mammoths from the lower Alazeya region demonstrate a stage of significant size reduction, although the dwarfing was not finalized. Their teeth are the oldest amongst the small teeth found in west Beringia