Haplotype network for modern Emu (green) and King Island Emu (red).

<p>Concatenated haplotypes of control and COI regions totalling 2638bp each. The black circle indicates a hypothetical haplotype, the distance between each neighbouring haplotype corresponds to the number of substitutions that separate them. Numbers correspond to positions in the mitochondrial genome as mentioned for <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0018728#pone-0018728-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>, underlined numbers represent substitutions that occurred in the cytochrome <i>c</i> oxidase subunit I gene as supposed to the control region.</p

Sequence alignment and haplotype assignments.

<p>Haplotype assignments refer to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0018728#pone-0018728-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3</a>. Numbers refer to position in Genbank reference sequence NC_002784.1. A point (.) refers to the same base as the reference sequence. Abbreviations are: REF – reference sequence, AU – Australian farmed, NZ – New Zealand farmed, KI – King Island Emu, COI – cytochrome <i>c</i> oxidase subunit I.</p

Geographic distribution of emu taxa and historic shoreline reconstructions around Tasmania.

<p>Modern Emu are currently found throughout mainland Australia. Extinct emu taxa were restricted to their respective islands: the Kangaroo Island Emu (purple), the King Island Emu (red) and the Tasmanian Emu. Twenty-five thousand years ago Tasmania, Flinders and King Island were connected to mainland Australia. Approximately 17,500 years ago King Island lost its direct connection with mainland Australia. By 14,000 years ago Tasmania, Flinders and King Island started to disconnect from the mainland, but were still connected to each other. By 11,000 years ago King Island was isolated from Tasmania, while the Tasmania was still connected to Flinders Island. Presently Tasmania, Flinders, King and Kangaroo Island are all isolated and disconnected from mainland Australia (modified from <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0018728#pone.0018728-Lambert1" target="_blank">[23]</a>).</p

Comparison of the cranium contour in modern and King Island Emu.

<p>Several (partial) skulls from modern Emu are shown at different stages in their development: A – Adult, B – Immature-Adult, C – Juvenile. Two partial skulls are shown for the King Island Emu D & E <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0018728#pone.0018728-Spencer1" target="_blank">[8]</a>. The black lines indicate the contour of the upper/rear surface of the cranium. The adult and immature-adult modern Emu show a frontally flattened cranium, whereas King Island Emu show a more dome shaped cranium. Initially this difference was considered a species level difference, but juvenile modern emu show the same dome shaped cranium in both taxa and therefore appears not to be taxonomically significant.</p

Modern and extinct emu.

<p>The modern Emu (centre) and King Island Emu (right) with human outline shown approximately to scale. Apart from obvious size differences, there were reports of colour differences between these emu taxa.</p