Evolutionary history of baboons

Date:  January 31, 2019

Source:  Deutsches Primatenzentrum (DPZ)/German Primate Center

Life on earth is complex and diverse. In the course of evolution, more and more new species have emerged that are adapted to constantly changing environments. Using modern genetic analyses, researchers can now fully decipher the genetic information of organisms in order to better understand their evolutionary histories and adaptations. Under the leadership of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine, USA, an international team of researchers, including scientists from the German Primate Center (DPZ) -- Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, has reconstructed the phylogenetic tree of the six African baboon species. The genetic information of baboons also provided clear indications that genes were exchanged between the species, i.e. that the species hybridized. The work sheds new light on the fundamental biological processes that produce new species. Since the baboons evolved at about the same time and in the same habitats as humans, the results of the study also allow conclusions about the evolutionary history of early human species (Science Advances).

Baboons are Old World monkeys and the six species are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. They are well studied for their morphology, behavior and ecology. So far, however, little has been known about their genetic adaptations and evolutionary history.

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Evolution of the Javan leopard

Urgent need for its conservation, say researchers

Date: May 4, 2016

Source: Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

New insights into the evolutionary history of the Javan leopard have been gained by new research. The results of the study confirm that Javan leopards are clearly distinct from Asian leopards and probably colonized Java around 600,000 years ago via a land bridge from mainland Asia. The study highlights the urgent need for concerted conservation efforts to preserve the Javan leopard from extinction.

An international team of researchers from Germany and Indonesia has discovered new insights into the evolutionary history of the Javan leopard. The results of the study confirm that Javan leopards are clearly distinct from Asian leopards and probably colonised Java around 600,000 years ago via a land bridge from mainland Asia. The study, published in the scientific journal Journal of Zoology, highlights the urgent need for concerted conservation efforts to preserve the Javan leopard from extinction.

Scientists from the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Tierpark Berlin (Germany), Taman Safari Indonesia, Potsdam University (Germany) and Conservation International Indonesia (Indonesia) worked in close collaboration to answer the question whether the Javan leopard is a separate subspecies of the leopard, as this would heighten the need for efforts to improve its viability through active conservation measures. The results show that Javan leopards diverged from mainland Asian leopards in the Middle Pleistocene approximately 600,000 years ago and have already reached a degree of genetic distinctiveness which clearly warrants the classification of Javan leopards as a subspecies (Panthera pardus melas) of the leopard (Panthera pardus).

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Ancient hybridization key to domestic dog's origin, wolf conservation efforts

Date: September 1, 2015

Source: University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Summary: The ancestry of man's best friend is more complicated than its furry coat and soulful eyes betray. Understanding the evolutionary history of the domesticated dog may help protect endangered wolves, according to a study that offers an overview examining the system used to classify dogs and related animals.

The ancestry of man's best friend may be more complicated than its furry coat and soulful eyes betray. Understanding the evolutionary history of the domesticated dog may ultimately help protect endangered wolves, according to a study from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Vladimir Dinets, research assistant professor of psychology, has published an overview examining the confusing and often misunderstood system used to classify dogs and related animals such as wolves and jackals. He has proposed a logical and scientifically sound classification scheme to help make sense of all the contradictory claims. The study appears in theVavilov Journal of Genetics and Breeding. Dinets compiled his overview by reviewing existing studies about dog classifications.

"The study shows how complex and surprising can be the evolutionary history of familiar animals we think we know perfectly well," he said.

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Scientists reconstruct evolutionary history of whale hearing with rare museum collection

Date:

March 11, 2015

Source:

Smithsonian

Summary:

Scientists CT scanned fetal whale specimens from the museum's marine mammal collection to trace the development of fetal ear bones in 56 specimens from 10 different whale families. Their findings confirmed that changes in the development of ear bones in the womb paralleled changes observed throughout whale evolution, providing new insight about how whales made the dramatic evolutionary shift from land to sea and adapted to hearing underwater.

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DNA Sequencing Shows Evolutionary History Of Butterflies

August 2, 2014

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

In the first study of its kind to use large-scale, next-generation DNA sequencing, a team of researchers from the University of Florida have traced nearly 3,000 genes to the earliest common ancestor of butterflies and moths. The findings, to be published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, create an extensive “Tree of Lepidoptera” and build the evolutionary framework for future ecological and genetics insect research.

Several of the study’s findings were surprising, including the discovery that butterflies are more closely related to small moths than to larger ones. This one finding completely changes the previously held ideas of butterfly evolution. The study also increased the number of butterfly species known by identifying that some previously classified moths were actually butterflies.

“This project advances biodiversity research by providing an evolutionary foundation for a very diverse group of insects, with nearly 160,000 described species,” said Akito Kawahara, assistant curator of Lepidoptera at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus. “With a tree, we can now understand how the majority of butterfly and moth species evolved.”

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Evolutionary History of Lizards and Snakes Reconstructed Using Massive Molecular Dataset - via Herp Digest

Sep. 18, 2012 -SCIENCE NEWS— A new study, published online in Biology Letters on Sept. 19, has utilized a massive molecular dataset to reconstruct the evolutionary history of lizards and snakes. The results reveal a surprising finding about the evolution of snakes: that most snakes we see living on the surface today arose from ancestors that lived underground.

The article, entitled "Resolving the phylogeny of lizards and snakes (Squamata) with extensive sampling of genes and species," describes research led by John J. Wiens, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. The study was based on 44 genes and 161 species of lizards and snakes, one of the largest genetic datasets assembled for reptiles.

The results show that almost all groups of snakes arose from within a bizarre group of burrowing blind snakes called scolecophidians. This finding implies that snakes ancestrally lived underground, and that the thousands of snake species living today on the surface evolved from these subterranean ancestors.

The authors suggest that there are still traces of this subterranean ancestry in the anatomy of surface-dwelling snakes. "For example, no matter where they live, snakes have an elongate body and a relatively short tail, and outside of snakes, this body shape is only found in lizards that live underground," said Professor Wiens. "Snakes have kept this same basic body shape as they have evolved to invade nearly every habitat on the planet -- from rainforest canopies to deserts and even the oceans."

Co-authors of the study include Carl R. Hutter, Daniel G. Mulcahy, Brice P. Noonan, Ted M. Townsend, Jack W. Sites Jr., and Tod W. Reeder. The work was performed at Stony Brook University, Brigham Young University, and San Diego State University.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stony Brook University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

J. J. Wiens, C. R. Hutter, D. G. Mulcahy, B. P. Noonan, T. M. Townsend, J. W. Sites, T. W. Reeder. Resolving the phylogeny of lizards and snakes (Squamata) with extensive sampling of genes and species. Biology Letters, 2012; DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0703

Evolutionary History of Lizards and Snakes Reconstructed Using Massive Molecular Dataset

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2012) — A new study, published online in Biology Letters on Sept. 19, has utilized a massive molecular dataset to reconstruct the evolutionary history of lizards and snakes. The results reveal a surprising finding about the evolution of snakes: that most snakes we see living on the surface today arose from ancestors that lived underground.

The article, entitled "Resolving the phylogeny of lizards and snakes (Squamata) with extensive sampling of genes and species," describes research led by John J. Wiens, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. The study was based on 44 genes and 161 species of lizards and snakes, one of the largest genetic datasets assembled for reptiles.


Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120919081834.htm