Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships

TY - JOUR

T1 - Palaeoproteomics resolves sloth relationships

AU - Presslee, Samantha Louise

AU - Slater, Graham J.

AU - Penkman, Kirsty Elizabeth Helena

AU - Collins, Matthew James

AU - MacPhee, Ross

AU - Pujos, François

AU - Forasiepi, Analía M.

AU - Fischer, Roman

AU - Molloy, Kelly

AU - Mackie, Meaghan

AU - Olsen, Jesper V

AU - Kramarz, Alejandro

AU - Taglioretti, Matías

AU - Scaglia, Fernando

AU - Lezcano, Maximiliano

AU - Lanata, José Luis

AU - Southon, John

AU - Feranec, Robert

AU - Bloch, Jonathan

AU - Hajduk, Adam

AU - Martin, Fabiana M.

AU - Gismondi, Rodolfo Salas

AU - Reguero, Marcelo

AU - de Muizon, Christian

AU - Greenwood, Alex D.

AU - Chait, Brian T.

N1 - © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2019. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2019/7/1

Y1 - 2019/7/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067016608&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z

DO - 10.1038/s41559-019-0909-z

M3 - Article

SN - 2397-334X

VL - 3

SP - 1121

EP - 1130

JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution

IS - 7

ER -