TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular resolution to a morphological controversy
T2 - The case of North American fossil muskoxen Bootherium and Symbos
AU - Bover, Pere
AU - Llamas, Bastien
AU - Thomson, Vicki A.
AU - Pons, Joan
AU - Cooper, Alan
AU - Mitchell, Kieren J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (project MEDITADNA, PIOF-GA-2011-300854, FP7-PEOPLE) (Pere Bover), and Australian Research Council Laureate and Discovery Project funding (Alan Cooper). Pere Bover has a research contract from the Fundación Aragonesa para la Investigación y Desarrollo (ARAID).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2018/12
Y1 - 2018/12
N2 - The musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) is the only surviving member of a group of Pleistocene North American musk ox genera (Praeovibos, Ovibos, Bootherium, Euceratherium, and Soergelia) whose taxonomy is uncertain. The helmeted musk ox (Bootherium bombifrons) and the woodland musk ox (Symbos cavifrons) have been synonymised as male and female forms of a single Nearctic species found from Alaska, in the north, to Texas, in the south. However, this reclassification has not been tested using molecular data, despite the potential to use ancient DNA to examine these late Pleistocene taxa. In the present study, we sequenced mitochondrial genomes from seven subfossil musk ox specimens (originally identified as Bootherium and/or Symbos), allowing us to evaluate the identity of these muskoxen, explore their phylogeography, and estimate the timeline for their evolution. We also used nuclear genomic data to determine the sex of six of our seven samples. Ultimately, our molecular data support the synonymisation of the North American muskoxen Bootherium and Symbos.
AB - The musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) is the only surviving member of a group of Pleistocene North American musk ox genera (Praeovibos, Ovibos, Bootherium, Euceratherium, and Soergelia) whose taxonomy is uncertain. The helmeted musk ox (Bootherium bombifrons) and the woodland musk ox (Symbos cavifrons) have been synonymised as male and female forms of a single Nearctic species found from Alaska, in the north, to Texas, in the south. However, this reclassification has not been tested using molecular data, despite the potential to use ancient DNA to examine these late Pleistocene taxa. In the present study, we sequenced mitochondrial genomes from seven subfossil musk ox specimens (originally identified as Bootherium and/or Symbos), allowing us to evaluate the identity of these muskoxen, explore their phylogeography, and estimate the timeline for their evolution. We also used nuclear genomic data to determine the sex of six of our seven samples. Ultimately, our molecular data support the synonymisation of the North American muskoxen Bootherium and Symbos.
KW - Ancient DNA
KW - Bootherium
KW - Euceratherium
KW - Mitochondrial genomes
KW - North America
KW - Phylogeny
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052488506&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.08.008
DO - 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.08.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 30121342
AN - SCOPUS:85052488506
SN - 1055-7903
VL - 129
SP - 70
EP - 76
JO - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
JF - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
ER -