Biology Faculty Articles
Title
Molecular Phylogenetics and the Origins of Placental Mammals
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2001
Publication Title
Nature
ISSN
0028-0836
Volume
409
Issue/No.
6822
First Page
614
Last Page
618
Abstract
The precise hierarchy of ancient divergence events that led to the present assemblage of modern placental mammals has been an area of controversy among morphologists, palaeontologists and molecular evolutionists.Here we address the potential weaknesses of limited character and taxon sampling in a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of 64 species sampled across all extant orders of placental mammals. We examined sequence variation in 18 homologous gene segments (including nearly 10,000 base pairs) that were selected for maximal phylogenetic informativeness in resolving the hierarchy of early mammalian divergence. Phylogenetic analyses identify four primary superordinal clades: (I) Afrotheria (elephants, manatees, hyraxes, tenrecs, aardvark and elephant shrews); (II) Xenarthra (sloths, anteaters and armadillos); (III) Glires (rodents and lagomorphs), as a sister taxon to primates, ¯ying lemurs and tree shrews; and (IV) the remaining orders of placental mammals (cetaceans, artiodactyls, perissodactyls, carnivores, pangolins, bats and core insectivores). Our results provide new insight into the pattern of the early placental mammal radiation.
Additional Comments
GenBank accession #s: AY011125-AY012154
NSUWorks Citation
Murphy, William J.; Eduardo Eizirik; Warren E. Johnson; Ya Ping Zhang; Oliver A. Ryder; and Stephen J. O'Brien. 2001. "Molecular Phylogenetics and the Origins of Placental Mammals." Nature 409, (6822): 614-618. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/616
ORCID ID
0000-0001-7353-8301
ResearcherID
N-1726-2015
Comments
©2001 Macmillan Magazines Ltd