Title

A Molecular Solution to the Riddle of the Giant Panda's Phylogeny

Authors

Stephen J. O'Brien, National Cancer Institute at FrederickFollow
William G. Nash, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
David E. Wildt, Smithsonian Institution
Mitchell Bush, Smithsonian Institution
Raoul E. Benveniste, National Cancer Institute at Frederick

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-12-1985

Publication Title

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

Volume

317

Issue/No.

6033

First Page

140

Last Page

144

Abstract

Although it is generally agreed that the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a member of the order Carn­vora, there has long been disagreement over whether it should be classified with bears, raccoons or as a single member of its own family. Four independent molecular and genetic measures lead to a consensus phylogeny for the giant and lesser pandas. The lesser panda diverged from New World procyonids at approximately the same time as their departure from ursids, while ancestors of the giant panda split from the ursid lineage much later, just before the radiation which led to modern bears. The giant panda's divergence was accompanied by a chromosomal reorganization which can be partially reconstructed from the ursid karyotype, but not from that of procyonids or the lesser panda. The apparently dramatic, but actually limited, distinctions between the giant panda and the bears in chromosomal and anatomical morphology provide a graphic mammalian example of the discordance of molecular and morphological (and chromosomal) evolutionary change.

Comments

©1985 Nature Publishing Group

NSUWorks Citation

O'Brien, Stephen J.; William G. Nash; David E. Wildt; Mitchell Bush; and Raoul E. Benveniste. 1985. "A Molecular Solution to the Riddle of the Giant Panda's Phylogeny." Nature 317, (6033): 140-144. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/162

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015