Relationships of Cetacea (Artiodactyla) among mammals: increased taxon sampling alters interpretations of key fossils and character evolution
- PMID: 19774069
- PMCID: PMC2740860
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007062
Relationships of Cetacea (Artiodactyla) among mammals: increased taxon sampling alters interpretations of key fossils and character evolution
Abstract
Background: Integration of diverse data (molecules, fossils) provides the most robust test of the phylogeny of cetaceans. Positioning key fossils is critical for reconstructing the character change from life on land to life in the water.
Methodology/principal findings: We reexamine relationships of critical extinct taxa that impact our understanding of the origin of Cetacea. We do this in the context of the largest total evidence analysis of morphological and molecular information for Artiodactyla (661 phenotypic characters and 46,587 molecular characters, coded for 33 extant and 48 extinct taxa). We score morphological data for Carnivoramorpha, Creodonta, Lipotyphla, and the raoellid artiodactylan Indohyus and concentrate on determining which fossils are positioned along stem lineages to major artiodactylan crown clades. Shortest trees place Cetacea within Artiodactyla and close to Indohyus, with Mesonychia outside of Artiodactyla. The relationships of Mesonychia and Indohyus are highly unstable, however--in trees only two steps longer than minimum length, Mesonychia falls inside Artiodactyla and displaces Indohyus from a position close to Cetacea. Trees based only on data that fossilize continue to show the classic arrangement of relationships within Artiodactyla with Cetacea grouping outside the clade, a signal incongruent with the molecular data that dominate the total evidence result.
Conclusions/significance: Integration of new fossil material of Indohyus impacts placement of another extinct clade Mesonychia, pushing it much farther down the tree. The phylogenetic position of Indohyus suggests that the cetacean stem lineage included herbivorous and carnivorous aquatic species. We also conclude that extinct members of Cetancodonta (whales+hippopotamids) shared a derived ability to hear underwater sounds, even though several cetancodontans lack a pachyostotic auditory bulla. We revise the taxonomy of living and extinct artiodactylans and propose explicit node and stem-based definitions for the ingroup.
Conflict of interest statement
Figures
Similar articles
-
The position of Cetacea within mammalia: phylogenetic analysis of morphological data from extinct and extant taxa.Syst Biol. 1999 Sep;48(3):455-90. doi: 10.1080/106351599260102. Syst Biol. 1999. PMID: 12066291
-
A supermatrix analysis of genomic, morphological, and paleontological data from crown Cetacea.BMC Evol Biol. 2011 Apr 25;11:112. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-112. BMC Evol Biol. 2011. PMID: 21518443 Free PMC article.
-
Impact of increased character sampling on the phylogeny of Cetartiodactyla (Mammalia): combined analysis including fossils.Cladistics. 2008 Aug;24(4):397-442. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2007.00187.x. Epub 2007 Nov 16. Cladistics. 2008. PMID: 34879630
-
Evolving between land and water: key questions on the emergence and history of the Hippopotamidae (Hippopotamoidea, Cetancodonta, Cetartiodactyla).Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2011 Aug;86(3):601-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00162.x. Epub 2010 Oct 15. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2011. PMID: 20946539 Review.
-
A complete phylogeny of the whales, dolphins and even-toed hoofed mammals (Cetartiodactyla).Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2005 Aug;80(3):445-73. doi: 10.1017/s1464793105006743. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2005. PMID: 16094808 Review.
Cited by
-
Molecular Evidence for Relaxed Selection on the Enamel Genes of Toothed Whales (Odontoceti) with Degenerative Enamel Phenotypes.Genes (Basel). 2024 Feb 10;15(2):228. doi: 10.3390/genes15020228. Genes (Basel). 2024. PMID: 38397217 Free PMC article.
-
DNA barcoding for the identification and authentication of medicinal deer (Cervus sp.) products in China.PLoS One. 2024 Jan 19;19(1):e0297164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297164. eCollection 2024. PLoS One. 2024. PMID: 38241246 Free PMC article.
-
Exploring objective feature sets in constructing the evolution relationship of animal genome sequences.BMC Genomics. 2023 Oct 24;24(1):634. doi: 10.1186/s12864-023-09747-x. BMC Genomics. 2023. PMID: 37872534 Free PMC article.
-
Comparison of the Rostral Epidural Rete Mirabile and the Patterns of Its Blood Supply in Selected Suiformes and Hippopotamuses.Animals (Basel). 2023 Feb 13;13(4):644. doi: 10.3390/ani13040644. Animals (Basel). 2023. PMID: 36830431 Free PMC article.
-
Diet evolution of carnivorous and herbivorous mammals in Laurasiatheria.BMC Ecol Evol. 2022 Jun 21;22(1):82. doi: 10.1186/s12862-022-02033-6. BMC Ecol Evol. 2022. PMID: 35729512 Free PMC article.
References
-
- O'Leary MA, Gatesy J. Impact of increased character sampling on the phylogeny of Cetartiodactyla (Mammalia): Combined analysis including fossils. Cladistics. 2008;24:397–442. - PubMed
-
- Gatesy J, O'Leary MA. Deciphering whale origins with molecules and fossils. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 2001;16:562–570.
-
- Thewissen JGM, Cooper LN, Clementz MT, Bajpai S, Tiwari BN. Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India. Nature. 2007;450:1190–1195. - PubMed
-
- Gingerich PD, Haq MU, Zalmout IS, Khan IH, Malkani MS. Origin of whales from early artiodactyls: Hands and feet of Eocene Protocetidae from Pakistan. Science. 2001;293:2239–2242. - PubMed
-
- Thewissen JGM, Williams EM, Roe LJ, Hussain ST. Skeletons of terrestrial cetaceans and the relationship of whales to artiodactyls. Nature. 2001;413:277–281. - PubMed
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources