Skeleton of a Cretaceous mammal from Madagascar reflects long-term insularity

Krause, David W.; Hoffmann, Simone; Wible, John R.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Kirk, E. Christopher; Groenke, Joseph; Rogers, Raymond R.; Rossie, James B.; Schultz, Julia A.; Evans, Alistair R.; Koenigswald, Wighart von; Rahantarisoa, Lydia J.

doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2234-8

Cited by 544 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Molecular clock estimates are notoriously difficult to compare across studies because of variable substitution rates in different genomic sequences and lineages. Crottini et al (2012) (gondwanatheres, dinosaurs, early birds; Krause et al, 1997Krause et al, , 2020.…”

Section: E S Timating the Ag E S Of Madag A Sc Ar ' S Verteb R Ate mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like a continental island, Madagascar had an indigenous flora and fauna prior to colonization, although much of this biota was lost during the global mass extinction 66 Ma ago (Crottini et al, 2012;Krause et al, 2020). Despite its isolation, Madagascar has endemic mammals and amphibians.…”

Section: What Mak E S Madag a Sc Ar Uni Que And Why Is Its Colonimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While sweepstakes dispersal, based on irregular, stochastic opportunities, predicts a random model of colonization, Figure 1 indicates a more constrained pattern. The iguanas (Opluridae) and river turtles (Podecnemididae) are likely to have been present on the Gondwanan supercontinent, alongside the extinct Cretaceous fauna (gondwanatheres, dinosaurs, early birds; Krause et al., 1997, 2020). The South American affinities of these ancient taxa imply the existence of a late Cretaceous land connection between Madagascar and the South America–Antarctica–Australia landmass (Krause et al., 1997; Masters et al., 2006; Noonan & Chippendale, 2006; Sampson et al., 1998; Yoder & Nowak, 2006).…”

Section: Estimating the Ages Of Madagascar’s Vertebrate Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the disjunction between the reconstructed divergence dates of living mammal clades and the continental drift histories of Africa and Madagascar, biogeographers have had little choice but to revert to the old “fixed‐continent” models of inter‐continental dispersal (Darlington, 1957; Simpson, 1940). Transoceanic journeys on rafts of vegetation have become, once again, the only imaginable means of Madagascar's colonization by Cenozoic clades of terrestrial animals (Ali & Huber, 2010; Ali & Vences, 2019; Kappeler, 2000; Krause, 2010; Krause et al., 2020; Mahé, 1972; Martin, 1972; Nagy et al., 2003; Quammen, 1996; Samonds et al., 2012, 2013; Stuenes, 1989; Vences et al., 2004; Yoder, 1996; Yoder et al., 2003; Yoder & Nowak, 2006). In the absence of contradictory information, the scenario has assumed the following elements:…”

Section: Introduction: Rifting Versus Raftingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biogeographic mechanisms involved in the colonization of Madagascar by African vertebrates: Rifting, rafting and runways

Masters

Génin

Zhang

et al. 2020

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim: For 80 years, popular opinion has held that most of Madagascar's terrestrial vertebrates arrived from Africa by transoceanic dispersal (i.e. rafting or swimming). We reviewed this proposition, focussing on three ad hoc hypotheses proposed to render this unlikely scenario more feasible: (a) Could hibernation have helped mammals to reach Madagascar? (b) Could the aquatic abilities of hippopotamuses have enabled them to swim the Mozambique Channel? (c) How valid is the Ali-Huber model predicting that eastward Palaeogene surface currents allowed rafts to reach Madagascar in 3-4 weeks? Finally, we explored the alternative hypothesis of geodispersal via short-lived land bridges between Africa and Madagascar.

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Section: E S Timating the Ag E S Of Madag A Sc Ar ' S Verteb R Ate mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Mak E S Madag a Sc Ar Uni Que And Why Is Its Colonimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Estimating the Ages Of Madagascar’s Vertebrate Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction: Rifting Versus Raftingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Biogeographic mechanisms involved in the colonization of Madagascar by African vertebrates: Rifting, rafting and runways

Masters

Génin

Zhang

et al. 2020

Journal of Biogeography

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“…Conversely, others have recovered haramiyidans outside Mammalia, but with multituberculates remaining within Mammalia [3,11,12] (figure 1, topology 2a), suggesting that allotherian dental apomorphies have evolved more than once. Finally, two studies recovered diphyletic haramiyidans, with the euharamiyidans forming a clade with multituberculates within crown mammals, but the Triassic species Haramiyavia and Thomasia falling outside the crown group [13,14] (figure 1, topology 2b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tip dating supports novel resolutions of controversial relationships among early mammals

King

Beck

2020

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The estimation of the timing of major divergences in early mammal evolution is challenging owing to conflicting interpretations of key fossil taxa. One contentious group is Haramiyida, the earliest members of which are from the Late Triassic. Many phylogenetic analyses have placed haramiyidans in a clade with multituberculates within crown Mammalia, thus extending the minimum divergence date for the crown group deep into the Triassic. A second taxon of interest is the eutherian Juramaia from the Middle–Late Jurassic Yanliao Biota, which is morphologically very similar to eutherians from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota and implies a very early origin for therian mammals. Here, we apply Bayesian tip-dated phylogenetic methods to investigate these issues. Tip dating firmly rejects a monophyletic Allotheria (multituberculates and haramiyidans), which are split into three separate clades, a result not found in any previous analysis. Most notably, the Late Triassic Haramiyavia and Thomasia are separate from the Middle Jurassic euharamiyidans. We also test whether the Middle–Late Jurassic age of Juramaia is ‘expected’ given its known morphology by assigning an age prior without hard bounds. Strikingly, this analysis supports an Early Cretaceous age for Juramaia , but similar analyses on 12 other mammaliaforms from the Yanliao Biota return the correct, Jurassic age. Our results show that analyses incorporating stratigraphic data can produce results very different from other methods. Early mammal evolution may have involved multiple instances of convergent morphological evolution (e.g. in the dentition), and tip dating may be a method uniquely suitable to recognizing this owing to the incorporation of stratigraphic data. Our results also confirm that Juramaia is anomalous in exhibiting a much more derived morphology than expected given its age, which in turn implies very high rates of evolution at the base of therian mammals.

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Madagascar

2021

Evolution of Island Mammals

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Skeleton of a Cretaceous mammal from Madagascar reflects long-term insularity

Cited by 544 publications

References 41 publications

Biogeographic mechanisms involved in the colonization of Madagascar by African vertebrates: Rifting, rafting and runways

Biogeographic mechanisms involved in the colonization of Madagascar by African vertebrates: Rifting, rafting and runways

Tip dating supports novel resolutions of controversial relationships among early mammals

Madagascar

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