Ancient mitogenomics clarifies radiation of extinct Mascarene giant tortoises (Cylindraspis spp.)
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nature research
Abstract
The five extinct giant tortoises of the genus Cylindraspis belong to the most iconic species of the
enigmatic fauna of the Mascarene Islands that went largely extinct after the discovery of the islands.
To resolve the phylogeny and biogeography of Cylindraspis, we analysed a data set of 45 mitogenomes
that includes all lineages of extant tortoises and eight near-complete sequences of all Mascarene
species extracted from historic and subfossil material. Cylindraspis is an ancient lineage that diverged
as early as the late Eocene. Diversification of Cylindraspis commenced in the mid-Oligocene, long
before the formation of the Mascarene Islands. This rejects any notion suggesting that the group either
arrived from nearby or distant continents over the course of the last millions of years or had even
been translocated to the islands by humans. Instead, Cylindraspis likely originated on now submerged
islands of the Réunion Hotspot and utilized these to island hop to reach the Mascarenes. The final
diversification took place both before and after the arrival on the Mascarenes. With Cylindraspis a
deeply divergent clade of tortoises became extinct that evolved long before the dodo or the Rodrigues
solitaire, two other charismatic species of the lost Mascarene fauna.
Description
Keywords
Cylindraspis, Tortoises, Mitogenomes, Mascarene fauna
Citation
Kehlmaier, Christian & Graciá, Eva & Campbell, Patrick & Hofmeyr, Margaretha & Schweiger, Silke & Martinez Silvestre, Albert & Joyce, Walter & Fritz, Uwe. (2019). Ancient mitogenomics clarifies radiation of extinct Mascarene giant tortoises (Cylindraspis spp.). Scientific Reports. 9. 10.1038/s41598-019-54019-y.