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Taxonomy, Systematics and Evolution of Giant Deer Megaloceros Giganteus (Blumenbach, 1799) (Cervidae, Mammalia) from the Pleistocene of Eurasia. QUATERNARY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/quat4040036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The article presents a preliminary morphological description of the holotype of Megaloceros giganteus (Blumenbach, 1799) that serves for the description of the species. The article proposes a taxonomical and morphological revision of the nominotypical subspecies M. giganteus giganteus and morphological comparison with other subspecies of M. giganteus. The cluster analysis of diagnostic craniodental and antler characters revealed the systematic position and phylogenetic relationships of M. giganteus with other cervid groups. The genus Praedama is regarded as a closely related phylogenetic branch that linked to the direct cursorial forerunner of Megaloceros that evolved in the middle latitudes of Western Siberia and northern Kazakhstan. The genus Dama has a distant relationship with Megaloceros and represents an earlier phylogenetic branch that evolved in the Ponto-Mediterranean area. The article discusses the secondary adaptations of M. giganteus forms to forest and woodland habitats in Europe and general paleobiogeographic features of the Megaloceros lineage.
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Paunović G, Bogićević K, Urošević A. Intraspecific differentiation and sexual dimorphism in giant deer (
Megaloceros giganteus
Blumenbach, 1799; Artiodactyla, Cervidae) skulls found in Serbia. ACTA ZOOL-STOCKHOLM 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/azo.12325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Katarina Bogićević
- Department of Paleontology Faculty of Mining and Geology University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia
| | - Aleksandar Urošević
- Department of Evolutionary Biology Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković"‐ National Institute of Republic of Serbia University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia
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Bro-Jørgensen J. Will their armaments be their downfall? Large horn size increases extinction risk in bovids. Anim Conserv 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/acv.12062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- J. Bro-Jørgensen
- Mammalian Behaviour & Evolution Group; Department of Evolution, Ecology & Behaviour; Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus; Neston UK
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Gogarten JF, Grine FE. Seasonal mortality patterns in primates: implications for the interpretation of dental microwear. Evol Anthropol 2013; 22:9-19. [PMID: 23436645 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
The microscopic traces of use wear on teeth have been extensively studied to provide information that will assist in elucidating the dietary habits of extinct hominin species. It has been amply documented that dental microwear provides information pertaining to diet for living animals, where there is a strong and consistent association between dental microwear patterns and different types of foods that are chewed. The details of occlusal surface wear patterns are capable of distinguishing among diets when the constituent food items differ in their fracture properties. For example, the microwear traces left on the teeth of mammals that crush hard, brittle foods such as nuts are generally dominated by pits, whereas traces left on the teeth of mammals that shear tough items such as leaves tend to be characterized by scratches. These microwear features result from and thus record actual chewing events. As such, microwear patterns are expected to be variably ephemeral, as individual features are worn away and replaced or overprinted by others as the tooth wears down in subsequent bouts of mastication. Indeed, it has been demonstrated, both in the laboratory and the wild, that short-term dietary variation can result in the turnover of microwear. Because occlusal microwear potentially reflects an individual's diet for a short time (days, weeks, or months, depending on the nature of the foods being masticated), tooth surfaces sampled at different times will display differences that relate to temporal (for example, seasonal) differences in diet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan F Gogarten
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
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Gogarten JF, Brown LM, Chapman CA, Cords M, Doran-Sheehy D, Fedigan LM, Grine FE, Perry S, Pusey AE, Sterck EHM, Wich SA, Wright PC. Seasonal mortality patterns in non-human primates: implications for variation in selection pressures across environments. Evolution 2012; 66:3252-66. [PMID: 23025613 PMCID: PMC3955579 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01668.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Examining seasonal mortality patterns can yield insights into the drivers of mortality and thus potential selection pressures acting on individuals in different environments. We compiled adult and juvenile mortality data from nine wild non-human primate taxa to investigate the role of seasonality in patterns of mortality and address the following questions: Is mortality highly seasonal across species? Does greater environmental seasonality lead to more seasonal mortality patterns? If mortality is seasonal, is it higher during wet seasons or during periods of food scarcity? and Do folivores show less seasonal mortality than frugivores? We found seasonal mortality patterns in five of nine taxa, and mortality was more often tied to wet seasons than food-scarce periods, a relationship that may be driven by disease. Controlling for phylogeny, we found a positive relationship between the degree of environmental seasonality and mortality, with folivores exhibiting more seasonal mortality than frugivores. These results suggest that mortality patterns are influenced both by diet and degree of environmental seasonality. Applied to a wider array of taxa, analyses of seasonal mortality patterns may aid understanding of life-history evolution and selection pressures acting across a broad spectrum of environments and spatial and temporal scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan F Gogarten
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA.
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MIHLBACHLER MATTHEWC. Palaeodemographics of small-bodied mammals in Pleistocene environments: a case study of muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus: Rodentia: Muridae) from north Florida. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01849.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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O'Driscoll Worman C, Kimbrell T. Getting to the hart of the matter: did antlers truly cause the extinction of the Irish elk? OIKOS 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.0030-1299.2008.16608.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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8
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Mihlbachler MC. Sexual Dimorphism and Mortality Bias in a Small Miocene North American Rhino, Menoceras arikarense: Insights into the Coevolution of Sexual Dimorphism and Sociality in Rhinos. J MAMM EVOL 2007. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-007-9048-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Klein RG, Avery G, Cruz-Uribe K, Steele TE. The mammalian fauna associated with an archaic hominin skullcap and later Acheulean artifacts at Elandsfontein, Western Cape Province, South Africa. J Hum Evol 2007; 52:164-86. [PMID: 17030056 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 137] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2006] [Revised: 03/01/2006] [Accepted: 08/21/2006] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The Elandsfontein site, Western Cape Province, South Africa, is well known for an archaic hominin skullcap associated with later Acheulean artifacts. The site has also provided nearly 13,000 mammalian bones that can be identified to skeletal part and taxon. The assemblage derives from 49 species, 15 of which have no historic descendants. Comparisons to radiometrically dated faunas in eastern Africa indicate an age between 1 million and 600 thousand years ago. Unique features of the fauna, including the late occurrence of a dirk-toothed cat and a sivathere, may reflect its geographic origin in a region that was notable historically for its distinctive climate and high degree of biotic endemism. Together, taxonomic composition, geomorphic setting, and pollen extracted from coprolites indicate the proximity of a large marsh or pond, maintained by a higher water table. The small average size of the black-backed jackals implies relatively mild temperatures. The sum of the evidence places bone accumulation during one of the mid-Pleistocene interglacials that were longer and cooler than later ones, including the Holocene. The geomorphic context of the fauna presents no evidence for catastrophe, and most deaths probably resulted from attritional factors that disproportionately killed the young and old. However, only the dental-age profile of long-horned buffalo supports this directly. Field collection methods biased skeletal-part representation, but originally, it probably resembled the pattern in the younger, marsh-edge Acheulean occurrence at Duinefontein 2, 45 km to the south. Excavation there exposed multiple vertebral spreads, which probably mark carcasses from which hominins or large carnivores removed the meatier elements. Bone damage at both sites suggests that, despite abundant artifacts, hominins were much less important than carnivores in the bone accumulation. Together with limited observations from other sites, Elandsfontein and Duinefontein provisionally suggest that Acheulean-age hominins obtained few large mammals, whether by hunting or scavenging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard G Klein
- Program in Human Biology, Stanford University, Building 80, Inner Quad, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
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Koch PL, Barnosky AD. Late Quaternary Extinctions: State of the Debate. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS 2006. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 588] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Paul L. Koch
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064;
| | - Anthony D. Barnosky
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museums of Paleontology and Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California 74720;
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11
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Kuehn R, Ludt CJ, Schroeder W, Rottmann O. Molecular phylogeny of Megaloceros giganteus--the giant deer or just a giant red deer? Zoolog Sci 2006; 22:1031-44. [PMID: 16219984 DOI: 10.2108/zsj.22.1031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Two fragments of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the cytochrome b gene (137 bp and 167 bp) were successfully isolated and sequenced from antlers and bones of five specimens of the Giant Deer (Megaloceros giganteus) to examine the phylogenetic position of Megaloceros giganteus within the family Cervidae. This is the first report on ancient DNA (aDNA) sequences from Megaloceros giganteus. A phylogenetic analysis based on parameter-rich models describes the evolutionary relationships between five individuals of fossil Megaloceros giganteus and 37 individuals of 11 extant species of the family Cervidae. The results support a "Cervus-Megaloceros" clade. The phylogenetic positions of sympatric Megaloceros and Cervus elaphus specimens in particular indicate either that the Megaloceros mtDNA gene pool did not evolve for a substantial time period as an entity distinct from Cervus elaphus until its extinction, or that Megaloceros contributed mtDNA to Cervus elaphus or vice versa. The results of this study allow the conclusion that the European Megaloceros giganteus is more related to its modern regional counterparts of the species of Cervus elaphus than recent claims have suggested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralph Kuehn
- Department of Ecosystem and Landscape Management, Wildlife Biology and Wildlife Management Unit, Technische Universität München-Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany.
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12
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Turvey ST, Holdaway RN. Postnatal ontogeny, population structure, and extinction of the giant moaDinornis. J Morphol 2005; 265:70-86. [PMID: 15880459 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.10341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Recent reinterpretation of the giant moa Dinornis as consisting of two sexually dimorphic allospecies permits thorough site-by-site investigation of the ontogeny and population biology of this genus. Analysis of subadult skeletal material from natural swamp sites in the North and South Islands of New Zealand forms the basis for recognition of growth series for each long bone element, characterized by sequential formation of fossulae in the femur and fusion of bones in the tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus. Femora reached progressive developmental stages more rapidly than the other long bones, but all three elements reached maturity at about the same time. Patterns of bone fusion in Dinornis are more similar to those in Apteryx than in Struthio, and kiwi are recognized as a suitable developmental analog for interpreting moa ontogeny. Samples from Bell Hill Vineyard Swamp (South Island) and Makirikiri swamp (North Island) are interpreted as representing autochthonous moa populations; comparison with stages of kiwi long bone development suggests that Dinornis at these sites had high adult survivorship in strongly K-selected populations, with 72.5-87.3% of individuals having achieved adult body mass, and 55.9-78.2% being sexually mature. The pattern of low fecundity and probable high longevity in both Dinornis species suggests that populations were vulnerable to loss of adults, primarily through hunting, rather than as a result of habitat destruction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel T Turvey
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, PB 4800 Christchurch, New Zealand.
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Stuart AJ, Kosintsev PA, Higham TFG, Lister AM. Pleistocene to Holocene extinction dynamics in giant deer and woolly mammoth. Nature 2004; 431:684-9. [PMID: 15470427 DOI: 10.1038/nature02890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2003] [Accepted: 07/27/2004] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The extinction of the many well-known large mammals (megafauna) of the Late Pleistocene epoch has usually been attributed to 'overkill' by human hunters, climatic/vegetational changes or to a combination of both. An accurate knowledge of the geography and chronology of these extinctions is crucial for testing these hypotheses. Previous assumptions that the megafauna of northern Eurasia had disappeared by the Pleistocene/Holocene transition were first challenged a decade ago by the discovery that the latest woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island, northeastern Siberia, were contemporaneous with ancient Egyptian civilization. Here we show that another spectacular megafaunal species, the giant deer or 'Irish elk', survived to around 6,900 radiocarbon yr bp (about 7,700 yr ago) in western Siberia-more than three millennia later than its previously accepted terminal date-and therefore, that the reasons for its ultimate demise are to be sought in Holocene not Pleistocene events. Before their extinction, both giant deer and woolly mammoth underwent dramatic shifts in distribution, driven largely by climatic/vegetational changes. Their differing responses reflect major differences in ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- A J Stuart
- Department of Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
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Barnosky AD, Koch PL, Feranec RS, Wing SL, Shabel AB. Assessing the Causes of Late Pleistocene Extinctions on the Continents. Science 2004; 306:70-5. [PMID: 15459379 DOI: 10.1126/science.1101476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 288] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
One of the great debates about extinction is whether humans or climatic change caused the demise of the Pleistocene megafauna. Evidence from paleontology, climatology, archaeology, and ecology now supports the idea that humans contributed to extinction on some continents, but human hunting was not solely responsible for the pattern of extinction everywhere. Instead, evidence suggests that the intersection of human impacts with pronounced climatic change drove the precise timing and geography of extinction in the Northern Hemisphere. The story from the Southern Hemisphere is still unfolding. New evidence from Australia supports the view that humans helped cause extinctions there, but the correlation with climate is weak or contested. Firmer chronologies, more realistic ecological models, and regional paleoecological insights still are needed to understand details of the worldwide extinction pattern and the population dynamics of the species involved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony D Barnosky
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museums of Paleontology and Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
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Berger J, Dulamtseren S, Cain S, Enkkhbileg D, Lichtman P, Namshir Z, Wingard G, Reading R. Back-casting sociality in extinct species: new perspectives using mass death assemblages and sex ratios. Proc Biol Sci 2001; 268:131-9. [PMID: 11209882 PMCID: PMC1088582 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2000.1341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite 150 years of interest in the ecology of dinosaurs, mammoths, proto-hominids and other extinct vertebrates, a general framework to recreate patterns of sociality has been elusive. Based on our recent discovery of a contemporary heterospecific mass death assemblage in the Gobi Desert (Mongolia), we fit predictions about gender-specific associations and group living in extant ungulates to extinct ones. We relied on comparative data on sex-ratio variation and body-size dimorphism, basing analyses on 38 additional mass mortality sites from Asia, Africa, Europe and North America that span 50 million years. Both extant and extinct species died in aggregations with biased adult sex ratios, but the skew (from 1:1) was greater for extinct dimorphic taxa, suggesting that sociality in these extinct species can be predicted from spatial and demographic traits of extant ones. However, extinct rhinos, horses and zebras were inconsistent with predictions about adult sex ratios, which underscores the inherent difficulty in backcasting historic patterns to some monomorphic taxa. These findings shed light not only on the sociality of extinct species but provide a sound, although limited, footing for interpretation of modern death assemblages within the context of the emerging science of taphonomy and palaeobehaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Berger
- Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno 89512, USA.
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Stuart AJ. Mammalian extinctions in the late Pleistocene of northern Eurasia and North America. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 1991; 66:453-562. [PMID: 1801948 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-185x.1991.tb01149.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 161] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
The 'mass extinctions' at the end of the Pleistocene were unique, both in the Pleistocene and earlier in the geological record, in that the species lost were nearly all large terrestrial mammals. Although a global phenomenon, late Pleistocene extinctions were most severe in North America, South America and Australia, and moderate in northern Eurasia (Europe plus Soviet Asia). In Africa, where nearly all of the late Pleistocene 'megafauna' survives to the present day, losses were slight. Ruling out epidemic disease or cosmic catastrophe, the contending hypotheses to explain late Pleistocene extinctions are: (a) failure to adapt to climatic/environmental change; and (b) extermination by human hunters ('prehistoric overkill'). This review focuses on extinctions in northern Eurasia (mainly Europe) in comparison with North America. In addition to reviewing the faunal evidence, the highly relevant environmental and archaeological backgrounds are summarized. The latest survival dates of extinct species are estimated from stratigraphic occurrences of fossil remains, radiocarbon dates, or association with archaeological industries. The Middle and Upper Pleistocene (ca. 700,000-10,000 BP) in northern Eurasia and North America was a time of constantly changing climate, ranging from phases of extensive glaciation in cold stages, to temperate periods (interglacials). In the Lateglacial (ca. 15,000-10,000 BP), during which most extinctions occurred, there was a major reorganization of vegetation, mainly involving the replacement of open vegetation by forests. These changes were more profound than earlier in the Last Cold Stage, but similar in nature to vegetational changes that took place at previous cold stage/interglacial transitions. The archaeological record shows that humans have been present in Europe since the early Middle Pleistocene. The arrival in Europe ca. 35,000 BP of 'anatomically modern humans', with their technologically more advanced upper palaeolithic industries, was a 'quantum leap' in human history. Extinctions occurred throughout the European Pleistocene, but until the late Pleistocene most losses were replaced by the evolution or immigration of new species, and most of those lost without replacement were small mammals. In marked contrast, extinctions without replacement in the late Pleistocene were almost entirely confined to the largest mammals (greater than 1000 kg) and some medium-large species (100-1000 kg).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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