Mieczyslaw Wolsan

Deciphering and dating the red panda's ancestry and early adaptive radiation of Musteloidea.

Few species have been of more disputed affinities than the red or lesser panda (Ailurus fulgens), an endangered endemic Southeast Asian vegetarian member of the placental mammalian order Carnivora. This peculiar carnivoran has mostly been classified with raccoons (Procyonidae) or bears (Ursidae), grouped with the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) in their own family, or considered a separate lineage of equivocal ancestry. Recent molecular studies have indicated a close affinity of the red panda to a clade of procyonids and mustelids (weasels, otters, martens, badgers, and allies), but have failed to unambiguously resolve the position of this species relative to mephitids (skunks and stink badgers). We examined the relationship of the red panda to other extant species of the carnivoran suborder Caniformia using a set of concatenated approximately 5.5-kb sequences from protein-coding exons of five nuclear genes. Bayesian, maximum likelihood, and parsimony phylogenetic analyses strongly supported the red panda as the closest living relative of a clade containing Procyonidae and Mustelidae to the exclusion of Mephitidae. These three families together with the red panda (which is classified here as a single extant species of a distinct family, Ailuridae) compose the superfamily Musteloidea, a clade strongly supported by all our phylogenetic analyses as sister to the monophyletic Pinnipedia (seals, sea lions, walruses). The approximately unbiased, Kishino-Hasegawa, and Templeton topology tests rejected (P<0.05) each of all possible alternative hypotheses about the relationships among the red panda and mephitids, procyonids, and mustelids. We also estimated divergence times for the red pandas lineage and ones of other caniform taxa, as well as the ages of the first appearance datums for the crown and total clades of musteloids and the total clades of the red panda, mephitids, procyonids, and mustelids. Bayesian relaxed molecular-clock analysis using combined information from all sampled genes yielded a approximately 42-Myr timescale to caniform evolution and provided evidence of five periods of increased diversification. The red pandas lineage and those of other extant musteloid families are estimated to have diverged during a 3-Myr interval from the mid-Early Oligocene to near the Early/Late Oligocene boundary. We present fossil evidence that extends the early adaptive radiation of the total clade of musteloids to the Eocene-Oligocene transition and also suggests Asia as a center of this radiation.

Evidence from Nuclear DNA Sequences Sheds Light on the Phylogenetic Relationships of Pinnipedia: Single Origin with Affinity to Musteloidea

Abstract Considerable long-standing controversy and confusion surround the phylogenetic affinities of pinnipeds, the largely marine group of “fin-footed” members of the placental mammalian order Carnivora. Until most recently, the two major competing hypotheses were that the pinnipeds have a single (monophyletic) origin from a bear-like ancestor, or that they have a dual (diphyletic) origin, with sea lions (Otariidae) derived from a bear-like ancestor, and seals (Phocidae) derived from an otter-, mustelid-, or musteloid-like ancestor. We examined phylogenetic relationships among 29 species of arctoid carnivorans using a concatenated sequence of 3228 bp from three nuclear loci (apolipoprotein B, APOB; interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein, IRBP; recombination-activating gene 1, RAG1). The species represented Pinnipedia (Otariidae: Callorhinus, Eumetopias; Phocidae: Phoca), bears (Ursidae: Ursus, Melursus), and Musteloidea (Mustelidae: Mustela, Enhydra, Melogale, Martes, Gulo, Meles; Procyonidae: Procyon; Ailuridae: Ailurus; Mephitidae: Mephitis). Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference phylogenetic analyses of separate and combined datasets produced trees with largely congruent topologies. The analyses of the combined dataset resulted in well-resolved and well-supported phylogeny reconstructions. Evidence from nuclear DNA evolution presented here contradicts the two major hypotheses of pinniped relationships and strongly suggests a single origin of the pinnipeds from an arctoid ancestor shared with Musteloidea to the exclusion of Ursidae.

Molecular Phylogeny of Arctoids (Mammalia: Carnivora) with Emphasis on Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Positions of the Ferret-badgers and Skunks

Abstract Phylogenetic relationships among the ferret-badger Melogale moschata, the skunk Mephitis mephitis, and 21 other arctoid carnivorans, representing Mustelidae (Mustelinae: Mustela, Martes, Gulo; Lutrinae: Enhydra; Melinae: Meles), Procyonidae (Procyon), and Ursidae (Ursus, Melursus), were evaluated through maximum-parsimony phylogenetic analysis of concatenated partial nucleotide sequences of the nuclear recombination-activating gene 1 (RAG1) and gene encoding interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP). The analysis strongly supports Melogale as more closely related to a musteline-lutrine clade (containing Mustela and Enhydra) than to Meles or another musteline clade containing Martes and Gulo (causing Melinae and Mustelinae, as traditionally circumscribed, to be nonmonophyletic). This, together with known morphological and karyological evidence for nonmeline affinities of Melogale, justify the exclusion of the ferret-badgers from the monophyletic Melinae. Therefore, we recommend that Melogale be classified in a distinct mustelid subfamily, the monotypic Helictidinae. Our analysis also strongly supports an outgroup position of the skunks to a clade containing Procyonidae and the nonmephitine Mustelidae (causing Mustelidae, as traditionally circumscribed, to be paraphyletic). This position of the skunks agrees with results of most previous genetic studies. However, it is contradicted by known morphological evidence from both living and fossil taxa, as well as genetic evidence from protein electrophoresis. These consistently support the traditional placement of the skunks within the monophyletic Mustelidae (recently in a close relationship to Lutrinae). Therefore, we consider the recent elevation of the skunks to the level of family as premature, and recommend that this clade be left at the subfamily level (Mephitinae) within the family Mustelidae, pending further evidence.

Effects of data incompleteness on the relative performance of parsimony and Bayesian approaches in a supermatrix phylogenetic reconstruction of Mustelidae and Procyonidae (Carnivora)

Missing data are commonly thought to impede a resolved or accurate reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships, and probabilistic analysis techniques are increasingly viewed as less vulnerable to the negative effects of data incompleteness than parsimony analyses. We test both assumptions empirically by conducting parsimony and Bayesian analyses on an approximately 1.5 × 106‐cell (27 965 characters × 52 species) mustelid–procyonid molecular supermatrix with 62.7% missing entries. Contrary to the first assumption, phylogenetic relationships inferred from our analyses are fully (Bayesian) or almost fully (parsimony) resolved topologically with mostly strong support and also largely in accord with prior molecular estimations of mustelid and procyonid phylogeny derived with parsimony, Bayesian, and other probabilistic analysis techniques from smaller but complete or nearly complete data sets. Contrary to the second assumption, we found no compelling evidence in support of a relationship between the inferior performance of parsimony and taxon incompleteness (i.e. the proportion of missing character data for a taxon), although we found evidence for a connection between the inferior performance of parsimony and character incompleteness (i.e. no overlap in character data between some taxa). The relatively good performance of our analyses may be related to the large number of sampled characters, so that most taxa (even highly incomplete ones) are represented by a sufficient number of characters allowing both approaches to resolve their relationships.

Integration, individuality and species concepts

Integration (interaction among parts of an entity) is suggested to be necessary for individuality (contra, Metaphysics and the Origin of Species). A synchronic species is an integrated individual that can evolve as a unified whole; a diachronic lineage is a non-integrated historical entity that cannot evolve. Synchronic species and diachronic lineages are consequently suggested to be ontologically distinct entities, rather than alternative perspectives of the same underlying entity (contra Baum (1998), Syst. Biol. 47, 641–653; de Queiroz (1995), Endless Forms: Species and Speciation, pp. 57–75; Genes, Categories and Species). Species concepts usually refer to either one or the other entity; for instance, the Biological Species Concept refers to synchronic species, whereas the Cladistic Species Concept refers to diachronic lineages. The debate over species concepts has often failed to recognise this distinction, resulting in invalid comparisons between definitions that attempt to delineate fundamentally different entities.

Mitochondrial genomes reveal the pattern and timing of marten (Martes), wolverine (Gulo), and fisher (Pekania) diversification

Despite recent advances in understanding the pattern and timescale of evolutionary diversification in the marten, wolverine, fisher, and tayra subfamily Guloninae (Mustelidae, Carnivora), several important issues still remain contentious. Among these are the phylogenetic position of Gulo relative to the subgenera of Martes (Martes and Charronia), the phylogenetic relationships within the subgenus Martes, and the timing of gulonine divergences. To elucidate these issues we explored nucleotide variation in 11 whole mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from eight gulonine species and two outgroup meline species. Parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses yielded fully resolved and identical patterns of relationships with high support for all divergences. The generic status of Pekania (P. pennanti), the monophyly of the genus Martes containing M. flavigula (subgenus Charronia) to the exclusion of the genus Gulo (G. gulo), and the M. foina (M. americana (M. melampus (M. zibellina, M. martes))) phylogeny of the subgenus Martes were strongly supported. Dating analyses (BEAST) using a set of five newly applied fossil calibrations provided divergence times considerably younger than previous multigene mitochondrial estimates, but similar to multigene nuclear and nuclear-mitochondrial estimates. The 95% confidence (highest posterior density) intervals of our divergence times fell within those inferred from nuclear and nuclear-mitochondrial sequence data, and were markedly narrower than in earlier studies (whether nuclear, mitochondrial, or combined). Notably, and contrary to long-held beliefs, our findings indicate that fossils older than the Tortonian-Messinian transition (late Late Miocene) do not represent Martes, excluding from this genus its putative members from the Early, Middle, and early Late Miocene. This study demonstrates the high informativeness of the mitogenome for phylogenetic inference and divergence time estimation within Guloninae, and suggests that mitogenomes can be highly informative also for other clades at similar levels of evolutionary divergence.

Loss or major reduction of umami taste sensation in pinnipeds.

Umami is one of basic tastes that humans and other vertebrates can perceive. This taste is elicited by L-amino acids and thus has a special role of detecting nutritious, protein-rich food. The T1R1 + T1R3 heterodimer acts as the principal umami receptor. The T1R1 protein is encoded by the Tas1r1 gene. We report multiple inactivating (pseudogenizing) mutations in exon 3 of this gene from four phocid and two otariid species (Pinnipedia). Jiang et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109:4956–4961, 2012) reported two inactivating mutations in exons 2 and 6 of this gene from another otariid species. These findings suggest lost or greatly reduced umami sensory capabilities in these species. The widespread occurrence of a nonfunctional Tas1r1 pseudogene in this clade of strictly carnivorous mammals is surprising. We hypothesize that factors underlying the pseudogenization of Tas1r1 in pinnipeds may be driven by the marine environment to which these carnivorans (Carnivora) have adapted and may include: the evolutionary change in diet from tetrapod prey to fish and cephalopods (because cephalopods and living fish contain little or no synergistic inosine 5′-monophosphate that greatly enhances umami taste), the feeding behavior of swallowing food whole without mastication (because the T1R1 + T1R3 receptor is distributed on the tongue and palate), and the saltiness of sea water (because a high concentration of sodium chloride masks umami taste).

Naming Species in Phylogenetic Nomenclature

are important for organizing knowledge of biodiversity (Gaston, 2000; Bertrand et al, 2006). This is also reflected by the use of species as basic referents in ecology as well as evolutionary and conservation biology. Under codes of traditional rank-based nomenclature (TN), the zoological code (ICZN; International Commis sion on Zoological Nomenclature, 1999), the botanical code (ICBN; Greuter et al, 2000), and the bacteriolog ical code (ICNB; Lapage et al, 1992), but not the viral code (Mayo and Horzinek, 1998), all species names are composed of a combination of two names, the first be ing a generic name and the second being a specific name (specific epithet). The application of this combination to species names dates back to Carl Linnaeuss Philosophia Bot?nica (1751) and the combination itself is termed a bi nomen or binomial. To avoid terminological ambiguity, in this paper I will refer to this combination as the Lin naean binomen, using a binomen to refer to any species name that is composed of two separate words. Although alternative methods for naming species had been proposed already before the advent of PN (e.g., Berio, 1953; Cain, 1959a; Michener, 1963,1964; Lanham, 1965; Amadon, 1966; Griffiths, 1976), none have gained acceptance. Although the dead weight of tradition and familiarity is undoubtedly important and likely decisive, it is not the only reason why Linnaean binominal (binary) nomenclature (LBN) continues to be kept in use. Cer tainly, LBN offers a number of advantages. Probably the most important of these is that the inclusion of a genus name within a species name helps avoiding homonymy. This is particularly relevant when taking into account the large number of species in nature and the fact that many species have been named using identical specific epithets. Another practical benefit of LBN is that the bi nominal form distinguishes the names of species from the names of other taxa, which usually consist of either one word (supraspecific taxa) or three words (infraspe cific taxa). Furthermore, LBN enhances the retrieval of information on genus-level taxa because the name of a genus is part of the names of all species assigned to that genus. It is, however, also true that LBN has introduced a number of problems into biological nomenclature Phylogenetic nomenclature (PN) is a rank-free system of biological nomenclature, designed to name species and clades (de Queiroz and Gauthier, 1990, 1992, 1994; Cantino and de Queiroz, 2006). In this system, the cat egories species and clade are not taxonomic ranks but different kinds of biological entities. A species is an in dividuated segment of a metapopulation-level lineage. A clade is a complete system of ancestry and descent, consisting of an ancestor (such as a species, popula tion, or organism) and all its descendants (de Queiroz, 1998,1999,2005a, 2005b, 2005c; Cantino and de Queiroz, 2006). Both are historical entities that compose the Tree of Life, viewed as concrete individuals rather than abstract classes in the ontological sense (but see, e.g., Lee and Wolsan [2002] for a notion of the ontological distinction between synchronie individuals and diachronic histor ical entities). As existing independently of human per ception rather than being human constructs, species and clades are discovered or inferred rather than constructed