scholarly journals Himalayan fossils of the oldest known pantherine establish ancient origin of big cats

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1774) ◽  
pp. 20132686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Jack Tseng ◽  
Xiaoming Wang ◽  
Graham J. Slater ◽  
Gary T. Takeuchi ◽  
Qiang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Snow Leopard ◽  
Apex Predators ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Asian Origin ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift

Pantherine felids (‘big cats’) include the largest living cats, apex predators in their respective ecosystems. They are also the earliest diverging living cat lineage, and thus are important for understanding the evolution of all subsequent felid groups. Although the oldest pantherine fossils occur in Africa, molecular phylogenies point to Asia as their region of origin. This paradox cannot be reconciled using current knowledge, mainly because early big cat fossils are exceedingly rare and fragmentary. Here, we report the discovery of a fossil pantherine from the Tibetan Himalaya, with an age of Late Miocene–Early Pliocene, replacing African records as the oldest pantherine. A ‘total evidence’ phylogenetic analysis of pantherines indicates that the new cat is closely related to the snow leopard and exhibits intermediate characteristics on the evolutionary line to the largest cats. Historical biogeographic models provide robust support for the Asian origin of pantherines. The combined analyses indicate that 75% of the divergence events in the pantherine lineage extended back to the Miocene, up to 7 Myr earlier than previously estimated. The deeper evolutionary origin of big cats revealed by the new fossils and analyses indicate a close association between Tibetan Plateau uplift and diversification of the earliest living cats.

scholarly journals The Tibetan Plateau Uplift is Crucial for Eastward Propagation of Madden-Julian Oscillation

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Min Yang ◽  
June-Yi Lee ◽  
Bin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Information Science ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Maritime Continent ◽  
Free Atmosphere ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Upward Transport ◽  
Static Energy

Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Himalayas have been treated as an essential external factor in shaping Asian monsoon and mid-latitude atmospheric circulation. In this study we perform numerical experiments with different uplift altitudes using the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology Earth System Model to examine potential impacts of uplift of the TP and Himalayas on eastward propagation of the MJO and the associated mechanisms. Analysis of experimental results with dynamics-based MJO diagnostics indicates two potential mechanisms. First, the uplift considerably enhances low-level mean westerlies in the Indian Ocean and convection in the Maritime Continent, which in turn strengthens boundary layer moisture convergence (BLMC) to the east of the MJO convective center. The increased BLMC reinforces upward transport of moisture and heat from BL to free atmosphere and increases lower tropospheric diabatic heating by shallow and congestus clouds ahead of the MJO center, enhancing the Kelvin-Rossby wave feedback. Second, the uplift increases upper tropospheric mean easterlies and stratiform heating at the west of the MJO center, which contributes to eastward propagation of MJO by generating positive moist static energy at the east of MJO center. This study will contribute to a better understanding of the origin of the MJO and improvement in simulation of MJO propagation.

scholarly journals Evolution of the Indian Monsoon System and Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau uplift during the Neogene

1970 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil K Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Indian Monsoon ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Monsoon System ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift

DOI = 10.3126/hjs.v5i7.1260 Himalayan Journal of Sciences Vol.5(7) (Special Issue) 2008 p.58

Paleontological data and molecular phylogenetic analysis

Paleobiology ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew B. Smith ◽  
D. T. J. Littlewood
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Molecular Sequence Data ◽  
Geological Past ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Rates Of Molecular Evolution

Molecular data are becoming an indispensable tool for the reconstruction of phylogenies. Fossil molecular data remain scarce, but have the potential to resolve patterns of deep branching and provide empirical tests of tree reconstruction techniques. A total evidence approach, combining and comparing complementary morphological, molecular and stratigraphical data from both recent and fossil taxa, is advocated as the most promising way forward because there are several well-established problems that can afflict the analysis of molecular sequence data sometimes resulting in spurious tree topologies. The integration of evidence allows us to: (1) choose suitable taxa for molecular phylogenetic analysis for the question at hand; (2) discriminate between conflicting hypotheses of taxonomic relationship and phylogeny; (3) evaluate procedures and assumptions underlying methods of building trees; and (4) estimate rates of molecular evolution in the geological past. Paleontology offers a set of independent data for comparison and corroboration of analyses and provides the only direct means of calibrating molecular trees, thus giving insight into rates of molecular evolution in the geological past.

Asian genotypes of dengue virus 4 in Brazil

2015 ◽  
Vol 143 (14) ◽  
pp. 3114-3117 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. O. PINHO ◽  
S. I. SARDI ◽  
F. L. PAULA ◽  
I. B. PEIXOTO ◽  
C. J. BRANDÃO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Dengue Virus ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Genotype I ◽  
Asian Origin ◽  
Northern Brazil ◽  
Dengue Virus Serotypes

SUMMARYDengue virus, commonly transmitted by mosquitoes, causes a human disease of significant social impact and presents a serious public health problem in Brazil. This report describes the unusual emergence of DENV-4 in northern Brazil after a nearly 30-year-long absence. DENV-4 genotype I is of Asian origin and was identified in the serum of patients receiving treatment at a hospital serving the Salvador area (Brazilian state of Bahia). The identification of dengue virus serotypes through molecular and phylogenetic analysis is essential for predicting disease severity or fatal illness, principally in endemic countries such as Brazil.

A morphological phylogenetic analysis of Aesculus L. and Billia Peyr. (Sapindaceae)

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Félix Forest ◽  
Josée Nadia Drouin ◽  
René Charest ◽  
Luc Brouillet ◽  
Anne Bruneau
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
North America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
North American ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Character Evolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
Eastern Asia ◽  
Asian Origin

The hippocastanaceous Sapindaceae (family Hippocastanaceae) consists of two genera: Aesculus and Billia. The genus Aesculus (buckeyes) is distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. Twelve of the thirteen species of Aesculus are found in eastern Asia and North America, and one is native to Europe. The two species of the genus Billia are found in South and Central America. Aesculus is traditionally divided into five sections. This analysis, based on morphological characters, suggests that the monotypic section Parryanae (Aesculus parryi Gray) is sister to the remainder of the genus, and the other species are divided into two clades. One clade comprises all species from southeastern North America with the monotypic section Macrothyrsus (Aesculus parviflora Walt.) as sister to section Pavia. The other clade consists of all species found in Eurasia included in sections Aesculus and Calothyrsus, with the only North American member of this clade (Aesculus californica (Spach) Nutall) as sister to the rest of the group. According to this analysis, section Calothyrsus is rendered paraphyletic by the inclusion of section Aesculus. In contrast to previous studies that suggest an Asian origin for the genus, our study suggests an American origin for Aesculus from an ancestor similar to Billia with a single migration to Eurasia via the Bering land bridge.Key words: Aesculus, Billia, character evolution, Hippocastanaceae, morphology, phylogeny, Sapindaceae.

scholarly journals Late Cenozoic continuous aridification in the western Qaidam Basin: evidence from sporopollen records

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1485-1508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. F. Miao ◽  
X. M. Fang ◽  
F. L. Wu ◽  
M. T. Cai ◽  
C. H. Song ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Qaidam Basin ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Plateau Uplift ◽  
Western Qaidam Basin ◽  
Global Cooling ◽  
Tibetan Plateau Uplift

Abstract. Cenozoic climate changes in inner Asia provide a basis for understanding linkages between global cooling, the Tibetan Plateau uplift, and possibly the development of the East Asian monsoon. Based on the compiled palynological results from the western Qaidam Basin, this study reconstructed an 18 Ma record of changing vegetation and paleoclimates since the middle Miocene. Thermophilic taxa percentages were highest between 18 and 14 Ma and decreased after 14 Ma, corresponding closely with the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) between 18 and 14 Ma and the following global climatic cooling. After 3.6 Ma, the thermophilic taxa percentages further decreased, showing the inevitable relations with the ice-sheets enlargement in the North Hemisphere. During the same period of time, the increase in xerophytic taxa percentages and decrease in conifers percentages imply aridification in both the basin and surrounding mountains since 18 Ma. These results indicate that global cooling mainly controlled the climate change from a relative warm-wet stage to a cold-dry stage during the late Cenozoic at the western Qaidam Basin, and that the Tibetan Plateau uplift also contributed in contrast to the East Asian summer monsoon.

scholarly journals The anatomy and phylogenetic position of the erythrosuchid archosauriform Guchengosuchus shiguaiensis from the earliest Middle Triassic of China

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Butler ◽  
Martín D. Ezcurra ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Roland B. Sookias ◽  
Corwin Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Lower Triassic ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Apex Predators ◽  
Worldwide Distribution ◽  
Fossil Material ◽  
Anatomical Information

Erythrosuchidae is a clade of early archosauriform reptiles, which were apex predators in many late Early and Middle Triassic ecosystems, following the Permo-Triassic mass extinction. Erythrosuchids had a worldwide distribution, with well-preserved fossil material known from South Africa, European Russia, and China. We here redescribe the anatomy and revise the taxonomy of Guchengosuchus shiguaiensis, which is one of the stratigraphically oldest erythrosuchids and is known from a single partial skeleton from the lowermost Middle Triassic (lower Anisian) lower Ermaying Formation of Shaanxi Province, China. We provide a new differential diagnosis for Guchengosuchus shiguaiensis, and identify a series of autapomorphies relating to the morphologies of the skull roof and vertebrae. Incorporating updated anatomical information for Guchengosuchus into the most comprehensive morphological phylogenetic analysis available for early archosauromorphs recovers it as an early branching member of Erythrosuchidae, outside of the clade formed by Garjainia, Erythrosuchus, Chalishevia, and Shansisuchus. Fugusuchus hejiapanensis, from the uppermost Lower Triassic to lower Middle Triassic Heshanggou Formation of China, is recovered as the earliest branching member of Erythrosuchidae.

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