scholarly journals Ancient DNA from Guam and the Peopling of the Pacific

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Pugach ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
Hsiao-chun Hung ◽  
Matthias Meyer ◽  
Mike T. Carson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Dna ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Source Population ◽  
Mariana Islands ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Bismarck Archipelago ◽  
The Western Pacific ◽  
Lines Of Evidence

AbstractHumans reached the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific by ~3500 years ago, contemporaneous with or even earlier than the initial peopling of Polynesia. They crossed more than 2000 km of open ocean to get there, whereas voyages of similar length did not occur anywhere else until more than 2000 years later. Yet, the settlement of Polynesia has received far more attention than the settlement of the Marianas. There is uncertainty over both the origin of the first colonizers of the Marianas (with different lines of evidence suggesting variously the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, or the Bismarck Archipelago) as well as what, if any, relationship they might have had with the first colonizers of Polynesia. To address these questions, we obtained ancient DNA data from two skeletons from the Ritidian Beach Cave site in northern Guam, dating to ~2200 years ago. Analyses of complete mtDNA genome sequences and genome-wide SNP data strongly support ancestry from the Philippines, in agreement with some interpretations of the linguistic and archaeological evidence, but in contradiction to results based on computer simulations of sea voyaging. We also find a close link between the ancient Guam skeletons and early Lapita individuals from Vanuatu and Tonga, suggesting that the Marianas and Polynesia were colonized from the same source population, and raising the possibility that the Marianas played a role in the eventual settlement of Polynesia.Significance StatementWe know far more about the settlement of Polynesia than we do about the settlement of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific. There is debate over where people came from to get to the Marianas, with various lines of evidence pointing to the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, or the Bismarck Archipelago, as well as uncertainty over how the ancestors of the present Mariana Islanders, the Chamorro, might be related to Polynesians. We analyzed ancient DNA from Guam, from two skeletons dating to ~2200 years ago, and found that their ancestry is linked to the Philippines. Moreover, they are closely-related to ancient Polynesians from Vanuatu and Tonga, suggesting that the early Mariana Islanders may have been involved in the colonization of Polynesia.

scholarly journals Ancient DNA from Guam and the peopling of the Pacific

2020 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. e2022112118
Author(s):  
Irina Pugach ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
Hsiao-chun Hung ◽  
Matthias Meyer ◽  
Mike T. Carson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Dna ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Source Population ◽  
Mariana Islands ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Snp Data ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Western Pacific

Humans reached the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific by ∼3,500 y ago, contemporaneous with or even earlier than the initial peopling of Polynesia. They crossed more than 2,000 km of open ocean to get there, whereas voyages of similar length did not occur anywhere else until more than 2,000 y later. Yet, the settlement of Polynesia has received far more attention than the settlement of the Marianas. There is uncertainty over both the origin of the first colonizers of the Marianas (with different lines of evidence suggesting variously the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, or the Bismarck Archipelago) as well as what, if any, relationship they might have had with the first colonizers of Polynesia. To address these questions, we obtained ancient DNA data from two skeletons from the Ritidian Beach Cave Site in northern Guam, dating to ∼2,200 y ago. Analyses of complete mitochondrial DNA genome sequences and genome-wide SNP data strongly support ancestry from the Philippines, in agreement with some interpretations of the linguistic and archaeological evidence, but in contradiction to results based on computer simulations of sea voyaging. We also find a close link between the ancient Guam skeletons and early Lapita individuals from Vanuatu and Tonga, suggesting that the Marianas and Polynesia were colonized from the same source population, and raising the possibility that the Marianas played a role in the eventual settlement of Polynesia.

Early setlement of Island Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific

Antiquity ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 63 (240) ◽  
pp. 547-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Spriggs ◽  
Christopher Chippindale
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Tropical Islands ◽  
Island Southeast Asia ◽  
Early Settlement ◽  
Bismarck Archipelago ◽  
The Western Pacific

It was a quarter of a century ago that ANTIQUITY first announced the ‘Pleistocene colonization of Australia’, when Mulvaney (1964) reported secure dates before 12,000 b.p. from Kenniff Cave, Queensland. The last three years alone have seen dates from New Guinea of around 40,000 b.p., early dates from the offshore islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, and dates from Australia itself that show a rapid colonization of both the arid central desert and cold, wet Tasmania – environments very different from the tropical islands of Southeast Asia, whence the first Australasian populations must surely have come. It is a record with great implications for early settlement elsewhere, most plainly of the American continents.

scholarly journals A review of some common Indo-Malayan and western Pacific species of Chthamalus barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia)

2003 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 797-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J. Southward ◽  
W.A. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Southern China ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Ryukyu Islands ◽  
Mariana Islands ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
The Ryukyu Islands ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Western Pacific

The type specimens of the common tropical intertidal barnacles Chthamalus malayensis and C. moro, were re-investigated and compared with other specimens of Chthamalus from the Indian Ocean, Indo-Malaya, northern Australia, Vietnam, China and the western Pacific, using ‘arthropodal’ as well as shell characters.  Chthamalus malayensis occurs widely in Indo-Malayan and tropical Australian waters. It ranges westwards in the Indian Ocean to East Africa and northwards in the Pacific to Vietnam, China and the Ryukyu Islands. Chthamalus malayensis has the arthropodal characters attributed to it by Pope (1965); conical spines on cirrus 1 and serrate setae with basal guards on cirrus 2.  Chthamalus moro is currently fully validated only for the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Xisha (Paracel) Islands, the Ryukyu Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands, Fiji and Samoa. It is a small species of the ‘challengeri’ subgroup, lacking conical spines on cirrus 1 and bearing pectinate setae without basal guards on cirrus 2. It may be a ‘relict’ insular species.  Chthamalus challengeri also lacks conical spines on cirrus 1 and has pectinate setae without basal guards on cirrus 2. Records of C. challengeri south of Japan are probably erroneous. However, there is an undescribed species of the ‘challengeri’ subgroup in the Indian Ocean, Indo-Malaya, Vietnam and southern China and yet more may occur in the western Pacific. The subgroups ‘malayensis’ and ‘challengeri’ require genetic investigation.  Some comments are included on the arthropodal characters and geographical distributions of Chthamalus antennatus, C. dalli and C. stellatus.

scholarly journals Deilagaon, a New Genus of Indo-Malayan and Papuan Fig Wasps (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae)

1977 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.T. Wiebes
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Type Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Fig Wasps ◽  
Bismarck Archipelago

Introduction of the new genus Deilagaon with descriptions of new species chrysolepidis (type-species) from the Philippines (type-locality Luzon, ex Ficus chrysolepis Miq.), Celebes, New Guinea (ex F. novoguineensis Corner), Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Isis.; and annulatae from Thailand, Malaya (ex F.depressa Bl.), Sumatra, Borneo (type-locality N. Borneo, ex F. annulata Bl.), Philippines. Included is also Ceratosolen megarhopalus Grandi (1923) from Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Philippines (Balabac Isl.).

scholarly journals Annonaceae in the Western Pacific: geographic patterns and four new species

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian M. Turner ◽  
Timothy M.A. Utteridge
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Solomon Islands ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
Geographic Patterns ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
The Western Pacific ◽  
A New Species

The taxonomy and distribution of Pacific Annonaceae are reviewed in light of recent changes in generic delimitations. A new species of the genus Monoon from the Solomon Archipelago is described, Monoon salomonicum I.M.Turner & Utteridge sp. nov., together with an apparently related new species from New Guinea, Monoon pachypetalum I.M.Turner & Utteridge sp. nov. The confirmed presence of the genus in the Solomon Islands extends the generic range eastward beyond New Guinea. Two new species of Huberantha are described, Huberantha asymmetrica I.M.Turner & Utteridge sp. nov. and Huberantha whistleri I.M.Turner & Utteridge sp. nov., from the Solomon Islands and Samoa respectively. New combinations are proposed: Drepananthus novoguineensis (Baker f.) I.M.Turner & Utteridge comb. nov., Meiogyne punctulata (Baill.) I.M.Turner & Utteridge comb. nov. and Monoon merrillii (Kaneh.) I.M.Turner & Utteridge comb. nov. One neotype and four lectotypes are designated. The geographic patterns exhibited by nine native Annonaceae genera, that range in the Pacific beyond New Guinea, are discussed.

Studies in Canarium urceus (Linnaeus, 1758) Part 3: new species from the western Pacific (Gastropoda: Neostromboidae: Strombidae)

The Festivus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-358
Author(s):  
Aart Dekkers ◽  
Stephen Maxwell
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Eastern Indonesia ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
The Western Pacific

This study introduces four new species within the Canarium urceus complex. Canarium daveyi nov. sp. and the sympatric C. geelvinkbaaiensis nov. sp. from the region surrounding Geelvink Bay in north-eastern Indonesia, C. youngorum nov. sp. from the island of north-eastern Papua New Guinea, and finally Canarium manintveldi nov. sp from the southern South Pacific centred on Fiji and Vanuatu. These new species differ from, and are described based on, the morphology and geographical distribution from known species belonging to the C. urceus complex. This study comprises part three in a series examining the broader C. urceus complex.

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