Figures
The Elephantidae phylogeny and mastodon (Mammut americanum) outgroup.
The complete mitochondrial genome sequence from a mastodon tooth dated to 50,000–130,000 years ago that was recovered in Alaska clarifies the evolutionary history of elephants and mammoths. Using the mastodon sequence as an outgroup allowed the unambiguous determination that the mammoth and the Asian elephant are sister species and also provided a time scale for the speciation of mammoths and the elephant species (see Rohland et al.).
Image Credit: Background painting by George Teichmann (http://www.iceagebeasts.com/) from the Yukon Department of Palaeontology Art Collection, Accession number 13 (http://www.beringia.com/). Skeleton sketch from Lehrbuch der Geologischen Formationskunde by Emanuel Kayser, published by Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, Stutgart, Germany, 1902. Photograph of tooth by Paul Matheus. Overall illustration created by Sabine Giesser and Knut Finstermeier
Citation: (2007) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 5(8) August 2007. PLoS Biol 5(8): ev05.i08. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v05.i08
Published: August 28, 2007
Copyright: © 2007 Giesser, Finstermeier. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The complete mitochondrial genome sequence from a mastodon tooth dated to 50,000–130,000 years ago that was recovered in Alaska clarifies the evolutionary history of elephants and mammoths. Using the mastodon sequence as an outgroup allowed the unambiguous determination that the mammoth and the Asian elephant are sister species and also provided a time scale for the speciation of mammoths and the elephant species (see Rohland et al.).
Image Credit: Background painting by George Teichmann (http://www.iceagebeasts.com/) from the Yukon Department of Palaeontology Art Collection, Accession number 13 (http://www.beringia.com/). Skeleton sketch from Lehrbuch der Geologischen Formationskunde by Emanuel Kayser, published by Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, Stutgart, Germany, 1902. Photograph of tooth by Paul Matheus. Overall illustration created by Sabine Giesser and Knut Finstermeier