Endangered venomous mammal predates dinosaurs' extinction, study confirms
Endangered venomous mammal predates dinosaurs' extinction, study confirms
Researchers have sequenced the mitochondrial genome of the endangered solenodon, a venomous insectivore that diverged from other living mammals 78 million years ago.
May 2, 2016
Source:Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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ZooDom veterinarian Adrell Nunez (center) draws blood from a solenodon for DNA samples. Researchers
caught the venomous mammal by allowing it to walk across their bodies at night in the forests of the
Dominican Republic. Pictured from left to right: Nicolas De J. Corona, Adrell Nunez, Taras K. Oleksyk,
and Yimell Corona.
Credit: Photo by Taras Oleksyk and Yashira Afanador
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The University of Illinois and University of Puerto Rico have completely sequenced the mitochondrial genome for the Hispaniolan solenodon, filling in the last major branch of placental mammals on the tree of life.
The study, published in Mitochondrial DNA, confirmed that the venomous mammal diverged from all other living mammals 78 million years ago, long before an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.
"It's just impressive it's survived this long," said co-first author Adam Brandt, a postdoctoral researcher at Illinois. "It survived the asteroid; it survived human colonization and the rats and mice humans brought with them that wiped out the solenodon's closest relatives."
The study also supports recent findings that the Dominican Republic contains genetically distinct northern and southern populations that should be conserved as separate sub-species. Furthermore, the study found that the southern population has little diversity, whereas the northern population is much more diverse.
More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160502131507.htm
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Hispaniolan Solenodon
On the trail of a Solendon.
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