(Press-News.org) Contact information: Erin Weeks
erin.weeks@duke.edu
919-681-8057
Duke University
Reconstructing the New World monkey family tree
After landing in Americas, primates spread as far as Caribbean, Patagonia
DURHAM, N.C. -- When monkeys landed in South America 37 or more million years ago, the long-isolated continent already teemed with a menagerie of 30-foot snakes, giant armadillos and strange, hoofed mammals. Over time, the monkeys forged their own niches across the New World, evolved new forms and spread as far north as the Caribbean and as far south as Patagonia.
Duke University evolutionary anthropologist Richard Kay applied decades' worth of data on geology, ancient climates and evolutionary relationships to uncover several patterns in primate migration and evolution in the Americas. The analysis appears online this week in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
Today, more than 150 species of monkeys inhabit the New World, ranging in size from the pygmy marmoset, which weighs little more than a bar of soap, to the muriqui, a long-limbed monkey that tips the scales at 25 pounds.
"We know from molecular studies that the monkeys have their closest relatives in Africa and Asia -- but that doesn't explain how they got to South America, just that they did," said Kay, a professor in the evolutionary anthropology department and division of earth and ocean sciences at Duke.
South America split from Africa long before monkeys evolved, and the scarcity of monkey ancestors in the North American fossil record makes a southward migration highly unlikely. That's led scientists to speculate that the animals made the ambitious transatlantic crossing on a vegetation raft, perhaps hurled seaward by a powerful storm. Or, they could have hopped more gradually, using islands that now lie at the bottom of the ocean.
About 11 million years passed between their arrival and the first fossil evidence of monkeys in the Americas, leaving the details of their early evolution an unknown 'ghost lineage.' The humid, heavily forested environment of what is now the Amazon Basin has made both fossil formation and modern-day discovery difficult, but understanding what happened there is the key to New World monkey evolution.
"However they got to South America, they were evolving in the Amazon Basin, and from time to time they managed to get out of the basin," Kay said. "So if you want to learn about what was going on in the Amazon, you have to look at its periphery." Luckily, Kay said, scientists can do that in places like Chile and Patagonian Argentina, where he has worked collaboratively for the past quarter century.
"We know the Amazon has been warm and wet for a very long time, and that from time to time we got expansions and contractions of these climatic conditions, like an accordion."
The Amazon Basin functioned as a reservoir of primate biodiversity. When climate and sea level were just right, the animals spread and new species emerged in peripheral regions -- Patagonia, the Caribbean islands, Central America -- where the geology was more conducive to fossil preservation. Kay has uncovered and meticulously studied the monkey fossils from these areas to piece together their evolutionary relationships.
"The gold standard is molecular evidence," he said. By sequencing the DNA of living monkeys, scientists have come to a clear consensus of how the different species and genera are related. But genetic material deteriorates, so researchers studying extinct species must rely on a proxy: the minute differences in shape, size and structure in fossilized bones. "It's the only tool we have," said Kay, but "it does a pretty good job."
Kay studied 399 different features of teeth, skulls and skeletons from 16 living and 20 extinct monkey species from South America and Africa. Then, using software that reconstructs evolutionary relationships, he built a family tree. He compared that to a second tree, built strictly from the molecular studies of living species, to see if the two types of studies affirmed or contradicted one another. Except for a few cases, the trees looked remarkably similar, validating conclusions based on the anatomy of fossils.
Kay also looked at how long-term changes in South America's ancient climate, mountain-building and fluctuating sea levels might make sense of the evolutionary pattern revealed by the monkey fossils. His research zeroes in on when and how monkeys extended their ranges to the Caribbean islands and the far southern end of South America, which is thousands of miles south of where they now live and only 600 miles from Antarctica.
The analysis further explains why the lineages that evolved outside the Amazon Basin were evolutionary dead ends. When the climate in Patagonia, for instance, turned cool and arid, the primates there went extinct, leaving no living descendants. Within the past 6,000 years, monkeys of the Caribbean islands also went extinct as a result of the appearance of humans and/or sea level rise. The paper suggests these monkeys came from South America rather than Central America, floating there by chance, the same way their ancestors crossed the Atlantic.
INFORMATION:
This research was supported by National Science Foundation grants BNS-1042794 and BNS-0851272, as well as grants from the National Geographic Society and the Leakey Foundation.
CITATION: "Biogeography in deep time -- What do phylogenetics, geology, and paleoclimate tell us about early platyrrhine evolution?" Richard Kay. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Online December 12, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2013.12.002.
Reconstructing the New World monkey family tree
After landing in Americas, primates spread as far as Caribbean, Patagonia
2014-01-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Shingles linked to increased risk of stroke in young adults
2014-01-03
Shingles linked to increased risk of stroke in young adults
MINNEAPOLIS – Having shingles may increase the risk of having a stroke years later, according to research published in the January 2, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American ...
How invariant natural killers keep tuberculosis in check
2014-01-03
How invariant natural killers keep tuberculosis in check
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a major cause of death worldwide, and a formidable foe. Most healthy people can defend themselves against tuberculosis, but they need all parts of their immune ...
Call for better social science research transparency
2014-01-03
Call for better social science research transparency
In the Friday (Jan. 3) edition of the journal Science, an interdisciplinary group is calling on scholars, funders, journal editors and reviewers to adopt more stringent and transparent standards ...
Study: Having Medicaid increases emergency room visits
2014-01-03
Study: Having Medicaid increases emergency room visits
Unique study on Oregon's citizens sheds light on critical care in the US
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Adults who are covered by Medicaid use emergency rooms 40 percent more than those in similar circumstances ...
Environment affects an organism's complexity
2014-01-03
Environment affects an organism's complexity
Press release from PLOS Computational Biology
Scientists have demonstrated that organisms with greater complexity are more likely to evolve in complex environments, according to research published this week ...
El Nino tied to melting of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier
2014-01-03
El Nino tied to melting of Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier
Pine Island Glacier is one of the biggest routes for ice to flow from Antarctica into the sea. The floating ice shelf at the glacier's tip has been melting and thinning for the past four decades, causing the ...
Are sweetpotato weevils differentially attracted to certain colors?
2014-01-03
Are sweetpotato weevils differentially attracted to certain colors?
Different colors attract sweetpotato weevils, depending on external conditions
The sweetpotato weevil, Cylas formicarius (Fabricius), is the most serious pest of sweetpotato ...
Methane hydrates and global warming
2014-01-03
Methane hydrates and global warming
Dissolution of hydrates off Svalbard caused by natural processes
Methane hydrates are fragile. At the sea floor the ice-like solid fuel composed of water and methane is only stable at high pressure ...
Pine Island Glacier sensitive to climatic variability
2014-01-03
Pine Island Glacier sensitive to climatic variability
A new study published in Science this month suggests the thinning of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is much more susceptible to climatic and ocean variability than at first thought. Observations by a ...
Molecule discovered that protects the brain from cannabis intoxication
2014-01-03
Molecule discovered that protects the brain from cannabis intoxication
Two INSERM research teams led by Pier Vincenzo Piazza and Giovanni Marsicano (INSERM Unit 862 "Neurocentre Magendie" in Bordeaux) ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Osteoporosis treatment benefits people older than 80
Consuming more protein may protect patients taking anti-obesity drug from muscle loss
Thyroid treatment may improve gut health in people with hypothyroidism
Combination of obesity medication tirzepatide and menopause hormone therapy fuels weight loss
High blood sugar may have a negative impact on men’s sexual health
Emotional health of parents tied to well-being of children with growth hormone deficiency
Oxytocin may reduce mood changes in women with disrupted sleep
Mouse study finds tirzepatide slowed obesity-associated breast cancer growth
CMD-OPT model enables the discovery of a potent and selective RIPK2 inhibitor as preclinical candidate for the treatment of acute liver injury
Melatonin receptor 1a alleviates sleep fragmentation-aggravated testicular injury in T2DM by suppression of TAB1/TAK1 complex through FGFR1
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals Shen-Bai-Jie-Du decoction retards colorectal tumorigenesis by regulating the TMEM131–TNF signaling pathway-mediated differentiation of immunosuppressive dendritic ce
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B Volume 15, Issue 7 Publishes
New research expands laser technology
Targeted radiation offers promise in patients with metastasized small cell lung cancer to the brain
A high clinically translatable strategy to anti-aging using hyaluronic acid and silk fibroin co-crosslinked hydrogels as dermal regenerative fillers
Mount Sinai researchers uncover differences in how males and females change their mind when reflecting on past mistakes
CTE and normal aging are difficult to distinguish, new study finds
Molecular arms race: How the genome defends itself against internal enemies
Tiny chip speeds up antibody mapping for faster vaccine design
KTU experts reveal why cultural heritage is important for community unity
More misfolded proteins than previously known may contribute to Alzheimer’s and dementia
“Too much going on”: Autistic adults overwhelmed by non-verbal social cues
What’s driving America’s deep freezes in a warming world?
A key role of brain protein in learning and memory is deciphered by scientists
Heart attacks don’t follow a Hollywood script
Erin M. Schuman wins 2026 Nakasone Award for discovery on neural synapse function and change during formation of memories
Global ocean analysis could replace costly in-situ sound speed profiles in seafloor positioning, study finds
Power in numbers: Small group professional coaching reduces rates of physician burnout by nearly 30%
Carbon capture, utilization, and storage: A comprehensive review of CCUS-EOR
New high-temperature stable dispersed particle gel for enhanced profile control in CCUS applications
[Press-News.org] Reconstructing the New World monkey family treeAfter landing in Americas, primates spread as far as Caribbean, Patagonia