Independent adaptation to riverine habitats allowed survival of ancient cetacean lineages
The four species of ‘‘river dolphins’’ are associated with six separate great river systems on three subcontinents and have been grouped for more than a century into a single taxon based on their similar appearance. However, several morphologists recently questioned the monophyly of that group. By u...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2000 |
| País: | Argentina |
| Institución: | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
| Repositorio: | CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/40866 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/11336/40866 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Ancient Cetacean Lineages River Dolphins Riverine Habitats https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 |
| Sumario: | The four species of ‘‘river dolphins’’ are associated with six separate great river systems on three subcontinents and have been grouped for more than a century into a single taxon based on their similar appearance. However, several morphologists recently questioned the monophyly of that group. By using phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequences from three mitochondrial and two nuclear genes, we demonstrate with statistical significance that extant river dolphins are not monophyletic and suggest that they are relict species whose adaptation to riverine habitats incidentally insured their survival against major environmental changes in the marine ecosystem or the emergence of Delphinidae. |
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