Reconstructing the Evolution of Giant Extinct Kangaroos: Comparing the Utility of DNA, Morphology, and Total Evidence

Cascini, Manuela; Cooper, Alan; Phillips, Matthew J.

doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy080

Cited by 33 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Because the dates inferred using Ganguroo and 300 Ngamaroo fossil node calibrations differ so considerably from estimates in the literature, I removed them from further analyses, and consider divergence estimates and macroevolutionary inferences using trees that do not include these node calibrations. Phylogenetic placement of fossil taxa is largely in agreement with previous investigations (Prideaux & Warburton 2010;Butler et al 2016;Cascini et al 2018), and nearly all fossil taxa 305 are reasonably assigned to appropriate clades. A few fossil Macropodinae taxa (Congruus, Kurrabi, Prionotemnus) however, show unresolved intraclade positions, most likely due to incomplete molecular and morphological sampling.…”

Section: Aepyprymnus Rufescenssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Phylogenetic placement of fossil taxa is largely in agreement with previous investigations 290 (Prideaux and Warburton 2010;Butler et al 2016;Cascini et al 2018), and nearly all fossil taxa are reasonably assigned to appropriate clades. A few fossil Macropodinae taxa (Congruus, Kurrabi, Prionotemnus) however, show unresolved intraclade positions, most likely due to incomplete molecular and morphological sampling.…”

supporting

confidence: 86%

“…By implementing this process in dating analyses, I recovered divergence estimates that are broadly concordant with recent node-calibrated molecular based studies (Celik et al 2019) and interpretations from the fossil record (Couzens and Prideaux 2018). These divergence estimates differ considerably from analyses implementing fixed fossil ages (as minimum, mean, or maximum stratigraphic bounds), including another tip-dating study 365 (Cascini et al 2018), and generally fall between estimates from mean and maximum fixed dates (Fig.2). This exercise suggests that signal in the morphological and molecular clocks can contribute to fossil age information, and is consistent with other recent study in this area suggesting that fixing tip ages should be avoided (Barido-Sottani et al 2019).…”

supporting

confidence: 76%

“…Combined evidence analyses of the macropodoids suggests conflict among current divergence 275 estimates, molecular and morphological data, and fossil information (Cascini et al 2018).…”

Section: Kangaroo Phylogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fossil ages for two extinct taxa Ganguroo bilamina and Ngamaroo archeri are often used as node priors to calibrate marsupial trees. Ngamaroo is generally used to provide a late Oligocene (24.7 Mya) or early Miocene (16 Mya (Phillips et al 2013;Cascini et al 2018;Celik et al 2019). Morphological phylogenetic analyses however, 360 tend to place this taxon within the clade comprising Potoroidae and Macropodidae (Prideaux & Warburton 2010;Butler et al 2016Butler et al , 2018.…”

Section: Combined Evidence Analyses and Divergence Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Incorporating uncertainty is essential to macroecological inferences: Grass, grit, and the evolution of kangaroos

Brennan

2019

Preprint

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Studying organismal evolution on deep timescales provides us opportunities to identify the processes driving patterns in diversity and forms. Macroevolutionary studies of trait evolution however, often fail to account for sources of artifactual variation in the data-be it phylogenetic, temporal, or other. In some instances, this may not affect our evolutionary understanding, 20 35 influenced their remarkable diversification across the Australian continent. This example demonstrates the importance of incorporating uncertainty in comparative evolutionary studies, and I encourage us as a community to better understand our data, the methods we employ, and the assumptions that both contain.

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Section: Aepyprymnus Rufescenssupporting

confidence: 86%

supporting

confidence: 86%

supporting

confidence: 76%

“…Combined evidence analyses of the macropodoids suggests conflict among current divergence 275 estimates, molecular and morphological data, and fossil information (Cascini et al 2018).…”

Section: Kangaroo Phylogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Combined Evidence Analyses and Divergence Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Incorporating uncertainty is essential to macroecological inferences: Grass, grit, and the evolution of kangaroos

Brennan

2019

Preprint

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Divergent locomotor evolution in “giant” kangaroos: Evidence from foot bone bending resistances and microanatomy

Wagstaffe

O'Driscoll

Kunz

et al. 2022

Journal of Morphology

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The extinct sthenurine (giant, short-faced) kangaroos have been proposed to have a different type of locomotor behavior to extant (macropodine) kangaroos, based both on physical limitations (the size of many exceeds the proposed limit for hopping) and anatomical features (features of the hind limb anatomy suggestive of weight-bearing on one leg at a time). Here, we use micro computerised tomography (micro-CT) scans of the pedal bones of six kangaroos, three sthenurine, and three macropodine, ranging from ~50 to 150 kg, to investigate possible differences in bone resistances to bending and cortical bone distribution that might relate to differences in locomotion.Using second moment of area analysis, we show differences in resistance to bending between the two subfamilies. Distribution of cortical bone shows that sthenurines had less resistant calcaneal tubers, implying a different foot posture during locomotion, and the long foot bones were more resistant to the medial bending stresses.These differences were the most pronounced between Pleistocene monodactyl sthenurines (Sthenurus stirlingi and Procoptodon browneorum) and the two species of Macropus (the extant M. giganteus and the extinct M. cf. M. titan) and support the hypothesis that these derived sthenurines employed bipedal striding. The Miocene sthenurine Hadronomas retains some more macropodine-like features of bone resistance to bending, perhaps reflecting its retention of the fifth pedal digit. The Pleistocene macropodine Protemnodon has a number of unique features, possibly indicative of a type of locomotion unlike the other kangaroos.

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Finite element analysis of kangaroo astragali: A new angle on the ankle

Murphy,

Rowe,

Rayfield

et al. 2024

Journal of Morphology

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Using finite element analysis on the astragali of five macropodine kangaroos (extant and extinct hoppers) and three sthenurine kangaroos (extinct proposed bipedal striders) we investigate how the stresses experienced by the ankle in similarly sized kangaroos of different hypothesized/known locomotor strategy compare under different simulation scenarios, intended to represent the moment of midstance at different gaits. These tests showed a clear difference between the performance of sthenurines and macropodines with the former group experiencing lower stress in simulated bipedal strides in all species compared with hopping simulations, supporting the hypothesis that sthenurines may have utilized this gait. The Pleistocene macropodine Protemnodon also performed differently from all other species studied, showing high stresses in all simulations except for bounding. This may support the hypothesis of Protemnodon being a quadrupedal bounder.

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Reconstructing the Evolution of Giant Extinct Kangaroos: Comparing the Utility of DNA, Morphology, and Total Evidence

Cited by 33 publications

References 88 publications

Incorporating uncertainty is essential to macroecological inferences: Grass, grit, and the evolution of kangaroos

Incorporating uncertainty is essential to macroecological inferences: Grass, grit, and the evolution of kangaroos

Divergent locomotor evolution in “giant” kangaroos: Evidence from foot bone bending resistances and microanatomy

Finite element analysis of kangaroo astragali: A new angle on the ankle

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