Ancient DNA of the extinct Jamaican monkey Xenothrix reveals extreme insular change within a morphologically conservative radiation.

ABSTRACT: The insular Caribbean until recently contained a diverse mammal fauna including four endemic platyrrhine primate species, all of which died out during the Holocene. Previous morphological studies have attempted to establish how these primates are related to fossil and extant platyrrhines, whether they represent ancient or recent colonists, and whether they constitute a monophyletic group. These efforts have generated multiple conflicting hypotheses, from close sister-taxon relationships with several different extant platyrrhines to derivation from a stem platyrrhine lineage outside the extant Neotropical radiation. This diversity of opinion reflects the fact that Caribbean primates were morphologically extremely unusual, displaying numerous autapomorphies and apparently derived conditions

SUBMITTER: Woods R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6294883 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature