A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines
The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is the largest living terrestrial member of the Mustelidae; a versatile predator formerly distributed throughout boreal regions of North America and Eurasia. Though commonly recovered from Pleistocene sites across their range, pre-Pleistocene records of the genus are exceed...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:33428d3960fc4a2b9d2c08c697454281 2024-01-07T09:43:44+01:00 A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines Joshua X. Samuels Keila E. Bredehoeft Steven C. Wallace 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 https://doaj.org/article/33428d3960fc4a2b9d2c08c697454281 EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/4648.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/4648/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.4648 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/33428d3960fc4a2b9d2c08c697454281 PeerJ, Vol 6, p e4648 (2018) Guloninae Mustelidae Carnivora Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 2023-12-10T01:53:49Z The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is the largest living terrestrial member of the Mustelidae; a versatile predator formerly distributed throughout boreal regions of North America and Eurasia. Though commonly recovered from Pleistocene sites across their range, pre-Pleistocene records of the genus are exceedingly rare. Here, we describe a new species of Gulo from the Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee. Based on biostratigraphy, a revised estimate of the age of the Gray Fossil Site is Early Pliocene, near the Hemphillian—Blancan transition, between 4.9 and 4.5 Ma. This represents the earliest known occurrence of a wolverine, more than one million years earlier than any other record. The new species of wolverine described here shares similarities with previously described species of Gulo, and with early fishers (Pekania). As the earliest records of both Gulo and Pekania are known from North America, this suggests the genus may have evolved in North America and dispersed to Eurasia later in the Pliocene. Both fauna and flora at the Gray Fossil Site are characteristic of warm/humid climates, which suggests wolverines may have become ‘cold-adapted’ relatively recently. Finally, detailed comparison indicates Plesiogulo, which has often been suggested to be ancestral to Gulo, is not likely closely related to gulonines, and instead may represent convergence on a similar niche. Article in Journal/Newspaper Gulo gulo Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PeerJ 6 e4648 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Guloninae Mustelidae Carnivora Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Guloninae Mustelidae Carnivora Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Joshua X. Samuels Keila E. Bredehoeft Steven C. Wallace A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines |
topic_facet |
Guloninae Mustelidae Carnivora Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is the largest living terrestrial member of the Mustelidae; a versatile predator formerly distributed throughout boreal regions of North America and Eurasia. Though commonly recovered from Pleistocene sites across their range, pre-Pleistocene records of the genus are exceedingly rare. Here, we describe a new species of Gulo from the Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee. Based on biostratigraphy, a revised estimate of the age of the Gray Fossil Site is Early Pliocene, near the Hemphillian—Blancan transition, between 4.9 and 4.5 Ma. This represents the earliest known occurrence of a wolverine, more than one million years earlier than any other record. The new species of wolverine described here shares similarities with previously described species of Gulo, and with early fishers (Pekania). As the earliest records of both Gulo and Pekania are known from North America, this suggests the genus may have evolved in North America and dispersed to Eurasia later in the Pliocene. Both fauna and flora at the Gray Fossil Site are characteristic of warm/humid climates, which suggests wolverines may have become ‘cold-adapted’ relatively recently. Finally, detailed comparison indicates Plesiogulo, which has often been suggested to be ancestral to Gulo, is not likely closely related to gulonines, and instead may represent convergence on a similar niche. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Joshua X. Samuels Keila E. Bredehoeft Steven C. Wallace |
author_facet |
Joshua X. Samuels Keila E. Bredehoeft Steven C. Wallace |
author_sort |
Joshua X. Samuels |
title |
A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines |
title_short |
A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines |
title_full |
A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines |
title_fullStr |
A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines |
title_full_unstemmed |
A new species of Gulo from the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); rethinking the evolution of wolverines |
title_sort |
new species of gulo from the early pliocene gray fossil site (eastern united states); rethinking the evolution of wolverines |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 https://doaj.org/article/33428d3960fc4a2b9d2c08c697454281 |
genre |
Gulo gulo |
genre_facet |
Gulo gulo |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 6, p e4648 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/4648.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/4648/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.4648 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/33428d3960fc4a2b9d2c08c697454281 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
container_volume |
6 |
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e4648 |
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1787425017502367744 |