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 excee...
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fteasttennesseeu:oai:dc.etsu.edu:etsu-works-11629 2023-07-30T04:03:58+02:00 A New Species of Gulo From the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); Rethinking the Evolution of Wolverines Samuels, Joshua X. Bredehoeft, Keila E. Wallace, Steven C. 2018-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/10363 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etsu-works/article/11629/viewcontent/peerj_4648.pdf unknown Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/10363 doi:10.7717/peerj.4648 https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etsu-works/article/11629/viewcontent/peerj_4648.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ETSU Faculty Works carnivora Guloninae Mustelidae Geosciences text 2018 fteasttennesseeu https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 2023-07-15T18:48:14Z 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. Text Gulo gulo Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University PeerJ 6 e4648 |
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Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
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unknown |
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carnivora Guloninae Mustelidae Geosciences |
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carnivora Guloninae Mustelidae Geosciences Samuels, Joshua X. Bredehoeft, Keila E. Wallace, Steven C. A New Species of Gulo From the Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (Eastern United States); Rethinking the Evolution of Wolverines |
topic_facet |
carnivora Guloninae Mustelidae Geosciences |
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 |
Text |
author |
Samuels, Joshua X. Bredehoeft, Keila E. Wallace, Steven C. |
author_facet |
Samuels, Joshua X. Bredehoeft, Keila E. Wallace, Steven C. |
author_sort |
Samuels, Joshua X. |
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 |
Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/10363 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etsu-works/article/11629/viewcontent/peerj_4648.pdf |
genre |
Gulo gulo |
genre_facet |
Gulo gulo |
op_source |
ETSU Faculty Works |
op_relation |
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/10363 doi:10.7717/peerj.4648 https://dc.etsu.edu/context/etsu-works/article/11629/viewcontent/peerj_4648.pdf |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4648 |
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PeerJ |
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6 |
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e4648 |
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1772815122675269632 |