The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections
Museum collections are essential for reconstructing and understanding past biodiversity. Many museum specimens are, however, challenging to identify. Museum samples may be incomplete, have an unusual morphology, or represent juvenile individuals, all of which complicate accurate identification. In s...
Main Authors: | , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Dataset |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://zenodo.org/record/4081524 https://doi.org/10.7291/D13X0V |
id |
ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4081524 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4081524 2023-06-06T11:50:28+02:00 The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections Vershinina, Alisa Kapp, Joshua D. Baryshnikov, Gennady Shapiro, Beth 2020-10-12 https://zenodo.org/record/4081524 https://doi.org/10.7291/D13X0V unknown https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://zenodo.org/record/4081524 https://doi.org/10.7291/D13X0V oai:zenodo.org:4081524 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode Equus ferus Equus caballus Asiatic wild ass Equus hemionus info:eu-repo/semantics/other dataset 2020 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.7291/D13X0V 2023-04-13T21:07:34Z Museum collections are essential for reconstructing and understanding past biodiversity. Many museum specimens are, however, challenging to identify. Museum samples may be incomplete, have an unusual morphology, or represent juvenile individuals, all of which complicate accurate identification. In some cases, inaccurate identification can lead to false biogeographic reconstructions with cascading impacts on paleontological and paleoecological research. Here we analyze an unusual Equid mandible found in the Far North of the Taymyr peninsula that was identified morphologically as Equus hemionus, an ancestor of present-day Asiatic wild asses. If correct, this identification represents the only finding of a putative Late Pleistocene hemione in the Arctic region, and is therefore critical to understanding wild ass evolution and paleoecology. To confirm the accuracy of this specimen's taxonomic assignment, we used ancient DNA and mitochondrial hybridization capture to identify and place this specimen in the larger equid phylogeny. We find that the specimen is actually a member of E. caballus, the ancestor of domestic horses. Our study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA to validate morphological identification, in particular of incomplete, otherwise problematic, or taxonomically unusual museum specimens. Dataset Arctic Taymyr Taymyr Peninsula Zenodo Arctic Taymyr ENVELOPE(89.987,89.987,68.219,68.219) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Zenodo |
op_collection_id |
ftzenodo |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Equus ferus Equus caballus Asiatic wild ass Equus hemionus |
spellingShingle |
Equus ferus Equus caballus Asiatic wild ass Equus hemionus Vershinina, Alisa Kapp, Joshua D. Baryshnikov, Gennady Shapiro, Beth The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections |
topic_facet |
Equus ferus Equus caballus Asiatic wild ass Equus hemionus |
description |
Museum collections are essential for reconstructing and understanding past biodiversity. Many museum specimens are, however, challenging to identify. Museum samples may be incomplete, have an unusual morphology, or represent juvenile individuals, all of which complicate accurate identification. In some cases, inaccurate identification can lead to false biogeographic reconstructions with cascading impacts on paleontological and paleoecological research. Here we analyze an unusual Equid mandible found in the Far North of the Taymyr peninsula that was identified morphologically as Equus hemionus, an ancestor of present-day Asiatic wild asses. If correct, this identification represents the only finding of a putative Late Pleistocene hemione in the Arctic region, and is therefore critical to understanding wild ass evolution and paleoecology. To confirm the accuracy of this specimen's taxonomic assignment, we used ancient DNA and mitochondrial hybridization capture to identify and place this specimen in the larger equid phylogeny. We find that the specimen is actually a member of E. caballus, the ancestor of domestic horses. Our study demonstrates the utility of ancient DNA to validate morphological identification, in particular of incomplete, otherwise problematic, or taxonomically unusual museum specimens. |
format |
Dataset |
author |
Vershinina, Alisa Kapp, Joshua D. Baryshnikov, Gennady Shapiro, Beth |
author_facet |
Vershinina, Alisa Kapp, Joshua D. Baryshnikov, Gennady Shapiro, Beth |
author_sort |
Vershinina, Alisa |
title |
The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections |
title_short |
The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections |
title_full |
The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections |
title_fullStr |
The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections |
title_full_unstemmed |
The case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient DNA for validating problematic identifications in museum collections |
title_sort |
case of an arctic wild ass highlights the utility of ancient dna for validating problematic identifications in museum collections |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://zenodo.org/record/4081524 https://doi.org/10.7291/D13X0V |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(89.987,89.987,68.219,68.219) |
geographic |
Arctic Taymyr |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Taymyr |
genre |
Arctic Taymyr Taymyr Peninsula |
genre_facet |
Arctic Taymyr Taymyr Peninsula |
op_relation |
https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://zenodo.org/record/4081524 https://doi.org/10.7291/D13X0V oai:zenodo.org:4081524 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7291/D13X0V |
_version_ |
1767956222810521600 |