Primates, consisting of apes, monkeys, tarsiers, and lemurs, are among the most charismatic and well-studied animals on Earth.
Phylogeny of 455 primates synthesized using Chrono-STA. The roots of the phylogeny were discovered 71.3 million years ago. The crown of Strepsirrhini is 57 million years old, and the crown of Haplorrhini is 68.5 million years old. The crown of the eyelid is 42.2 million years old. Image credit: Craig others., doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2024.1495417.
Primate mammals consist of 172 species of Old World apes and monkeys (Cataluni), 146 species of New World monkeys (Platyria), and 144 species of lemurs, lorises, and galagos (Strepsilini).
Primates exhibit some of the most remarkable behaviors observed in nature. Chimpanzees use specially chosen sticks to “fish” for termites inside hollow logs, while orangutans use leaves as gloves to handle the prickly durian fruit.
Although they are some of the most intensely studied species on Earth, there is no comprehensive molecular phylogenetic hypothesis about the evolutionary history of primates that summarizes the patterns and timing of relationships among all primates. plug.
Such phylogenetic trees use molecular sequence data to tell us both when each species or group of species first appeared and which other groups on the tree are their closest relatives. Masu.
The largest timed molecular phylogenetic tree, called the “Time Tree,” includes just over 200 primate species to date, but the largest synthetic time tree, based on more than 4,000 published studies, , containing only twice that number, and about one-fifth of the primates remaining. The tree of life is unresolved.
“The value of a timed evolutionary tree that includes all species of a particular lineage cannot be underestimated,” said lead author Dr. Jack Craig and colleagues at Temple University.
“These trees are inherently fascinating because they capture the evolutionary history that has given us our current biodiversity, but they also form an essential foundation for many types of future research. I will.”
“For example, taxonomic and systematic efforts to catalog species rely on them to identify new lineages.”
“The study of the rate of evolution and its possible correlations, such as climate and geological changes, is fundamentally tied to its underlying phylogeny.”
“Disciplines such as biogeography, phylogeography, and historical ecology, which use time trees to investigate spatial and ecological patterns, would not be possible without phylogeny.”
“And as we watch global biodiversity being lost in ongoing extinction events, phylogenetics can help identify conservation priorities and help save species. It is an essential tool in assessing the impact of our efforts.”
In the new study, the authors were able to construct a time tree of 455 primates, incorporating all species for which molecular data are available.
This phylogenetic tree is the most complete description of the evolutionary relationships among primates to date.
“This effort proves that while the evolutionary history of even some of the most charismatic species on Earth is incompletely understood, we have the tools to fill many of the knowledge gaps. “We did so,” the researchers said.
“We believe our research protocol will be an accessible and ultimately extremely valuable tool in the effort to understand evolution.”
“We have found that complete time trees are a fundamental resource in many fields and can often be constructed from existing data.”
“Furthermore, such a complete time tree allows us to test hypotheses that would otherwise not be possible.”
“For example, our study shows that the number of species in different primate clades is better explained by unique rates of speciation, with some primate lineages generating new species much faster than others. Or whether the best explanation is simply time: all lineages produce new species at about the same rate, and older lineages produce more species over time.''
“What we discovered is that the major groups of primates actually all share relatively similar speciation rates, and therefore their age is a better predictor of species richness. That's what it means.
“This analysis becomes very problematic when a time tree is missing many species or dates, so it serves as a perfect example of the usefulness of large, complete time trees.”
of the team result appear in the diary Frontiers of bioinformatics.
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Jack M. Craig others. 2024. Completed primate molecular time tree. Frontiers of bioinformatics 4;doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2024.1495417
Source: www.sci.news
