2007/11/01 by Jan E. Janečka, Webb Miller, Thomas H. Pringle +5 · 326 citations
Psychology · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Primate Behavior and Ecology #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Chromosomal and Genetic Variations #Biology #Phylogenetic tree #Primate #Evolutionary biology #Molecular clock #Extant taxon #Genome #Phylogenetics #Genetics #Gene #Paleontology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1147555
published in Science 318(5851), 792-794 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 2007/11/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
A full understanding of primate morphological and genomic evolution requires the identification of their closest living relative. In order to resolve the ancestral relationships among primates and their closest relatives, we searched multispecies genome alignments for phylogenetically informative rare genomic changes within the superordinal group Euarchonta, which includes the orders Primates, Dermoptera (colugos), and Scandentia (treeshrews). We also constructed phylogenetic trees from 14 kilobases of nuclear genes for representatives from most major primate lineages, both extant colugos, and multiple treeshrews, including the pentail treeshrew, Ptilocercus lowii, the only living member of the family Ptilocercidae. A relaxed molecular clock analysis including Ptilocercus suggests that treeshrews arose approximately 63 million years ago. Our data show that colugos are the closest living relatives of primates and indicate that their divergence occurred in the Cretaceous.