MBE Advance Access originally published online on August 24, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2005 22(12):2435-2443; doi:10.1093/molbev/msi244
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Research Article |
The Population History of Extant and Extinct Hyenas


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* Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany;
Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley;
Institute of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;
Institut de Préhistoire et de Géologie du Quaternaire (C.B.), Université Bordeaux 1, Talence Cedex, France; || Archeosphere, Domaine de Haut-Carré, Université Bordeaux 1, Talence, France; ¶ UMR 5199 PACEA, Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Populations du Passé (B.M.), Universite Bordeaux 1, Talence Cedex, France; and # Service Régional de l'Archéologie de Poitou-Charentes, Centre Régional d'Archéologie, Poitiers, France
E-mail: hofreiter{at}eva.mpg.de.
We have analyzed partial DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene from extant striped, brown, and spotted hyenas as well as from Pleistocene cave hyenas. Sequences of the Pleistocene cave hyenas from Eurasia and modern spotted hyenas from Africa are intermixed in phylogenetic analyses, questioning any taxonomic delineation between the two groups. Contrary to cave hyenas in Eurasia, spotted hyenas in Africa show a phylogeographic pattern with little geographical overlap between two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) clades, suggesting two Pleistocene refugia in the north and south of Africa. Our results, furthermore, suggest three waves of migration from Africa to Eurasia for spotted hyenas, around 3, 1, and 0.3 MYA. A recent emigration of striped hyenas from Africa to Eurasia took place less than 0.1 MYA, resulting in a dramatic expansion of the geographical range of striped hyenas. In striped hyenas and within the geographical range of mtDNA clades in spotted hyenas, we found identical sequences several thousand kilometers apart, indicating a high rate of migration during the Pleistocene as well as the Holocene. Both striped and brown hyenas show low amounts of genetic diversity, with the latter ones displaying just a single haplotype.
Key Words: ancient DNA migration out-of-Africa Pleistocene phylogeography
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