The origin and evolution of the woolly mammoth.
The mammoth lineage provides an example of rapid adaptive evolution in response to the changing environments of the Pleistocene. Using well-dated samples from across the mammoth's Eurasian range, we document geographical and chronological variation in adaptive morphology. This work illustrates an incremental (if mosaic) evolutionary sequence but also reveals a complex interplay of local morphological innovation, migration, and extirpation in the origin and evolution of a mammalian species. In particular, northeastern Siberia is identified as an area of successive allopatric innovations that apparently spread to Europe, where they contributed to a complex pattern of stasis, replacement, and transformation.
Lister
A M
AM
Department of Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK. a.lister@ucl.ac.uk
Sher
A V
AV
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004606:Elephants / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D005060:Europe; D005580:Fossils; D008963:Molar / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010161:Paleodontology; D012800:Siberia