title: Evolutionary distinctiveness of the extinct Yunnan box turtle (Cuora yunnanensis) revealed by DNA from an old museum specimen.
abstract: Cuora yunnanensis is an extinct turtle known from 12 specimens collected from Yunnan, China, before 1908. We used ancient DNA methods to sequence 1723 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA from a museum specimen of C. yunnanensis. Unlike some rare 'species' recently described from the pet trade, C. yunnanensis represents a lineage that is distinct from other known turtles. Besides C. yunnanensis, two other valid species (C. mccordi, C. zhoui) are unknown in the wild but are supposedly from Yunnan. Intensive field surveys for surviving wild populations of these critically endangered species are urgently needed.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Genomics Department, Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA. parham@socrates.berkeley.edu
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Parham
authors.forename: Bryan L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bour
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Fritz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009144:Museums; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014426:Turtles / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial