title: The difference between trivial and scientific names: There were never any true cheetahs in North America.
abstract: Dobrynin et al. (Genome Biol 16:277, 2015) recently published the complete genome of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and provided an exhaustive set of analyses supporting the famously low genetic variation in the species, known for several decades. Their genetic analyses represent state-of-the-art and we do not criticize them. However, their interpretation of the results is inconsistent with current knowledge of cheetah evolution. Dobrynin et al. suggest that the causes of the two inferred bottlenecks at ∼ 100,000 and 10,000 years ago were immigration by cheetahs from North America and end-Pleistocene megafauna extinction, respectively, but the first explanation is impossible and the second implausible.
authors.affiliation: Section of Biology and Environmental Science, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, 9220, Aalborg, Øst, Denmark. faurby@mncn.csic.es.|Department of Biogeography and Global Change, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Calle José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain. faurby@mncn.csic.es.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faurby
authors.affiliation: Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Palaeobiology, Box 50007, 10405, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Werdelin
authors.affiliation: Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Svenning
mesh_terms: D002612:Acinonyx / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D016678:Genome; D008297:Male