New pinniped paper picks wrong outgroup taxa
Today’s question is:
Are seals, walruses and sea lions closer to sea otters (Fig 1), as in Park et al 2024?
Or
Are seals, walruses and sea lions closer to Palaeogale (Fig 2), wolverines and short-face bears, as the the large reptile tree (LRT, 2319 taxa) recovered earlier.
Park et al 2024
sought to model pinniped phylogeny using traits and genomes. They probably did a great job with the 36 extant pinnipeds and 93 fossil taxa in their study.
Unfortunately, that many pinnipeds can’t be tested today because the LRT has a tough time with scrappy fossils and splitting species within genera. Presently the LRT nests only a few pinnipeds.
Park et al 2024
followed tradition and textbooks. They picked the wrong out-group taxa, according to the LRT, which tests more out-group candidates.
The authors reported
“Pan-Pinnipedia originated in the late Early Oligocene, ~29 Ma, with the divergence of Potamotherium and Puijila, which are sister to all other pinnipeds.”
The authors stated this without testing other taxa. Doing so was acceptable to the academic editors and referees because Park et al cited studies.
And it makes sense! Both clades are aquatic and marine.
Figure 1. LRT tested sea otter skulls to scale.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/enhydriodon588.jpg?w=129″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/enhydriodon588.jpg?w=440″ class=”size-full wp-image-86034″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/enhydriodon588.jpg?w=584&h=1359″ alt=”Figure 1. LRT tested sea otter skulls to scale.” width=”584″ height=”1359″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/enhydriodon588.jpg?w=584&h=1359 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/enhydriodon588.jpg?w=64&h=150 64w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/enhydriodon588.jpg?w=129&h=300 129w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/enhydriodon588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. LRT tested sea otter skulls to scale plus the outgroup weasel, Mustela.
By contrast, in the LRT, which minimizes taxon exclusion
by testing more outgroup taxa, Puijila darwini and Potamotherium (Fig 2) nested with the other tested sea otters, Lontra, Enhydriodon and Enhydra apart from the pinnipeds.
Figure 1. The former enigma, Palaeogale, enters the LRT basal to Phoca, the seal.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/palaeogale_skull_-bunaelurus588.jpg?w=163″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/palaeogale_skull_-bunaelurus588.jpg?w=558″ class=”size-full wp-image-76100″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/palaeogale_skull_-bunaelurus588.jpg?w=584&h=1073″ alt=”Figure 1. The former enigma, Palaeogale, enters the LRT basal to Phoca, the seal.” width=”584″ height=”1073″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/palaeogale_skull_-bunaelurus588.jpg?w=584&h=1073 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/palaeogale_skull_-bunaelurus588.jpg?w=82&h=150 82w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/palaeogale_skull_-bunaelurus588.jpg?w=163&h=300 163w, https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/palaeogale_skull_-bunaelurus588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. The former enigma, Palaeogale, enters the LRT basal to Phoca, the seal. Once again, phylogenetic miniaturiztion appears at the genesis of new clades.
The out-groups for pinnipeds in the LRT
are the tiny ‘enigma’ Palaeogale (Fig 1), the short-faced bear, Arctodus and the wolverine. Gulo, in order of increasing distance. These three taxa were not mentioned in the Park et al text. Palaeogale is known from a small (hamster-sized) skull without post-crania.
Phylogenetic miniaturization at the genesis of new clades is a repeating pattern recovered by the LRT.
It pays off eventually and inevitably to add taxa, to your own cladogram, just to see how all the enigmatic interrelationships shake down.
PS
In science it is not enough to criticize or complain about a certain hypothesis, result or methodology without providing an alternative hypothesis, result or methodology.
That’s what the LRT provides.
References
Park T et al (5 co-authors) 2024. Charting the course of pinniped evolution: insights from molecular phylogeny and fossil record integration. Evolution Evolution, 2024, XX(XX), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae061
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Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/05/17/new-pinniped-paper-picks-wrong-outgroup-taxa/
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