ANCIENT DNA SOLVES A DARWINIAN MYSTERY: THE ORIGINS OF THE FALKLAND-MALVINAS ISLANDS WOLF DUSICYON AUSTRALIS

JEREMY AUSTIN; J. JULIEN; FRANCISCO J. PREVOSTI; LUCIANO PRATES; VALENTINA TREJO; FRANCISCO MENA; ALAN COOPER

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

Nature

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013 vol. 4 p. 1 - 7

2041-1723

The origins of the extinct Falkland Islands wolf (FIW), Dusicyon australis, have remained amystery since it was first recorded by Europeans in the seventeenth century. It is the onlyterrestrial mammal on the Falkland Islands (also known as the Malvinas Islands), which lieB460 km from Argentina, leading to suggestions of either human-mediated transport oroverwater dispersal. Previous studies used ancient DNA from museum specimens to suggestthat the FIW diverged from its closest living relative, the South American maned wolf(Chrysocyon brachyurus) around 7 Ma, and colonized the islands B330 ka by unknown means.Here we retrieve ancient DNA from subfossils of an extinct mainland relative, Dusicyon avus,and reveal the FIW lineage became isolated only 16 ka (8–31 ka), during the last glacial phase.Submarine terraces, formed on the Argentine coastal shelf by low sea-stands during thisperiod, suggest that the FIW colonized via a narrow, shallow marine strait, potentially while itwas frozen over.