Museum specimens shedding light on the evolutionary history and cryptic diversity of the hedgehog family Erinaceidae.

The family Erinaceidae encompasses 27 extant species in two subfamilies: Erinaceinae, which includes spiny hedgehogs, and Galericinae, which comprises silky-furred gymnures and moonrats. Although they are commonly recognized by the general public, their phylogenetic history remains incompletely understood, and several species have never been included in any molecular analyses. Additionally, previous research suggested that the species diversity of Erinaceidae might be underestimated.

Genomic analysis supports Cape Lion population connectivity prior to colonial eradication and extinction.

Cape lions (Panthera leo melanochaitus) formerly ranged throughout the grassland plains of the "Cape Flats" in what is today known as the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Cape lions were likely eradicated because of overhunting and habitat loss after European colonization. European naturalists originally described Cape lions as "black-maned lions" and claimed that they were phenotypically distinct.

Getting to the Meat of It: The Effects of a Captive Diet upon the Skull Morphology of the Lion and Tiger.

Zoo animals are crucial for conserving and potentially re-introducing species to the wild, yet it is known that the morphology of captive animals differs from that of wild animals. It is important to know how and why zoo and wild animal morphology differs to better care for captive animals and enhance their survival in reintroductions, and to understand how plasticity may influence morphology, which is supposedly indicative of evolutionary relationships. Using museum collections, we took 56 morphological measurements of skulls and mandibles from 617 captive and wild lions and tigers, reflecting each species' recent historical range.

Ancient DNA reveals genetic admixture in China during tiger evolution.

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a charismatic megafauna species that originated and diversified in Asia and probably experienced population contraction and expansion during the Pleistocene, resulting in low genetic diversity of modern tigers. However, little is known about patterns of genomic diversity in ancient populations. Here we generated whole-genome sequences from ancient or historical (100-10,000 yr old) specimens collected across mainland Asia, including a 10,600-yr-old Russian Far East specimen (RUSA21, 8× coverage) plus six ancient mitogenomes, 14 South China tigers (0.

Phenotypic plasticity determines differences between the skulls of tigers from mainland Asia.

Tiger subspecific taxonomy is controversial because of morphological and genetic variation found between now fragmented populations, yet the extent to which phenotypic plasticity or genetic variation affects phenotypes of putative tiger subspecies has not been explicitly addressed. In order to assess the role of phenotypic plasticity in determining skull variation, we compared skull morphology among continental tigers from zoos and the wild. In turn, we examine continental tiger skulls from across their wild range, to evaluate how the different environmental conditions experienced by individuals in the wild can influence morphological variation.

Current trends suggest most Asian countries are unlikely to meet future biodiversity targets on protected areas.

Aichi Target 11 committed governments to protect ≥17% of their terrestrial environments by 2020, yet it was rarely achieved, raising questions about the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework goal to protect 30% by 2030. Asia is a challenging continent for such targets, combining high biodiversity with dense human populations. Here, we evaluated achievements in Asia against Aichi Target 11.

Sex differences in the winter activity of desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in a resource-rich habitat in Qatar.

Hedgehogs' wide distribution and breadth of habitat use means they are a good model taxon for investigating behavioural responses to winter conditions, such as low temperatures and resource availability. We investigated the over-winter behaviour of desert hedgehogs (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in Qatar by radio-tracking 20 individuals and monitoring the body mass of 31 hedgehogs. Females spent more nights (38.

A genomic exploration of the early evolution of extant cats and their sabre-toothed relatives.

The evolutionary relationships of Felidae during their Early-Middle Miocene radiation is contentious. Although the early common ancestors have been subsumed under the grade-group this group is thought to be paraphyletic, including the early ancestors of both modern cats and extinct sabretooths. Here, we sequenced a draft nuclear genome of dated to 13,182 ± 90 cal BP, making this the oldest palaeogenome from South America to date, a region known to be problematic for ancient DNA preservation.

Lions and brown bears colonized North America in multiple synchronous waves of dispersal across the Bering Land Bridge.

The Bering Land Bridge connecting North America and Eurasia was periodically exposed and inundated by oscillating sea levels during the Pleistocene glacial cycles. This land connection allowed the intermittent dispersal of animals, including humans, between Western Beringia (far northeast Asia) and Eastern Beringia (northwest North America), changing the faunal community composition of both continents. The Pleistocene glacial cycles also had profound impacts on temperature, precipitation and vegetation, impacting faunal community structure and demography.

Genomic evidence for the Chinese mountain cat as a wildcat conspecific () and its introgression to domestic cats.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau endemic Chinese mountain cat has a controversial taxonomic status, whether it is a true species or a wildcat () subspecies and whether it has contributed to cat () domestication in East Asia. Here, we sampled lineages across China and sequenced 51 nuclear genomes, 55 mitogenomes, and multilocus regions from 270 modern or museum specimens. Genome-wide analyses classified the Chinese mountain cat as a wildcat conspecific , which was not involved in cat domestication of China, thus supporting a single domestication origin arising from the African wildcat ().

Extended survival of Pleistocene Siberian wolves into the early 20th century on the island of Honshū.

The Japanese or Honshū wolf was one the most distinct gray wolf subspecies due to its small stature and endemicity to the islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū. Long revered as a guardian of farmers and travellers, it was persecuted from the 17th century following a rabies epidemic, which led to its extinction in the early 20th century. To better understand its evolutionary history, we sequenced the nuclear genome of a 19th century Honshū wolf specimen to an average depth of coverage of 3.

The occurrence and distribution of bats in Qatar.

The distributions of bat species in Qatar have not previously been recorded. We conducted the first nation-wide survey of bats in Qatar. Based on sonogram analysis, we identified and The most commonly recorded species was the only species recorded in the northern half of the country.

Characteristics and Demography of a Free-Ranging Ethiopian Hedgehog, Population in Qatar.

Information on population characteristics of is valuable for ensuring long term survival of populations, however, studies are currently lacking. Here we investigate the population dynamics of Ethiopian hedgehogs based on a capture-mark-recapture study in Qatar by fitting Jolly-Seber and Cormack-Jolly-Seber models. Over the 19 months of the study, we estimate a mean population of 60 hedgehogs, giving a density of 7 hedgehogs per km in our 8.

The evolutionary history of extinct and living lions.

Lions are one of the world's most iconic megafauna, yet little is known about their temporal and spatial demographic history and population differentiation. We analyzed a genomic dataset of 20 specimens: two 30,000-y-old cave lions (), 12 historic lions () that lived between the 15th and 20th centuries outside the current geographic distribution of lions, and 6 present-day lions from Africa and India. We found that cave and modern lions shared an ancestor 500,000 y ago and that the 2 lineages likely did not hybridize following their divergence.

Post K-Pg diversification of the mammalian order Eulipotyphla as suggested by phylogenomic analyses of ultra-conserved elements.

The origin of the mammalian order Eulipotyphla has been debated intensively with arguments around whether they began diversifying before or after the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary at 66 Ma. Here, we used an in-solution nucleotide capture method and next generation DNA sequencing to determine the sequence of hundreds of ultra-conserved elements (UCEs), and conducted phylogenomic and molecular dating analyses for the four extant eulipotyphlan lineages-Erinaceidae, Solenodontidae, Soricidae, and Talpidae. Concatenated maximum-likelihood analyses with single or partitioned models and a coalescent species-tree analysis showed that divergences among the four major eulipotyphlan lineages occurred within a short period of evolutionary time, but did not resolve the interrelationships among them.

A comparison of the Ranging behaviour and habitat use of the Ethiopian hedgehog (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in Qatar with hedgehog taxa from temperate environments.

We investigated seasonal changes in the ecology and behaviour of the Ethiopian hedgehog (Paraechinus aethiopicus) in Qatar, particularly in respect to differences in behaviour between hedgehogs living in arid environments and hedgehogs in temperate mesic environments. These comparisons will allow us to explore behavioural adaptations to different environments across hedgehog taxa. We radio-tracked 30 hedgehogs in Qatar over two years, and measured home range size, habitat preference, travel speed, activity and body mass.

Hedgehogs on the move: Testing the effects of land use change on home range size and movement patterns of free-ranging Ethiopian hedgehogs.

Degradation and alteration of natural environments because of agriculture and other land uses have major consequences on vertebrate populations, particularly on spatial organization and movement patterns. We used GPS tracking to study the effect of land use and sex on the home range size and movement of a typical model species, the Ethiopian hedgehogs. We used free-ranging hedgehogs from two areas with different land use practices: 24 from an area dominated by irrigated farms (12 ♂♂, 12 ♀♀) and 22 from a natural desert environment within a biosphere reserve (12 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀).

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of nuclear genes suggests a Cenozoic over-water dispersal origin for the Cuban solenodon.

The Cuban solenodon (Solenodon cubanus) is one of the most enigmatic mammals and is an extremely rare species with a distribution limited to a small part of the island of Cuba. Despite its rarity, in 2012 seven individuals of S. cubanus were captured and sampled successfully for DNA analysis, providing new insights into the evolutionary origin of this species and into the origins of the Caribbean fauna, which remain controversial.

Assessing uncertainty in sighting records: an example of the Barbary lion.

As species become rare and approach extinction, purported sightings can be controversial, especially when scarce management resources are at stake. We consider the probability that each individual sighting of a series is valid. Obtaining these probabilities requires a strict framework to ensure that they are as accurately representative as possible.

Genetic ancestry of the extinct Javan and Bali tigers.

The Bali (Panthera tigris balica) and Javan (P. t. sondaica) tigers are recognized as distinct tiger subspecies that went extinct in the 1940s and 1980s, respectively.

Comparative skull analysis suggests species-specific captivity-related malformation in lions (Panthera leo).

Lion (Panthera leo) populations have dramatically decreased worldwide with a surviving population estimated at 32,000 across the African savannah. Lions have been kept in captivity for centuries and, although they reproduce well, high rates of stillbirths as well as morbidity and mortality of neonate and young lions are reported. Many of these cases are associated with bone malformations, including foramen magnum (FM) stenosis and thickened tentorium cerebelli.

Revealing the maternal demographic history of Panthera leo using ancient DNA and a spatially explicit genealogical analysis.

Background: Understanding the demographic history of a population is critical to conservation and to our broader understanding of evolutionary processes. For many tropical large mammals, however, this aim is confounded by the absence of fossil material and by the misleading signal obtained from genetic data of recently fragmented and isolated populations. This is particularly true for the lion which as a consequence of millennia of human persecution, has large gaps in its natural distribution and several recently extinct populations.