| ancient dna microsatellite analyses of the extinct new zealand giant moa (dinornis robustus) identify relatives within a single fossil site. | by analysing ancient dna (adna) from 74 (14)c-dated individuals of the extinct south island giant moa (dinornis robustus) of new zealand, we identified four dyads of closely related adult females. although our total sample included bones from four fossil deposits located within a 10 km radius, these eight individuals had all been excavated from the same locality. indications of kinship were based on high pairwise genetic relatedness (rxy) in six microsatellite markers genotyped from adna, couple ... | 2015 | 26039408 |
| profiling the dead: generating microsatellite data from fossil bones of extinct megafauna--protocols, problems, and prospects. | we present the first set of microsatellite markers developed exclusively for an extinct taxon. microsatellite data have been analysed in thousands of genetic studies on extant species but the technology can be problematic when applied to low copy number (lcn) dna. it is therefore rarely used on substrates more than a few decades old. now, with the primers and protocols presented here, microsatellite markers are available to study the extinct new zealand moa (aves: dinornithiformes) and, as with ... | 2011 | 21304955 |
| resolving lost herbivore community structure using coprolites of four sympatric moa species (aves: dinornithiformes). | knowledge of extinct herbivore community structuring is essential for assessing the wider ecological impacts of quaternary extinctions and determining appropriate taxon substitutes for rewilding. here, we demonstrate the potential for coprolite studies to progress beyond single-species diet reconstructions to resolving community-level detail. the moa (aves: dinornithiformes) of new zealand are an intensively studied group of nine extinct herbivore species, yet many details of their diets and com ... | 2013 | 24082104 |
| more than one way of being a moa: differences in leg bone robustness map divergent evolutionary trajectories in dinornithidae and emeidae (dinornithiformes). | the extinct moa of new zealand included three families (megalapterygidae; dinornithidae; emeidae) of flightless palaeognath bird, ranging in mass from <15 kg to >200 kg. they are perceived to have evolved extremely robust leg bones, yet current estimates of body mass have very wide confidence intervals. without reliable estimators of mass, the extent to which dinornithid and emeid hindlimbs were more robust than modern species remains unclear. using the convex hull volumetric-based method on ct- ... | 2013 | 24367537 |
| highly informative ancient dna 'snippets' for new zealand moa. | analysis of ancient dna has provided invaluable information on past ecologies, ancient populations, and extinct species. we used a short snippet of highly variable mitochondrial control region sequence from new zealand's moa to characterise a large number of bones previously intractable to dna analysis as well as bone fragments from swamps to gain information about the haplotype diversity and phylogeography that existed in five moa species. | 2013 | 23341875 |
| a megafauna's microfauna: gastrointestinal parasites of new zealand's extinct moa (aves: dinornithiformes). | we perform the first multidisciplinary study of parasites from an extinct megafaunal clade using coprolites from the new zealand moa (aves: dinornithiformes). ancient dna and microscopic analyses of 84 coprolites deposited by four moa species (south island giant moa, dinornis robustus; little bush moa, anomalopteryx didiformis; heavy-footed moa, pachyornis elephantopus; and upland moa, megalapteryx didinus) reveal an array of gastrointestinal parasites including coccidians (cryptosporidium and m ... | 2013 | 23451203 |