The Origin and Evolution of the Woolly Mammoth
Adrian M. Lister,1*
Andrei V. Sher2
The mammoth lineage provides an example of rapid adaptive evolution
in response to the changing environments of the Pleistocene. Using
well-dated samples from across the mammoth's Eurasian range, we
document geographical and chronological variation in adaptive morphology. This work illustrates an incremental (if mosaic)
evolutionary sequence but also reveals a complex interplay of local
morphological innovation, migration, and extirpation in the origin and
evolution of a mammalian species. In particular, northeastern Siberia
is identified as an area of successive allopatric innovations that apparently spread to Europe, where they contributed to a complex pattern of stasis, replacement, and transformation.
1 Department of Biology, University College
London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
2 Severtsov Institute
of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117071, Russia.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
a.lister{at}ucl.ac.uk
