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Dire wolves are considered to be one of the most common and widespread large carnivores in Pleistocene America1, yet relatively little is known about their evolution or extinction. Here, to reconstruct the evolutionary history of dire wolves, we sequenced five genomes from sub-fossil remains dating from 13,000 to more than 50,000 years ago. Our results indicate that although they were similar morphologically to the extant grey wolf, dire wolves were a highly divergent lineage that split from living canids around 5.7 million years ago. In contrast to numerous examples of hybridization across Canidae2,3, there is no evidence for gene flow between dire wolves and either North American grey wolves or coyotes. This suggests that dire wolves evolved in isolation from the Pleistocene ancestors of these species. Our results also support an early New World origin of dire wolves, while the ancestors of grey wolves, coyotes and dholes evolved in Eurasia and colonized North America only relatively recently.

Aboriginal Australians represent one of the longest continuous cultural complexes known. Archaeological evidence indicates that Australia and New Guinea were initially settled approximately 50 thousand years ago (ka); however, little is known about the processes underlying the enormous linguistic and phenotypic diversity within Australia. Here we report 111 mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from historical Aboriginal Australian hair samples, whose origins enable us to reconstruct Australian phylogeographic history before European settlement. Marked geographic patterns and deep splits across the major mitochondrial haplogroups imply that the settlement of Australia comprised a single, rapid migration along the east and west coasts that reached southern Australia by 49–45 ka. After continent-wide colonization, strong regional patterns developed and these have survived despite substantial climatic and cultural change during the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Remarkably, we find evidence for the continuous presence of populations in discrete geographic areas dating back to around 50 ka, in agreement with the notable Aboriginal Australian cultural attachment to their country.

Myotragus balearicuswas a small-sized bovid endemic to the Gymnesic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca and surrounding islets), an archipelago within the Balearics. It is thought that this species became extinct approximately 4800bp. Since 1974, it has been widely accepted that this species was the subject of a domestication attempt by the first human settlers of Mallorca. A review of the presumed evidence for the domestication of M. balearicusis presented in this paper. Our principal conclusion is that there is no conclusive evidence for the human management of this species. Morphological evidence previously cited as indicating domestication is more plausibly interpreted as the result of taphonomic processes, including post-mortem alteration of bones by the M. balearicusthemselves. Accordingly, there is at present no empirical basis for the notion that Homo sapiensever attempted to domesticate Myotragusin any manner.

Myotragus balearicusBate 1909 is an artiodactyl Caprinae endemic to the Balearic Islands (Spain), which became extinct more than 4000 years ago. It is characterized by a series of very unusual apomorphies acquired throughout its insular evolution, one of which is the presence of a single evergrowing incisor (with an open root) in each dentary. This incisor has been classically considered as I1.The study of recendy discovered fossils of this species, which have been collected from the excavation of Holocene cave sediments in Cova Estreta (Pollenca, Mallorca) and in Cova des Moro (Manacor, Mallorca), together with the reexamination of materials belonging both to this species and to its ancestors, allowed us to study the ontogeny and evolution of the Myotragusdentition. The replacement of premolars differs only slighdy from the pattern recorded in ofiier bovids. Nevertheless, there are significant differences with other bovids regarding the incisiform series. Myotragus balearicuslacks secondary incisors. Through a neotenic process, which started during the Upper Pliocene, M. balearicusacquired a monophyodontic incisiform dentition, reducing the number of incisiforms to only one, identified as dl2. The richness of the finds allows us to describe the different steps in this evolution. The only incisiform that appears to have been lost is dl;l. The identification of the evergrowing incisor of M. balearicusas dl2reinforces its convergence with rodents postulated by Bate and there is discussion regarding homologies of incisors of rodents and lagomorphs.

Myotragus balearicusBate 1909 is an artiodactyl Caprinae endemic to the Balearic Islands which became extinct more than 4000 years ago. Coprolites produced by this species have been collected from the excavation of Holocene cave sediments in Cova Estreta (Serra de Tramuntana, Mallorca). The pollen content of several samples of coprolites has been studied in order to determine the diet of Myotragus. Myotragus balearicusfrom Cova Estreta was a browser, and consumed huge amounts of box, Buxus balearica, a plant known for its high content of steroidal alkaloids. The coprolites are very fine textured, probably due to the result of a very efficient digestive process.

Myotragus balearicusBate 1909 is an artiodactyl Caprinae endemic to the Balearic Islands (Spain), which became extinct more than 4000 years ago. It is characterized by a series of very unusual apomorphies acquired throughout its insular evolution, one of which is the presence of a single evergrowing incisor (with an open root) in each dentary. This incisor has been classically considered as I. The study of recently discovered fossils of this species, which have been collected from the excavation of Holocene cave sediments in Cova Estreta (Pollença, Mallorca) and in Cova des Moro (Manacor, Mallorca), together with the re-examination of materials belonging both to this species and to its ancestors, allowed us to study the ontogeny and evolution of the Myotragusdentition. The replacement of premolars differs only slightly from the pattern recorded in other bovids. Nevertheless, there are significant differences with other bovids regarding the incisiform series. Myotragus balearicuslacks secondary incisors. Through a neotenic process, which started during the Upper Pliocene, M. balearicusacquired a monophyodontic incisiform dentition, reducing the number of incisiforms to only one, identified as dI2. The richness of the finds allows us to describe the different steps in this evolution. The only incisiform that appears to have been lost is dI3. The identification of the evergrowing incisor of M. balearicusas dI2reinforces its convergence with rodents postulated by Bate and there is discussion regarding homologies of incisors of rodents and lagomorphs.

Myotragus balearicusBate 1909 is an artiodactyl Caprinae endemic to the Balearic Islands which became extinct more than 4000 years ago. Coprolites produced by this species have been collected from the excavation of Holocene cave sediments in Cova Estreta (Serra de Tramuntana, Mallorca). The pollen content of several samples of coprolites has been studied in order to determine the diet ofMyotragus.Myotragus balearicusfrom Cova Estreta was a browser, and consumed huge amounts of box,Buxus balearica, a plant known for its high content of steroidal alkaloids. The coprolites are very fine textured, probably due to the result of a very efficient digestive process.

The Tremarctinae are a subfamily of bears endemic to the New World, including two of the largest terrestrial mammalian carnivores that have ever lived: the giant, short-faced bears Arctodus simusfrom North America and Arctotherium angustidensfrom South America (greater than or equal to 1000 kg). Arctotherium angustidensbecame extinct during the Early Pleistocene, whereas Arctodus simuswent extinct at the very end of the Pleistocene. The only living tremarctine is the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), a largely herbivorous bear that is today only found in South America. The relationships among the spectacled bears (Tremarctos), South American short-faced bears (Arctotherium) and North American short-faced bears (Arctodus) remain uncertain. In this study, we sequenced a mitochondrial genome from an Arctotheriumfemur preserved in a Chilean cave. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the South American short-faced bears were more closely related to the extant South American spectacled bear than to the North American short-faced bears. This result suggests striking convergent evolution of giant forms in the two groups of short-faced bears (Arctodusand Arctotherium), potentially as an adaptation to dominate competition for megafaunal carcasses.