Ancient DNA

The phylogenetic position of the extinct Bluebuck

Published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

The blue buck went extinct by hunting in 1800, and it was never know to exist in high numbers in its native South Africa. Using ancient DNA extracted from a horn core in the collection of the Museum of Evolution in Uppsala, we reconstructed the complete mitogenome of the blue buck. This allowed to better determine the relationships with its most closely related species and time the divergence of the blue buck from the sable antelope to 2.8 million years ago. Contradicting previous finds, the roan antelope is more distantly related. (read more on Kudos)