Ancient DNA was extracted from 12 500 to 10 500 year old ground squirrel bones from Tse’K’wa, an archaeological site in the Peace River region of northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA from seven individuals demonstrates that all are Urocitellus richardsonii (Richardson’s ground squirrel), a species not found in the region today. Phylogenetic and sequence analyses indicate these individuals share a previously undocumented mitochondrial control region haplotype that is most closely related to haplotypes observed in modern specimens from Saskatchewan and Montana. At the end of the Pleistocene these ground squirrels extended their range north and west into open vegetation communities that developed when ice sheets melted and glacial lakes drained. They were subsequently extirpated from the Peace River region when forests replaced earlier pioneering vegetation communities.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
January 17, 2020
Ancient DNA reveals northwest range extension of Richardson’s ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii) into northeastern British Columbia, Canada, during the Late Pleistocene
Thomas C.A. Royle;
Thomas C.A. Royle
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Search for other works by this author on:
Dongya Y. Yang;
Dongya Y. Yang
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Search for other works by this author on:
Jonathan C. Driver
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Corresponding author: Jonathan C. Driver (email: [email protected]).
Search for other works by this author on:
Thomas C.A. Royle
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Dongya Y. Yang
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Corresponding author: Jonathan C. Driver (email: [email protected]).
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Received:
18 Jul 2018
Accepted:
07 Feb 2019
First Online:
08 Jul 2020
Online ISSN: 1480-3313
Print ISSN: 0008-4077
Published by NRC Research Press
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (2020) 57 (7): 855–866.
Article history
Received:
18 Jul 2018
Accepted:
07 Feb 2019
First Online:
08 Jul 2020
Citation
Thomas C.A. Royle, Dongya Y. Yang, Jonathan C. Driver; Ancient DNA reveals northwest range extension of Richardson’s ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii) into northeastern British Columbia, Canada, during the Late Pleistocene. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 2020;; 57 (7): 855–866. doi: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0189
Download citation file:
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Email alerts
Index Terms/Descriptors
- archaeological sites
- biogeography
- bones
- British Columbia
- Canada
- Cenozoic
- Chordata
- DNA
- Eutheria
- lithostratigraphy
- Mammalia
- maximum likelihood
- morphology
- nucleic acids
- Peace River
- phylogeny
- Pleistocene
- Quaternary
- Rodentia
- Sciuridae
- Sciuromorpha
- statistical analysis
- Tetrapoda
- Theria
- upper Pleistocene
- Vertebrata
- Western Canada
- Tse'K'wa
- Urocitellus richardsonii
Latitude & Longitude
Citing articles via
Related Articles
Giant short-faced bear ( Arctodus simus ) from late Wisconsinan deposits at Cowichan Head, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
Related Book Content
Onset age of deglaciation following the Last Glacial Maximum in New York State based on radiocarbon ages of mammalian megafauna
Quaternary Glaciation of the Great Lakes Region: Process, Landforms, Sediments, and Chronology
The biogeographic origins of late Paleocene–early Eocene mammalian immigrants to the Western Interior of North America
Dawn of the Age of Mammals in the northern part of the Rocky Mountain Interior, North America
Timing of the emergence of the Europe–Sicily bridge (40–17 cal ka BP) and its implications for the spread of modern humans
Geology and Archaeology: Submerged Landscapes of the Continental Shelf
The Chadronian mammalian fauna of the Florissant Formation, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado
Paleontology of the Upper Eocene Florissant Formation, Colorado