Data from: Comparative and population mitogenomic analyses of Madagascar’s extinct, giant ‘subfossil’ lemurs
Logan Kistler, Aakrosh Ratan, Laurie R. Godfrey, Brooke E. Crowley, Cris E. Hughes, Runhua Lei, Yinqui Cui, Mindy L. Wood, Kathleen M. Muldoon, Haingoson Andriamialison, John J. McGraw, Lynn P. Tomsho, Stephan C. Schuster, Webb Miller, Edward E. Louis, Anne D. Yoder, Ripan S. Malhi, George H. Perry & Yinqiu Cui
Humans first arrived on Madagascar only a few thousand years ago. Subsequent habitat destruction and hunting activities have had significant impacts on the island's biodiversity, including the extinction of megafauna. For example, we know of 17 recently extinct ‘subfossil’ lemur species, all of which were substantially larger (body mass ∼11–160 kg) than any living population of the ∼100 extant lemur species (largest body mass ∼6.8 kg). We used ancient DNA and genomic methods to study...