'New Zealand dinosaurs' in New Zealand - Tuatara species - have the fastest evolutionary speed

In a study of New Zealand's tuatara, 'living dinosaurs' , an evolutionary biologist, ancient DNA expert, Professor David Lambert and his research team at Allan Wilson Center for ecology Learned and evolved, restored the DNA sequence from the bones of ancient tuatara, about 8000 years old.

They found that, although tuatara is almost constant in appearance over a long period of evolution, they evolved - at the DNA level - faster than any animal ever studied.'What we found is that the tuatara has the highest molecular level evolution ever , ' Professor Lambert said. The rate of evolution of Adélie penguins that Professor Lambert and his colleagues studied in Antarctica many years ago, a bit slower than tuatara. Tuatara's evolutionary speed is significantly faster than other animals including cave bears, lions, cows and horses.

Tuatara in New Zealand (Photo: iStockphoto / Robyn Grant)

'The tuatara makes everything slow, they grow slowly, slow reproduction and metabolism are also very slow, so we think it's possible that they can also evolve slowly. But in fact, at the DNA level, they evolved very quickly. This demonstrates a hypothesis of evolutionary biologist Allan Wilson, who argues that the rate of molecular evolution is uneven with the rate of morphological evolution. "

Allan Wilson is a pioneer in studying molecular-level evolution. His theories were controversial when introduced 40 years ago, but this study proves that theory. Professor Lambert said the findings will help future research and conservation of tuatara species. The group hopes to expand their work to study the evolution of other species.

'We want to continue to evaluate the rate of molecular evolution in humans, as well as conduct further studies with the moa and Antarctic fish to see if the rate of DNA change is uneven. There are mummies in the Andes and some samples in Siberia where we collaborate, so we hope to be able to measure the rate of evolution in those animals. '

The tuatara, Sphendon punctatus, only in New Zealand, are the only surviving member of the extinct Sphehodontia reptile living with dinosaurs and separated from other reptiles 200 million years ago during the Triassic period.

Reference: Lamber et al: 'Rapid molecular evolution in ancient animals' Researchers include Jennifer M. Hay, Sankar Subramanian, Craig D. Millar, Elmira Mohandesan and David M. Lambert, Trends in Genetics.March 2008 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2007.12.002)