Hic sunt dracones: ancient DNA from the extinct palaeofauna of the tiny Mediterranean archipelago of Columbretes and its implications for human visitation

Ancient DNA from Columbretes confirms the extinct snake as Vipera latastei, matching a historical specimen haplotype and clustering with northeastern Iberia lineages.

• Why it matters: The archipelago’s deep isolation and sporadic Holocene contact left the extinct herpetofauna’s identity and origins uncertain, limiting understanding of natural versus human-driven change.
• What they did: Researchers sequenced mitogenomes from 2,600-year-old microfauna and historical museum specimens, including historical Vipera latastei and partial mitogenomes from snake subfossils, then ran phylogenetic analyses.
• The result: The shared haplotype and phylogenetic placement validate the snake’s provenance and suggest a single mitochondrial lineage since isolation, while a 2,600-year-old mouse incisor indicates Iron Age human introduction.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.