Living felids fall into eight evolutionary lineages or species clades. The major evolutionary lineages or lines correspond to the three major clades. Estimates for when different "Plasmodium" lineages diverged have differed broadly. Archaea show high levels of horizontal gene transfer between lineages. Bacteria today remain capable of gene exchange between distantly-related lineages. This system had evolved independently within several different amphibian lineages. Most of these lineages are protists. MtDNA studies have shown that there are at least four extant "C. lupus" lineages. Later endosymbiosis led to the spread of plastids in some lineages. All MPNs arise from precursors of the myeloid lineages in the bone marrow. This initial virus developed into two distinct lineages. This suggests independent evolution of the limonene biosynthetic pathway in these two lineages. Starch granules vary in composition and location across different chloroplast lineages. Hybridisation between ancestors of lion and snow leopard lineages may have continued until about . These are among the most basal lineages of living cyprinids.