Background Comparative genomic data among organisms allow the reconstruction of their
phylogenies and evolutionary time scales. Molecular timings have been recently used to …

Aim In order to resolve disputed biogeographical histories of biota with Gondwanan
continental distributions, and to assess the null hypothesis of vicariance, it is imperative that …

Background The hystricognath rodents of the New World, the Caviomorpha, are a diverse
lineage with a long evolutionary history, and their representation in South American fossil …

Platyrrhine primates and caviomorph rodents are clades of mammals that colonized South
America during its period of isolation from the other continents, between 100 and 3 million …

Sloths, like other xenarthrans, are an extremely interesting group of mammals that, after a
long history of evolution and diversification in South America, became established on …

Recent studies show Xenarthra to be even more isolated systematically from other placental
mammals than traditionally thought. The group not only represents 1 of 4 primary placental …

The fossil record serves a crucial function as an external calibration for genomic clocks and
molecular evolutionary timescales. Although certain portions of the vertebrate fossil record …

“Insectivores” are one of the key groups in understanding mammalian origins. For years,
systematics of “Lipotyphla” taxa remained extremely unstable and challenged. Today, with …

Multicellular animals, or Metazoa, appear in the fossil records between 575 and 509 million
years ago (MYA). At odds with paleontological evidence, molecular estimates of basal …

Understanding how climatic change impacts biological diversity is critical to conservation.
Yet despite demonstrated effects of climatic perturbation on geographic ranges and …