The chronology of mysticete diversification (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti): Body size, morphological evolution and global change

M Bisconti, L Pellegrino, G Carnevale - Earth-Science Reviews, 2023 - Elsevier
A comprehensive revision of the localities of discovery of fossil mysticetes is presented
together with a highly inclusive phylogenetic analysis in order to provide the basis for a …

The evolution of mammalian brain size

JB Smaers, RS Rothman, DR Hudson, AM Balanoff… - Science …, 2021 - science.org
Relative brain size has long been considered a reflection of cognitive capacities and has
played a fundamental role in developing core theories in the life sciences. Yet, the notion …

A genomic timescale for placental mammal evolution

NM Foley, VC Mason, AJ Harris, KR Bredemeyer… - Science, 2023 - science.org
The precise pattern and timing of speciation events that gave rise to all living placental
mammals remain controversial. We provide a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of …

Phylogenomic resolution of the cetacean tree of life using target sequence capture

MR McGowen, G Tsagkogeorga… - Systematic …, 2020 - academic.oup.com
The evolution of cetaceans, from their early transition to an aquatic lifestyle to their
subsequent diversification, has been the subject of numerous studies. However, although …

The placental mammal ancestor and the post–K-Pg radiation of placentals

MA O'Leary, JI Bloch, JJ Flynn, TJ Gaudin… - science, 2013 - science.org
To discover interordinal relationships of living and fossil placental mammals and the time of
origin of placentals relative to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, we scored 4541 …

[HTML][HTML] Biology and Cultural Importance of the Narwhal

MT Nweeia - Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, 2024 - annualreviews.org
Though narwhal have survived multiple ice ages, including 2.5 Ma and the last interglacial
period with warming temperatures, Arctic climate change during the Anthropocene …

Early giant reveals faster evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs than in cetaceans

PM Sander, EM Griebeler, N Klein, JV Juarbe… - Science, 2021 - science.org
INTRODUCTION The iterative evolution of secondarily marine tetrapods since the Paleozoic
offers the promise of better understanding how the anatomy and ecology of animals change …

Why whales are big but not bigger: physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants

JA Goldbogen, DE Cade, DM Wisniewska, J Potvin… - Science, 2019 - science.org
The largest animals are marine filter feeders, but the underlying mechanism of their large
size remains unexplained. We measured feeding performance and prey quality to …

Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction

OC Bertrand, SL Shelley, TE Williamson, JR Wible… - Science, 2022 - science.org
Mammals are the most encephalized vertebrates, with the largest brains relative to body
size. Placental mammals have particularly enlarged brains, with expanded neocortices for …

Phylogenetic analysis at deep timescales: unreliable gene trees, bypassed hidden support, and the coalescence/concatalescence conundrum

J Gatesy, MS Springer - Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 2014 - Elsevier
Large datasets are required to solve difficult phylogenetic problems that are deep in the Tree
of Life. Currently, two divergent systematic methods are commonly applied to such datasets …