Evolutionary trees underpin virtually all of biology, and the wealth of new genomic data has
enabled us to reconstruct them with increasing detail and confidence. While phenotypic …

The evolution of endothermy in birds and mammals was one of the most important events in
the evolution of the vertebrates. Past tests of hypotheses on the evolution of endothermy in …

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 …

Background Variation is a naturally occurring phenomenon that is observable at all levels of
morphology, from anatomical variations of DNA molecules to gross variations between …

Introduction Evolution of extended breath-hold endurance enables the exploitation of the
aquatic niche by numerous mammalian lineages and is accomplished by elevated body …

Background Cetacea (dolphins, porpoises, and whales) is a clade of aquatic species that
includes the most massive, deepest diving, and largest brained mammals. Understanding …

The rodent superfamily Octodontoidea comprises 6 families, 38 genera, and 193 living
species of spiny rats, tuco-tucos, degus, hutias, and their relatives. All are endemic to the …

Jaw morphology is closely linked to both diet and biomechanical performance, and jaws are
one of the most common Mesozoic mammal fossil elements. Knowledge of the dietary and …

An unprecedented level of confidence has recently crystallized around a new hypothesis of
how living placental mammals share a pattern of common descent. The major groups are …

The genomes of placental mammals are being sequenced at an unprecedented rate.
Alignments of hundreds, and one day thousands, of genomes spanning the rich living and …