The oldest definitive pinniped fossils date from approximately 30.6–23 million years ago
(Ma) in the North Pacific. Pinniped monophyly is consistently supported; the group shares a …

Previous hypotheses for the origin and diversification of pinnipeds have followed a narrative
approach based mostly on dispersalist (ie, center of origin) explanations. Using an analytical …

In the present study, a series of phylogenetic analyses of morphological, molecular, and
combined morphological-molecular datasets were conducted to investigate the relationships …

The newly discovered Upper Miocene to Upper Pliocene San Gregorio assemblage of the
Purisima Formation in Central California has yielded a diverse collection of 34 marine …

The family Desmatophocidae represents an early radiation of extinct pinnipeds that peaked
in diversity during the middle Miocene. Although represented by abundant well-preserved …

Background A number of aberrant walruses (Odobenidae) have been described from the
Neogene of the North Pacific, including specialized suction-feeding and generalist fish …

Cope's rule describes the evolutionary trend for animal lineages to increase in body size
over time. In this study, we tested the validity of Cope's rule for a marine mammal clade, the …

Background Which factors influence the distribution patterns of morphological diversity
among clades? The adaptive radiation model predicts that a clade entering new ecological …

Aim To determine the origin and diversification of monachine seals using a phylogenetic
framework. Methods Molecular sequence data from three mitochondrial genes (cyt b, ND1 …

Sexual selection is one of the earliest areas of interest in evolutionary biology. And yet, the
evolutionary history of sexually dimorphic traits remains poorly characterized for most …