Gene duplication is an important mechanism for acquiring new genes and creating genetic
novelty in organisms. Many new gene functions have evolved through gene duplication and …

Insects possess a surprisingly extensive fossil record. Compilation of the geochronologic
ranges of insect families demonstrates that their diversity exceeds that of preserved …

Friedman WE, RC Moore, and MD Purugganan. 2004. The evolution of plant development.
Am. J. Bot. 91: 1726–1741. Friis EM, PR Crane, and KP Pedersen. 1997. Fossil history of …

Growing evidence of morphological diversity in angiosperm flowers, seeds and pollen from
the mid Cretaceous and the presence of derived lineages from increasingly older geological …

The extraordinary contemporary species richness and ecological predominance of flowering
plants (angiosperms) are even more remarkable when considering the relatively recent …

Although they are relative latecomers on the evolutionary scene, having emerged only 135?
170 million years ago, angiosperms—or flowering plants—are the most diverse and species …

Modern survivors of previously more diverse lineages are regarded as living fossils,
particularly when characterized by morphological stasis. Cycads are often cited as a classic …

Although temporal calibration is widely recognized as critical for obtaining accurate
divergence-time estimates using molecular dating methods, few studies have evaluated the …

The timing of the origin of angiosperms is a hotly debated topic in plant evolution. Molecular
dating analyses that consistently retrieve pre‐Cretaceous ages for crown‐group …

The α-crystallin-related, small heat shock proteins (smHSPs) are ubiquitous in nature, but
are unusually abundant and diverse in higher plants as opposed to other eukaryotes. The …