Despite discussions extending back almost 160 years, the means by which Madagascar's
iconic land vertebrates arrived on the island remains the focus of active debate. Three …

Systematic genetic studies of a handful of diverse organisms over the past 50 years have
transformed our understanding of biology. However, many aspects of primate biology …

Fossils provide our only direct window into evolutionary events in the distant past.
Incorporating them into phylogenetic hypotheses of living clades can help time-calibrate …

Our understanding of the evolutionary history of primates is undergoing continual revision
due to ongoing genome sequencing efforts. Bolstered by growing fossil evidence, these …

Global biodiversity is under accelerating threats, and species are succumbing to extinction
before being described. Madagascar's biota represents an extreme example of this …

A clade's evolutionary history is shaped, in part, by geographical range expansion,
sweepstakes dispersal and local extinction. A rigorous understanding of historical …

Taste perception plays an essential role in food selection. Umami (savory) tastes are sensed
by a taste receptor complex, T1R1/T1R3, that detects proteinogenic amino acids. 1 High …

Phylogeny-based estimates suggesting a low germline mutation rate (μ) in baleen whales
have influenced research ranging from assessments of whaling impacts to evolutionary …

Aim For 80 years, popular opinion has held that most of Madagascar's terrestrial vertebrates
arrived from Africa by transoceanic dispersal (ie rafting or swimming). We reviewed this …

Many of Madagascar's unique species are threatened with extinction. However, the severity
of recent and potential extinctions in a global evolutionary context is unquantified. Here, we …