Abstract The Miocene epoch (23.03–5.33 Ma) was a time interval of global warmth, relative
to today. Continental configurations and mountain topography transitioned toward modern …

In this review of the evidence for and against taxic diversity within the hominin clade, we
begin by looking at the logic and the history of simple “ladder‐like” interpretations of the …

Previous analyses of relations, divergence times, and diversification patterns among extant
mammalian families have relied on supertree methods and local molecular clocks. We …

Gorillas are humans' closest living relatives after chimpanzees, and are of comparable
importance for the study of human origins and evolution. Here we present the assembly and …

Sterkfontein is the most prolific single source of Australopithecus fossils, the vast majority of
which were recovered from Member 4, a cave breccia now exposed by erosion and …

A complete mitochondrial (mt) genome sequence was reconstructed from a 38,000 year-old
Neandertal individual with 8341 mtDNA sequences identified among 4.8 Gb of DNA …

Mutations are the raw material of evolution but have been difficult to study directly. We report
the largest study of new mutations to date, comprising 2,058 germline changes discovered …

Background Molecular phylogenetics has provided unprecedented resolution in the
ruminant evolutionary tree. However, molecular age estimates using only one or a few (often …

Primates have long been a test case for the development of phylogenetic methods for
divergence time estimation. Despite a large number of studies, however, the timing of …

This paper reviews information on past vegetation of tropical Africa during the Cenozoic,
focused upon the last 10Ma, a time spanning hominid record in Central and East Africa …