@inproceedings{huxley1880on13,
    author = "Huxley, T. H",
    title = "On the application of the laws of evolution to the arrangement of the Vertebrata, and more particularly of the Mammalia",
    year = "1880",
    booktitle = "Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, v. 43, p. 649-661",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Huxley, T. H., 1880, On the application of the laws of evolution to the arrangement of the Vertebrata, and more particularly of the Mammalia: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, v. 43, p. 649-661.}"
}

@misc{scott1937a22,
    author = "Scott, W. B",
    title = "A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere [Rev. ed.]",
    year = "1937",
    howpublished = "New York, American Philosophical Society, 786 p.; Reprint: Hafner, New York",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Scott, W. B., 1937, A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere [Rev. ed.]: New York, American Philosophical Society, 786 p.; Reprint: Hafner, New York.}"
}

@misc{olson1944origin20,
    author = "Olson, E. C",
    title = "Origin of mammals based upon cranial morphology of the therapsid suborders",
    year = "1944",
    howpublished = "Geological Society of America, Special Paper, v. 55",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Olson, E. C., 1944, Origin of mammals based upon cranial morphology of the therapsid suborders: Geological Society of America, Special Paper, v. 55.}"
}

@book{walker1964mammals26,
    author = "Walker, E. P",
    title = "Mammals of the World",
    year = "1964",
    publisher = "Baltimore, Ohio, John Hopkins Press; 3 Volumes",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Walker, E. P., 1964, Mammals of the World: Baltimore, Ohio, John Hopkins Press; 3 Volumes.}"
}

@misc{caughley1966mortality5,
    author = "Caughley, G",
    title = "Mortality patterns in mammals",
    year = "1966",
    howpublished = "Ecology, v. 47, p. 906-918",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Caughley, G., 1966, Mortality patterns in mammals: Ecology, v. 47, p. 906-918.}"
}

@book{yablokov1966variability27,
    author = "Yablokov, A",
    title = "Variability of Mammals",
    year = "1966",
    publisher = "Moscow, USSR, Nauka Publishers",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Yablokov, A., 1966, Variability of Mammals: Moscow, USSR, Nauka Publishers.}"
}

@misc{kurten1968pleistocene15,
    author = "Kurten, B",
    title = "Pleistocene Mammals of Europe",
    year = "1968",
    howpublished = "London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Kurten, B., 1968, Pleistocene Mammals of Europe: London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson.}"
}

@misc{kurten1969sexual16,
    author = "Kurten, B",
    title = "Sexual Dimorphism in Fossil Mammals, in Westermann, G. E. G., ed., Sexual Dimorphism in Fossil Metazoa and Taxonomic Implications",
    year = "1969",
    howpublished = "Stuttgart, E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagbuchhandlung, p. 226-227",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Kurten, B., 1969, Sexual Dimorphism in Fossil Mammals, in Westermann, G. E. G., ed., Sexual Dimorphism in Fossil Metazoa and Taxonomic Implications: Stuttgart, E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagbuchhandlung, p. 226-227.}"
}

@misc{matthews1969the18,
    author = "Matthews, L. H",
    title = "The Life of Mammals",
    year = "1969",
    howpublished = "London, Weidenfield and Nicholson; 2 Volumes",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Matthews, L. H., 1969, The Life of Mammals: London, Weidenfield and Nicholson; 2 Volumes.}"
}

@article{clemens1970mesozoic6,
    author = "Clemens, W. A",
    title = "Mesozoic mammalian evolution",
    year = "1970",
    journal = "Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, v. 1, p. 357-390",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Clemens, W. A., 1970, Mesozoic mammalian evolution: Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, v. 1, p. 357-390.}"
}

@book{mech1970the19,
    author = "Mech, L. D",
    title = "The Wolf",
    year = "1970",
    publisher = "New York, Natural History Press",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Mech, L. D., 1970, The Wolf: New York, Natural History Press.}"
}

@inproceedings{tedford1970principles24,
    author = "Tedford, R. H",
    title = "Principles and practices of mammalian geochronology in North America",
    year = "1970",
    booktitle = "North American Paleontological Convention, Proceedings, p. 666-703; Part F",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Tedford, R. H., 1970, Principles and practices of mammalian geochronology in North America: North American Paleontological Convention, Proceedings, p. 666-703; Part F.}"
}

@misc{brown1971mammals4,
    author = "Brown, J. H",
    title = "Mammals on mountaintops",
    year = "1971",
    howpublished = "nonequilibrium insular biogeography: American Naturalist, v. 105, p. 467-478",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Brown, J. H., 1971, Mammals on mountaintops: nonequilibrium insular biogeography: American Naturalist, v. 105, p. 467-478.}"
}

@misc{kurtn1971the17,
    author = "Kurtn, B",
    title = "The Age of Mammals",
    year = "1971",
    howpublished = "London, Weidenfield",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Kurtn, B., 1971, The Age of Mammals: London, Weidenfield.}"
}

@book{austin1972continuing1,
    author = "Austin, C. R. and Short, R. V",
    title = "-continuing, Reproduction in Mammals",
    year = "1972",
    publisher = "Cambridge, Cambridge University Press",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Austin, C. R., and Short, R. V., 1972-continuing, Reproduction in Mammals: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.}"
}

@book{schaller1972the21,
    author = "Schaller, G. B",
    title = "The Serengeti Lion",
    year = "1972",
    publisher = "Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago Press",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Schaller, G. B., 1972, The Serengeti Lion: Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago Press.}"
}

@article{kermack1973the14,
    author = "Kermack, K. A. and Mussett, F. and Rigney, H. W",
    title = "The lower jaw of Morganucodon",
    year = "1973",
    journal = "Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 53, p. 87- 175",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Kermack, K. A., Mussett, F., and Rigney, H. W., 1973, The lower jaw of Morganucodon: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 53, p. 87- 175.}"
}

@article{berry1975adaptation2,
    author = "Berry, R. J. and Jakobson, M. E",
    title = "Adaptation and adaptability in wild- living house mice (Mus musculus)",
    year = "1975",
    journal = "Journal of Zoology, v. 176, p. 391- 402",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Berry, R. J., and Jakobson, M. E., 1975, Adaptation and adaptability in wild- living house mice (Mus musculus): Journal of Zoology, v. 176, p. 391- 402.}"
}

@article{doi101002jmor1051470404,
    author = "Allin, Edgar F.",
    title = "Evolution of the mammalian middle ear",
    year = "1975",
    journal = "Journal of Morphology",
    abstract = {The structure and evolution of the mandible, suspensorium, and stapes of mammal-like reptiles and early mammals are examined in an attempt to determine how, why, and when in phylogeny the precursors of the mammalian tympanic bone, malleus, and incus (postdentary jaw elements and quadrate) came to function in the reception of air-borne sound. The following conclusions are reached: It is possible that at no stage in mammalian phylogeny was there a middle ear similar to that of "typical" living reptiles, with a postquadrate tympanic membrane contracted by an extrastapes. The aquamosal sulcus of cynodonts and other therapsids, usually thought to have housed a long external acoustic meatus, possibly held a depressor mandibulae muscle. In therapsids an air-filled chamber (recessus mandibularis of Westoll) extended deep to the reflected lamina and into the depression (external fossa) on the outer aspect of the angular element. A similar chamber was present in sphenacodontids but pterygoideus musculature occupied the small external fossa. The thin tissues superficial to the recessus mandibularis served as eardrum. Primitively, vibrations reached the stapes mainly via the anterior hyoid cornu, but in dicynodonts, therocephalians, and cynodants vibrations passed mainly or exclusively from mandible to quadrate to stapes and the reflected lamina was a component of the eardrum. In the therapsid phase of mammalian phylogeny, auditory adaptation was an important aspect of jaw evolution. Auditory efficiency, and sensitivity to higher sound frequencies were enhanced by diminution and loosening of the postdentary elements and quadrate, along with transference of musculature from postdentary elements to the dentary. These changes were made possible by associated modifications, including posterior expansion of the dentary. Establishment of a dentary-squamosal articulation permitted continuation of these trends, leading to the definitive mammalian condition, with no major change in auditory mechanism except that in most mammals (not monotremes) the angular, as tympanic, eventually bcame a non-vibrating structure.},
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.1051470404",
    doi = "10.1002/jmor.1051470404",
    openalex = "W2050505441",
    references = "doi101111j109636421973tb00786x"
}

@book{young1975the28,
    author = "Young, J. Z",
    title = "The Life of Mammals, Their Anatomy and Physiology",
    year = "1975",
    publisher = "Oxford, Claredon Press",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Young, J. Z., 1975, The Life of Mammals, Their Anatomy and Physiology: Oxford, Claredon Press.}"
}

@article{gingerich1976paleontology11,
    author = "Gingerich, P. D",
    title = "Paleontology and phylogeny",
    year = "1976",
    journal = "patterns of evolution of the species level in early Tertiary mammals: American Journal of Science, v. 276, p. 1-28",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Gingerich, P. D., 1976, Paleontology and phylogeny: patterns of evolution of the species level in early Tertiary mammals: American Journal of Science, v. 276, p. 1-28.}"
}

@article{doi101038272333a0,
    author = "Crompton, A. W. and Taylor, C. Richard and Jagger, James A.",
    title = "Evolution of homeothermy in mammals",
    year = "1978",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/272333a0",
    doi = "10.1038/272333a0",
    openalex = "W2077595219",
    references = "doi101098rstb19760022, doi101126science18441401001, doi101152ajplegacy197021841233, doi101152ajplegacy197021941104, doi101152jappl1975394619, doi1023072407154, doi1023072530028, openalexw1508361990, openalexw1562852527, openalexw611184576"
}

@misc{vaughan1978mammalogy25,
    author = "Vaughan, T. A",
    title = "Mammalogy",
    year = "1978",
    howpublished = "Philadelphia, Pa., Saunders",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Vaughan, T. A., 1978, Mammalogy: Philadelphia, Pa., Saunders.}"
}

@book{crompton1979origin9,
    author = "Crompton, A. W. and Jenkins, F. A",
    title = "Origin of Mammals, in Lillegraven, J. A., Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., and Clemens, W. A., eds., Mesozoic Mammals",
    year = "1979",
    publisher = "Berkeley, Ca., University of California Press",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Crompton, A. W., and Jenkins, F. A., 1979, Origin of Mammals, in Lillegraven, J. A., Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., and Clemens, W. A., eds., Mesozoic Mammals: Berkeley, Ca., University of California Press.}"
}

@article{doi101111j136520281979tb00256x,
    author = "Western, David",
    title = "Size, life history and ecology in mammals",
    year = "1979",
    journal = "African Journal of Ecology",
    abstract = "Summary Allometric laws which scale numerous biomechanical and physiological processes to size in mammals have long been recognized and widely used in biology. There is now sufficient evidence to suggest that those life history parameters such as growth and maximum rates of reproduction, which depend in part on metabolic rate, are also scaled to size. Data are presented which, coupled with a literature review, show that gestation time, growth rates, age at first reproduction, lifespan, the intrinsic rate of natural increase, birth rate, net reproductive rate and litter weight are allometrically scaled to size and are, in consequence, inter‐related. The exponents of the scaling functions are similar in all mammalian orders but in some taxa such as the primates, the species grow slower, live longer and reproduce at a lower rate. For these taxa the differences in life history parameters can be explained by differences in brain size and an existing hypothesis that the maximum rate of neural tissue growth constrains the maximum rate of growth and development of the entire organism. It is then argued that because size scales the main life history parameters of mammals it should also be a central theme in ecology from the individual to the community level of organisation. Examples are presented to show that size is ubiquitous in ecology and accounts for most of the variation in life history parameters between species. Size scaling offers a method of reducing species of varying size to similar dimensions of time, space and rates of action. It is therefore fundamental in distinguishing those life history parameters which arise as a consequence of size, the first order strategies, from those that vary between populations and according to environmental circumstances, the second order strategies. From this approach should develop a broader biological synthesis in which genetic and physiological determinants will inevitably feature more centrally than they do in ecological and behavioural theory. Résumé Les lois allométriques unissant les processus biomécaniques et physiologiques avec la taille chez les mammifères ont été reconnues depuis longtemps et largement utilisées en biologic Il y a maintenant assez de certitude pour suggérer que les paramètres biologiques tels que croissance et taux maximal de reproduction, qui dépendent partiellement du rendement métabolique, sont aussi fonctions de la taille. Les données présentées ici, couplées avec une revue de la littérature, montrent que la durée de gestation, le taux de croissance, l'âge à la première reproduction, la durée de vie, le taux intrinsèque d'accroissement naturel, le taux de natalité, le taux de reproduction net et le poids de la portée sont en relation allométrique avec la taille et, par conséquent, sont en interrelation.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2028.1979.tb00256.x",
    doi = "10.1111/j.1365-2028.1979.tb00256.x",
    openalex = "W2030059955",
    references = "doi1010160003347268900298, doi101111j136520281966tb00878x"
}

@book{corbet1980world8,
    author = "Corbet, G. B. and Hill, J. E",
    title = "World List of Mammalian Species",
    year = "1980",
    publisher = "Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Corbet, G. B., and Hill, J. E., 1980, World List of Mammalian Species: Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press.}"
}

@article{gingerich1980evolutionary12,
    author = "Gingerich, P. D",
    title = "Evolutionary patterns in early Cenozoic mammals",
    year = "1980",
    journal = "Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 8, p. 407-424",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Gingerich, P. D., 1980, Evolutionary patterns in early Cenozoic mammals: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 8, p. 407-424.}"
}

@article{garland1983the10,
    author = "Garland, T",
    title = "The relation between maximal running speed and body mass in terrestrial mammals",
    year = "1983",
    journal = "Journal of Zoology, London, v. 199, p. 1557-1570",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Garland, T., 1983, The relation between maximal running speed and body mass in terrestrial mammals: Journal of Zoology, London, v. 199, p. 1557-1570.}"
}

@book{sloan1983the23,
    author = "Sloan, R. E",
    title = "The Transition Between Reptiles and Mammals, in Zetterberg, P. J., ed., Evolution Versus Creationism",
    year = "1983",
    publisher = "The Public Education Controversy: Phoenix, Arizona, Oryx Press, p. 263-277",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Sloan, R. E., 1983, The Transition Between Reptiles and Mammals, in Zetterberg, P. J., ed., Evolution Versus Creationism: The Public Education Controversy: Phoenix, Arizona, Oryx Press, p. 263-277.}"
}

@misc{bower1984fossils3,
    author = "Bower, B",
    title = "Fossils may clarify mammal evolution",
    year = "1984",
    howpublished = "Science News, v. 126, p. 213",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Bower, B., 1984, Fossils may clarify mammal evolution: Science News, v. 126, p. 213.}"
}

@misc{cockrum1985mammal7,
    author = "Cockrum, E. L",
    title = "Mammal, in Encyclopedia Americana",
    year = "1985",
    howpublished = "Dnabury, Connecticut, Grolier, v. 18, p. 189-205",
    note = "talkorigins\_source = {true}; raw\_reference = {Cockrum, E. L., 1985, Mammal, in Encyclopedia Americana: Dnabury, Connecticut, Grolier, v. 18, p. 189-205.}"
}

@article{doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva040517,
    author = "Pamilo, Pekka and Nei, M",
    title = "Relationships between gene trees and species trees.",
    year = "1988",
    journal = "Molecular Biology and Evolution",
    abstract = "It is well known that a phylogenetic tree (gene tree) constructed from DNA sequences for a genetic locus does not necessarily agree with the tree that represents the actual evolutionary pathway of the species involved (species tree). One of the important factors that cause this difference is genetic polymorphism in the ancestral species. Under the assumption of neutral mutations, this problem can be studied by evaluating the probability (P) that a gene tree has the same topology as that of the species tree. When one gene (allele) is used from each of the species involved, the probability can be expressed as a simple function of Ti = ti/(2N), where ti is the evolutionary time measured in generations for the ith internodal branch of the species tree and N is the effective population size. When any of the Ti's is less than 1, the probability P becomes considerably less than 1.0. This probability cannot be substantially increased by increasing the number of alleles sampled from a locus. To increase the probability, one has to use DNA sequences from many different loci that have evolved independently of each other.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040517",
    doi = "10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040517",
    openalex = "W2142718629",
    references = "doi101126science15838051200, sarich1967immunological"
}

@article{doi101111j146979981990tb04316x,
    author = "Promislow, Daniel and Harvey, Paul",
    title = "Living fast and dying young: A comparative analysis of life‐history variation among mammals",
    year = "1990",
    journal = "Journal of Zoology",
    abstract = "Recent comparative studies point to the importance of mortality schedules as determinants in the evolution of life‐history characteristics. In this paper, we compare patterns of mortality from natural populations of mammals with a variety of life histories. We find that, after removing the effects of body weight, mortality is the best predictor of variation in life‐history traits. Mammals with high levels of natural mortality tend to mature early and give birth to small offspring in large litters after a short gestation, before and after body size effects are factored out. We examine the way in which life‐history traits relate to juvenile mortality versus adult mortality and find that juvenile mortality is more highly correlated with life‐history traits than is adult mortality. We discuss the necessity of distinguishing between extrinsic sources of mortality (e.g. predation) and mortality caused by intrinsic sources (e.g. costs of reproduction), and the role that ecology might play in the evolution of patterns of mortality and fecundity. We conclude that these results must be explained not simply in the light of the demographic necessity of balancing mortality and fecundity, but as a result of age‐specific costs and benefits of reproduction and parental investment. Detailed comparative studies of mortality patterns in natural populations of mammals offer a promising avenue towards understanding the evolution of life‐history strategies.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1990.tb04316.x",
    doi = "10.1111/j.1469-7998.1990.tb04316.x",
    openalex = "W2112097992",
    references = "doi101111j136520281966tb00878x, doi101111j17447429200700272x, doi1023071935638, doi1023072937268"
}

@article{doi101139z91327,
    author = "Thomason, J. J.",
    title = "Cranial strength in relation to estimated biting forces in some mammals",
    year = "1991",
    journal = "Canadian Journal of Zoology",
    abstract = "The mammalian skull has proven to be remarkably plastic during ontogeny and phylogeny in response to the demands of mastication. I examine whether the bending strength of the skull in some mammals correlates with the maximal loads imposed through the masticatory apparatus. The approach is analytical, using the methods of beam theory. Cranial strength is estimated from the second moment of area and other geometrical measurements made from 20–30 transverse CT scans through the skulls of 20 opossums (Didelphis virginiana), and through single skulls of five felid and five canid genera of different sizes. Maximal biting forces were first estimated from areas on the dried skulls bounding the spaces filled in life by the jaw-adducting muscles. These estimates were then adjusted with reference to forces recorded in vivo or, for other specimens, to estimates based on dissections of the jaw muscles. Stress distribution in the face, and peak stresses, were calculated for each animal. Stress levels are low (5–35 MPa) compared with peak stresses in limb bones (40–100 MPa), which correlates with the lower in vivo strains in cranial bones reported in the literature. Stress estimates are in a range that is plausible, which supports the validity of the procedure. Patterns of stress distribution along the face are comparable within each group of animals. Peak stress is independent of size for the carnivorans, but decreases with increasing skull length in D. virginiana. High bending strength of the skull is a consequence of cranial form in mammals; having to enclose the brain, for example, increases the bending strength of the skull. Furthermore, factors such as stiffness or shear and torsional strength may be more important than bending strength. However, bending stress levels appear to be closely regulated, as in other bones that have been studied. The threshold for optimising bending strength and weight is simply at a different level.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1139/z91-327",
    doi = "10.1139/z91-327",
    openalex = "W2001976857",
    references = "openalexw3205908402"
}

@incollection{doi101007978146122784737,
    author = "Allin, Edgar F. and Hopson, James A.",
    title = "Evolution of the Auditory System in Synapsida (“Mammal-Like Reptiles” and Primitive Mammals) as Seen in the Fossil Record",
    year = "1992",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2784-7\_37",
    doi = "10.1007/978-1-4612-2784-7\_37",
    openalex = "W135084178",
    references = "doi101002jmor1051470404, doi1010160047248480900111, doi101038142004a0, doi10108002724634198810011708, doi101098rstb19630002, doi101111j109636421981tb01127x, doi101111j109636421985tb01500x, doi101130spe28p1, doi1023071445584, doi1023072413376, doi1023074448410, doi105962bhltitle15687, doi105962bhltitle82144"
}

@article{doi101016016622369593932n,
    author = "Northcutt, R. Glenn and Kaas, J. H.",
    title = "The emergence and evolution of mammalian neocortex",
    year = "1995",
    journal = "Trends in Neurosciences",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-2236(95)93932-n",
    doi = "10.1016/0166-2236(95)93932-n",
    openalex = "W2002082920",
    references = "crossref1980comparative, doi1010079781461329886, doi1010160166223693900806, doi101093cercor111, doi101093cercor111a, doi101111j155856461982tb05453x, doi1023071445584, doi1023072405671, doi1023072407154, doi1023072806339, doi105860choice325931, doi105860choice430626, openalexw1582697909"
}

@article{doi1023072937160,
    author = "Martin, Thomas E.",
    title = "Avian Life History Evolution in Relation to Nest Sites, Nest Predation, and Food",
    year = "1995",
    journal = "Ecological Monographs",
    abstract = "Food limitation is generally thought to underlie much of the variation in life history traits of birds. I examined variation and covariation of life history traits of 123 North American Passeriformes and Piciformes in relation to nest sites, nest predation, and foraging sites to examine the possible roles of these ecological factors in life history evolution of birds. Annual fecundity was strongly inversely related to adult survival, even when phylogenetic effects were controlled. Only a little of the variation in fecundity and survival was related to foraging sites, whereas these traits varied strongly among nest sites. Interspecific differences in nest predation were correlated with much of the variation in life history traits among nest sites, although energy trade—offs with covarying traits also may account for some variation. For example, increased nest predation is associated with a shortened nestling period and both are associated with more broods per year, but number of broods is inversely correlated with clutch size, possibly due to an energy trade—off. Number of broods was much more strongly correlated with annual fecundity and adult survival among species than was clutch size, suggesting that clutch size may not be the primary fecundity trait on which selection is acting. Ultimately, food limitation may cause trade—offs between annual fecundity and adult survival, but differences among species in fecundity and adult survival may not be explained by differences in food abundance and instead represent differing tactics for partitioning similar levels of food limitation. Variation in fecundity and adult survival is more clearly organized by nest sites and more closely correlated with nest predation; species that use nest sites with greater nest predation have shorter nestling periods and more broods,yielding higher fecundity, which in turn is associated with reduced adult survival. Fecundity also varied with migratory tendencies; short—distance migrants had more broods and greater fecundity than did neotropical migrants and residents using similar nest sites. However, migratory tendencies and habitat use were confounded, making separation of these two effects difficult. Nonetheless, the conventional view that neotropical migrants have fewer broods than residents was not supported when nest site effects were controlled.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.2307/2937160",
    doi = "10.2307/2937160",
    openalex = "W2055512957",
    references = "doi101086282461, doi101086282697, doi101086400074, doi101086409052, doi101086410622, doi101093sysbio41118, doi101098rstb19890106, doi101111j1474919x1947tb04155x, doi101111j1474919x1968tb00058x, doi1023071446122, doi1023071935217, doi1023072874, doi10230740168301, doi1023075403, doi102307jctt1xp3v3r"
}

@article{doi101126science1067179,
    author = "Murphy, William J. and Eizirik, Eduardo and O’Brien, Stephen J. and Madsen, Ole and Scally, Mark and Douady, Christophe J. and Teeling, Emma C. and Ryder, Oliver A. and Stanhope, Michael J. and de Jong, Wilfried W. and Springer, Mark S.",
    title = "Resolution of the Early Placental Mammal Radiation Using Bayesian Phylogenetics",
    year = "2001",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Molecular phylogenetic studies have resolved placental mammals into four major groups, but have not established the full hierarchy of interordinal relationships, including the position of the root. The latter is critical for understanding the early biogeographic history of placentals. We investigated placental phylogeny using Bayesian and maximum-likelihood methods and a 16.4-kilobase molecular data set. Interordinal relationships are almost entirely resolved. The basal split is between Afrotheria and other placentals, at about 103 million years, and may be accounted for by the separation of South America and Africa in the Cretaceous. Crown-group Eutheria may have their most recent common ancestry in the Southern Hemisphere (Gondwana).",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1067179",
    doi = "10.1126/science.1067179",
    openalex = "W2101671848",
    references = "doi10103831927, doi10103835054550, doi10103846536, doi101080106351500750049752, doi101093bioinformatics149817, doi101093bioinformatics178754, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva026160, doi101093sysbio422182, doi1023071447682, doi1023072992540, rambaut1998estimating"
}

@article{doi101146annurevecolsys32081501114006,
    author = "Zera, Anthony J. and Harshman, Lawrence G.",
    title = "The Physiology of Life History Trade-Offs in Animals",
    year = "2001",
    journal = "Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics",
    abstract = "▪ Abstract The functional causes of life history trade-offs have been a topic of interest to evolutionary biologists for over six decades. Our review of life history trade-offs discusses conceptual issues associated with physiological aspects of trade-offs, and it describes recent advances on this topic. We focus on studies of four model systems: wing polymorphic insects, Drosophila, lizards, and birds. The most significant recent advances have been: (a) incorporation of genetics in physiological studies of trade-offs, (b) integration of investigations of nutrient input with nutrient allocation, (c) development of more sophisticated models of resource acquisition and allocation, (d) a shift to more integrated, multidisciplinary studies of intraspecific trade-offs, and (e) the first detailed investigations of the endocrine regulation of life history trade-offs.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.32.081501.114006",
    doi = "10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.32.081501.114006",
    openalex = "W2096260958",
    references = "doi101007bf00378945, doi101017s0031819100009189, doi101111j1474919x1947tb04155x, doi101126science7123238, doi1016500010542220001020009ddeoat20co2, doi1023072389364, openalexw1558456135, openalexw656806957"
}

@article{openalexw78894702,
    author = "Luo, Zhe‐Xi and Kielan‐Jaworowska, Zofia and Cifelli, Richard L.",
    title = "In quest for a phylogeny of Mesozoic mammals",
    year = "2002",
    journal = "reroDoc Digital Library",
    abstract = "We propose a phylogeny of all major groups of Mesozoic mammals based on phylogenetic analyses of 46 taxa and 275 osteological and dental characters, using parsimony methods (Swofford 2000). Mammalia sensu lato (Mammaliaformes of some authors) are monophyletic. Within mammals, Sinoconodon is the most primitive taxon. Sinoconodon, morganu− codontids, docodonts, and Hadrocodium lie outside the mammalian crown group (crown therians + Monotremata) and are, successively, more closely related to the crown group. Within the mammalian crown group, we recognize a funda− mental division into australosphenidan (Gondwana) and boreosphenidan (Laurasia) clades, possibly with vicariant geo− graphic distributions during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. We provide additional derived characters supporting these two ancient clades, and we present two evolutionary hypotheses as to how the molars of early monotremes could have evolved. We consider two alternative placements of allotherians (haramiyids + multituberculates). The first, supported by strict consensus of most parsimonious trees, suggests that multituberculates (but not other alllotherians) are closely re− lated to a clade including spalacotheriids + crown therians (Trechnotheria as redefined herein). Alternatively, allotherians can be placed outside the mammalian crown group by a constrained search that reflects the traditional emphasis on the uniqueness of the multituberculate dentition. Given our dataset, these alternative topologies differ in tree−length by only \textasciitilde 0.6\% of the total tree length; statistical tests show that these positions do not differ significantly from one another. Simi− larly, there exist two alternative positions of eutriconodonts among Mesozoic mammals, contingent on the placement of other major mammalian clades. Of these, we tentatively favor recognition of a monophyletic Eutriconodonta, nested within the mammalian crown group. We suggest that the “obtuse−angle symmetrodonts” are paraphyletic, and that they lack reliable and unambiguous synapomorphies.",
    openalex = "W78894702",
    references = "cifelli1998triconodont, doi101007978146122784737, doi101007978146139249113, doi10103835054544, doi10103835054550, doi101038356121a0, doi10108002724634198810011681, doi10108002724634199810011048, doi101080106351500750049752, doi101098rstb19630002, doi101098rstb19760022, doi101111j109600311988tb00514x, doi101111j109636421973tb00786x, doi101111j109636421984tb00544x, doi101111j109636421985tb01500x, doi101111j155856461983tb05533x, doi1023071445584, doi105281zenodo16386718, doi105281zenodo18028696, doi105860choice355657, doi105962bhltitle3460, heinrich1998late, openalexw1539913220, openalexw1988829823, openalexw610180004"
}

@article{doi101073pnas0334222100,
    author = "Springer, Mark S. and Murphy, William J. and Eizirik, Eduardo and O’Brien, Stephen J.",
    title = "Placental mammal diversification and the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary",
    year = "2003",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = {Competing hypotheses for the timing of the placental mammal radiation focus on whether extant placental orders originated and diversified before or after the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) boundary. Molecular studies that have addressed this issue suffer from single calibration points, unwarranted assumptions about the molecular clock, andor taxon sampling that lacks representatives of all placental orders. We investigated this problem using the largest available molecular data set for placental mammals, which includes segments of 19 nuclear and three mitochondrial genes for representatives of all extant placental orders. We used the ThorneKishino method, which permits simultaneous constraints from the fossil record and allows rates of molecular evolution to vary on different branches of a phylogenetic tree. Analyses that used different sets of fossil constraints, different priors for the base of Placentalia, and different data partitions all support interordinal divergences in the Cretaceous followed by intraordinal diversification mostly after the KT boundary. Four placental orders show intraordinal diversification that predates the KT boundary, but only by an average of 10 million years. In contrast to some molecular studies that date the rat-mouse split as old as 46 million years, our results show improved agreement with the fossil record and place this split at 16-23 million years. To test the hypothesis that molecular estimates of Cretaceous divergence times are an artifact of increased body size subsequent to the KT boundary, we also performed analyses with a "KT body size" taxon set. In these analyses, interordinal splits remained in the Cretaceous.},
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0334222100",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.0334222100",
    openalex = "W2109258478",
    references = "crossref1977chapter, crossref1977patterns, doi101023a1011317930838, doi10103831927, doi10103835054544, doi10103835054550, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva003811, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva025892, doi101126science1067179, doi101126science1068700, doi101159000452856, doi105860choice355657, openalexw1599677799, openalexw3217097258"
}

@article{doi101086367591,
    author = "Oli, Madan K. and Dobson, F. Stephen",
    title = "The Relative Importance of Life‐History Variables to Population Growth Rate in Mammals: Cole’s Prediction Revisited",
    year = "2003",
    journal = "The American Naturalist",
    abstract = "The relative importance of life-history variables to population growth rate (lambda) has substantial consequences for the study of life-history evolution and for the dynamics of biological populations. Using life-history data for 142 natural populations of mammals, we estimated the elasticity of lambda to changes in age at maturity (alpha), age at last reproduction (omega), juvenile survival (Pj), adult survival (Pa), and fertility (F). Elasticities were then used to quantify the relative importance of alpha, omega, Pj, Pa, and F to lambda and to test theoretical predictions regarding the relative influence on lambda of changes in life-history variables. Neither alpha nor any other single life-history variable had the largest relative influence on lambda in the majority of the populations, and this pattern did not change substantially when effects of phylogeny and body size were statistically removed. Empirical support for theoretical predictions was poor at best. However, analyses of elasticities on the basis of the magnitude (F) and onset (alpha) of reproduction revealed that alpha, followed by F, had the largest relative influence on lambda in populations characterized by early maturity and high reproductive rates, or when F/alpha > 0.60. When maturity was delayed and reproductive rates were low, or when F/alpha < 0.15, survival rates were overwhelmingly most influential, and reproductive parameters (alpha and F) had little relative influence on lambda. Population dynamic consequences of likely responses of biological populations to perturbations in life-history variables are examined, and predictions are made regarding the numerical dynamics of age-structured populations on the basis of values of the F/alpha ratio.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1086/367591",
    doi = "10.1086/367591",
    openalex = "W2161113790"
}

@article{doi101126science1090718,
    author = "Luo, Zhe‐Xi and Ji, Qiang and Wible, John R. and Yuan, Chong-Xi",
    title = "An Early Cretaceous Tribosphenic Mammal and Metatherian Evolution",
    year = "2003",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Derived features of a new boreosphenidan mammal from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China suggest that it has a closer relationship to metatherians (including extant marsupials) than to eutherians (including extant placentals). This fossil dates to 125 million years ago and extends the record of marsupial relatives with skeletal remains by 50 million years. It also has many foot structures known only from climbing and tree-living extant mammals, suggesting that early crown therians exploited diverse niches. New data from this fossil support the view that Asia was likely the center for the diversification of the earliest metatherians and eutherians during the Early Cretaceous.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1090718",
    doi = "10.1126/science.1090718",
    openalex = "W2089259767",
    references = "doi107312kiel11918"
}

@article{doi101038nature02426,
    author = "Gibbs, Richard A. and Weinstock, George M. and Metzker, Michael L. and Muzny, Donna M. and Sodergren, Erica and Scherer, Steven E. and Scott, Graham and Steffen, David L. and Worley, Kim C. and Burch, Paula E. and Okwuonu, Geoffrey and Hines, Sandra and Lewis, Lora and DeRamo, Christine and Delgado, Oliver and Dugan-Rocha, Shannon and Miner, George and Morgan, Margaret and Hawes, Alicia and Gill, Rachel and Holt, Celera Robert A. and Adams, Mark D. and Amanatides, Peter G. and Baden-Tillson, Holly and Barnstead, Mary and Chin, Soo H. and Evans, Cheryl and Ferriera, Steve and Fosler, Carl and Glodek, Anna and Gu, Zhiping and Jennings, D. E. and Kraft, Cheryl and Nguyen, Trixie and Pfannkoch, Cynthia and Sitter, Cynthia D. and Sutton, Granger and Venter, J. Craig and Woodage, Trevor and Therapeutics, Genome and Smith, Douglas and Lee, Hongmei and Gustafson, Erik and Cahill, Patrick and Kana, A. and Doucette‐Stamm, Lynn and Weinstock, Keith and Fechtel, Kim and Weiss, Robert B. and Dunn, Diane M. and NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, NHGRI and Green, Eric D. and Blakesley, Robert W. and Bouffard, Gerard G. and de Jong, Pieter J. and Osoegawa, Kazutoyo and Zhu, Baoli and Marra, Marco A. and Schein, Jacqueline E. and Bosdet, Ian and Fjell, Christopher D. and Jones, Steven J.M. and Krzywinski, Martin and Mathewson, Carrie and Siddiqui, Asim and Wye, Natasja and McPherson, John D. and end sequencing: TIGR, BAC and Zhao, Shaying and Fraser, Claire M. and Shetty, Jyoti and Shatsman, S. and Geer, Keita and Chen, Yixin and Abramzon, Sofyia and Nierman, William C. and Gibbs, Richard A. and Weinstock, George M. and Havlak, Paul and Chen, Rui and Durbin, K. James and Simons, R. and Ren, Yanru and Song, Xingzhi and Li, Bingshan and Liu, Yue and Qin, Xiang and Analysis and annotation: Affymetrix and Cawley, Simon and Weinstock, George M. and Worley, Kim C. and Cooney, Austin J. and Gibbs, Richard A. and D'Souza, Lisa M. and Martin, Kirt and Wu, Jia Qian and Gonzalez‐Garay, Manuel L. and Jackson, Andrew and Kalafus, Kenneth J. and McLeod, Michael P.",
    title = "Genome sequence of the Brown Norway rat yields insights into mammalian evolution",
    year = "2004",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02426",
    doi = "10.1038/nature02426",
    openalex = "W2097040991",
    references = "doi101038nature01858, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi101126science1080049, doi101126science29054941151"
}

@book{doi101093oso97801985076040010001,
    author = "Kemp, T. S.",
    title = "The Origin and Evolution of Mammals",
    year = "2004",
    booktitle = "Oxford University Press eBooks",
    abstract = "Mammals are the dominant large animals of today, occurring in virtually every environment. This book is an account of the remarkable fossil records that document their origin since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Tracing their evolution over the last 35 million years. For the first time presented in one single volume Kemp unveils the exciting DNA sequence evidence which coupled with fossil evidence challenges current thinking on the relationships amongst mammal and their inferred history.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198507604.001.0001",
    doi = "10.1093/oso/9780198507604.001.0001",
    openalex = "W368351854"
}

@book{doi107312kiel11918,
    author = "Kielan‐Jaworowska, Zofia and Cifelli, Richard L. and Luo, Zhe‐Xi",
    title = "Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs",
    year = "2004",
    booktitle = "Columbia University Press eBooks",
    abstract = "The fossil record on Mesozoic mammals has expanded by orders of magnitude over the past quarter century. New specimens, some of them breathtakingly complete, have been found in nearly all parts of the globe at a rapid pace. Coupled with the application of new scientific approaches and techniques, these exciting discoveries have led to profound changes in our interpretation of early mammal history. Mesozoic mammals have come into their own as a rich source of information for evolutionary biology. Their record of episodic, successive radiations speaks to the pace and mode of evolution. Early mammals were small, but they provide key information on the morphological transformations that led to modern mammals, including our own lineage of Placentalia. Significant and fast-evolving elements of the terrestrial biota for much of the Mesozoic, early mammals have played an increasingly important role in studies of paleoecology, faunal turnover, and historical biogeography. The record of early mammals occupies center stage for testing molecular evolutionary hypotheses on the timing and sequence of mammalian radiations. Organized according to phylogeny, this book covers all aspects of the anatomy, paleobiology, and systematics of all early mammalian groups, in addition to the extant mammalian lineages extending back into the Mesozoic.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.7312/kiel11918",
    doi = "10.7312/kiel11918",
    openalex = "W56091193"
}

@article{doi101093molbevmsl150,
    author = "Benton, Michael J. and Donoghue, Philip C. J.",
    title = "Paleontological Evidence to Date the Tree of Life",
    year = "2006",
    journal = "Molecular Biology and Evolution",
    abstract = {The role of fossils in dating the tree of life has been misunderstood. Fossils can provide good "minimum" age estimates for branches in the tree, but "maximum" constraints on those ages are poorer. Current debates about which are the "best" fossil dates for calibration move to consideration of the most appropriate constraints on the ages of tree nodes. Because fossil-based dates are constraints, and because molecular evolution is not perfectly clock-like, analysts should use more rather than fewer dates, but there has to be a balance between many genes and few dates versus many dates and few genes. We provide "hard" minimum and "soft" maximum age constraints for 30 divergences among key genome model organisms; these should contribute to better understanding of the dating of the animal tree of life.},
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msl150",
    doi = "10.1093/molbev/msl150",
    openalex = "W2061352595",
    references = "doi101007bf02101113, doi101007bf02101694, doi1010160031018279901639, doi1010160169534789901626, doi101016b9780444594259000196, doi101016b9780444594259000238, doi101016b9780444594259000287, doi101016b9781483227344500176, doi101016jtig200403007, doi101016jtoxlet200611011, doi101016jtree200504008, doi101017cbo9780511536045, doi101017cbo9780511536045020, doi101017s000632310000548x, doi101017s009483730000508x, doi101017s1464793102006103, doi101038260293a0, doi10103835054550, doi10103835084063, doi101038371306a0, doi101038377720a0, doi101038416816a, doi10103846965, doi101038nature00879, doi101038nature01264, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature03150, doi101038nature04890, doi101071zo9550654, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi10108002724634199110011426, doi101098rstb19990489, doi101111j109636421985tb01796x, doi101111j109636421995tb00932x, doi101126science1107765, doi101126science147365368, doi101126science1503697743, doi101126science17740541065, doi101371journalpbio0040088, doi1015159781400881376, doi101643004585112002002053220co2, doi105281zenodo16171435, doi105860choice332720, doi105860choice355657, doi105860choice405235, doi105860choice432801, openalexw1587561751, openalexw1599677799, openalexw1900040508, openalexw78894702"
}

@article{doi101038nature06277,
    author = "Luo, Zhe‐Xi",
    title = "Transformation and diversification in early mammal evolution",
    year = "2007",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06277",
    doi = "10.1038/nature06277",
    openalex = "W2146098040",
    references = "doi101007978146122784737, doi10100797814684216682, doi101023a1011317930838, doi101038416816a, doi101038nature01420, doi101038nature03102, doi101038nature05627, doi101038nature05634, doi101046j10958312200300146x, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi101073pnas0606028103, doi10108002724634198810011708, doi101093molbevmsl150, doi101098rstb19760022, doi101111j109636421973tb00786x, doi101111j109636421981tb01127x, doi101126science1067179, doi101126science1085672, doi101126science28554362031a, doi105860choice355657, doi105962bhltitle118972, doi105962bhltitle3460, doi107312kiel11918, openalexw1539913220, openalexw78894702"
}

@article{doi101093gerona622149,
    author = "de Magalhães, João Pedro and Costa, Joana S. and Church, George M.",
    title = "An Analysis of the Relationship Between Metabolism, Developmental Schedules, and Longevity Using Phylogenetic Independent Contrasts",
    year = "2007",
    journal = "The Journals of Gerontology Series A",
    abstract = "Comparative studies of aging are often difficult to interpret because of the different factors that tend to correlate with longevity. We used the AnAge database to study these factors, particularly metabolism and developmental schedules, previously associated with longevity in vertebrate species. Our results show that, after correcting for body mass and phylogeny, basal metabolic rate does not correlate with longevity in eutherians or birds, although it negatively correlates with marsupial longevity and time to maturity. We confirm the idea that age at maturity is typically proportional to adult life span, and show that mammals that live longer for their body size, such as bats and primates, also tend to have a longer developmental time for their body size. Lastly, postnatal growth rates were negatively correlated with adult life span in mammals but not in birds. Our work provides a detailed view of factors related to species longevity with implications for how comparative studies of aging are interpreted.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/62.2.149",
    doi = "10.1093/gerona/62.2.149",
    openalex = "W2130695053"
}

@article{doi101101gr5918807,
    author = "Murphy, William J. and Pringle, Thomas H. and Crider, Tess A. and Springer, Mark S. and Miller, Webb",
    title = "Using genomic data to unravel the root of the placental mammal phylogeny",
    year = "2007",
    journal = "Genome Research",
    abstract = "The phylogeny of placental mammals is a critical framework for choosing future genome sequencing targets and for resolving the ancestral mammalian genome at the nucleotide level. Despite considerable recent progress defining superordinal relationships, several branches remain poorly resolved, including the root of the placental tree. Here we analyzed the genome sequence assemblies of human, armadillo, elephant, and opossum to identify informative coding indels that would serve as rare genomic changes to infer early events in placental mammal phylogeny. We also expanded our species sampling by including sequence data from >30 ongoing genome projects, followed by PCR and sequencing validation of each indel in additional taxa. Our data provide support for a sister-group relationship between Afrotheria and Xenarthra (the Atlantogenata hypothesis), which is in turn the sister-taxon to Boreoeutheria. We failed to recover any indels in support of a basal position for Xenarthra (Epitheria), which is suggested by morphology and a recent retroposon analysis, or a hypothesis with Afrotheria basal (Exafricoplacentalia), which is favored by phylogenetic analysis of large nuclear gene data sets. In addition, we identified two retroposon insertions that also support Atlantogenata and none for the alternative hypotheses. A revised molecular timescale based on these phylogenetic inferences suggests Afrotheria and Xenarthra diverged from other placental mammals approximately 103 (95-114) million years ago. We discuss the impacts of this topology on earlier phylogenetic reconstructions and repeat-based inferences of phylogeny.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.5918807",
    doi = "10.1101/gr.5918807",
    openalex = "W2115031948",
    references = "doi101006jmbi20004042, doi101016s0169534700019674, doi10103831927, doi10103835054550, doi101038nature01858, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi101093nargkg500, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva025892, doi101126science1067179, doi101159000452856"
}

@article{doi101002bies20729,
    author = "Lucas, Peter W. and Constantino, Paul J. and Wood, Bernard and Lawn, Brian R.",
    title = "Dental enamel as a dietary indicator in mammals",
    year = "2008",
    journal = "BioEssays",
    abstract = "The considerable variation in shape, size, structure and properties of the enamel cap covering mammalian teeth is a topic of great evolutionary interest. No existing theories explain how such variations might be fit for the purpose of breaking food particles down. Borrowing from engineering materials science, we use principles of fracture and deformation of solids to provide a quantitative account of how mammalian enamel may be adapted to diet. Particular attention is paid to mammals that feed on 'hard objects' such as seeds and dry fruits, the outer casings of which appear to have evolved structures with properties similar to those of enamel. These foods are important in the diets of some primates, and have been heavily implicated as a key factor in the evolutionary history of the hominin clade. As a tissue with intrinsic weakness yet exceptional durability, enamel could be especially useful as a dietary indicator for extinct taxa.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.20729",
    doi = "10.1002/bies.20729",
    openalex = "W2151249908",
    references = "doi101002ajpa10353, doi101002ajpa1330460310, doi101002ajpa1330700205, doi101002ajpa1330920208, doi101002sici109686442000021112221aidajpa830co2g, doi101017cbo9780511735011, doi101038nature03822, doi101537ase03106"
}

@article{doi101016jcell200901052,
    author = "Solovei, Irina and Kreysing, Moritz and Lanctôt, Christian and Kösem, Süleyman and Peichl, Leo and Cremer, Thomas and Guck, Jochen and Joffe, Boris",
    title = "Nuclear Architecture of Rod Photoreceptor Cells Adapts to Vision in Mammalian Evolution",
    year = "2009",
    journal = "Cell",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2009.01.052",
    doi = "10.1016/j.cell.2009.01.052",
    openalex = "W1968127700",
    references = "doi101002cne901880204, doi101126science1113832, doi107312kiel11918"
}

@article{doi10118614712148954,
    author = "Nabholz, Benoît and Glémin, Sylvain and Galtier, Nicolas",
    title = "The erratic mitochondrial clock: variations of mutation rate, not population size, affect mtDNA diversity across birds and mammals",
    year = "2009",
    journal = "BMC Evolutionary Biology",
    abstract = "BACKGROUND: During the last ten years, major advances have been made in characterizing and understanding the evolution of mitochondrial DNA, the most popular marker of molecular biodiversity. Several important results were recently reported using mammals as model organisms, including (i) the absence of relationship between mitochondrial DNA diversity and life-history or ecological variables, (ii) the absence of prominent adaptive selection, contrary to what was found in invertebrates, and (iii) the unexpectedly large variation in neutral substitution rate among lineages, revealing a possible link with species maximal longevity. We propose to challenge these results thanks to the bird/mammal comparison. Direct estimates of population size are available in birds, and this group presents striking life-history trait differences with mammals (higher mass-specific metabolic rate and longevity). These properties make birds the ideal model to directly test for population size effects, and to discriminate between competing hypotheses about the causes of substitution rate variation. RESULTS: A phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome b third-codon position confirms that the mitochondrial DNA mutation rate is quite variable in birds, passerines being the fastest evolving order. On average, mitochondrial DNA evolves slower in birds than in mammals of similar body size. This result is in agreement with the longevity hypothesis, and contradicts the hypothesis of a metabolic rate-dependent mutation rate. Birds show no footprint of adaptive selection on cytochrome b evolutionary patterns, but no link between direct estimates of population size and cytochrome b diversity. The mutation rate is the best predictor we have of within-species mitochondrial diversity in birds. It partly explains the differences in mitochondrial DNA diversity patterns observed between mammals and birds, previously interpreted as reflecting Hill-Robertson interferences with the W chromosome. CONCLUSION: Mitochondrial DNA diversity patterns in birds are strongly influenced by the wide, unexpected variation of mutation rate across species. From a fundamental point of view, these results are strongly consistent with a relationship between species maximal longevity and mitochondrial mutation rate, in agreement with the mitochondrial theory of ageing. Form an applied point of view, this study reinforces and extends the message of caution previously expressed for mammals: mitochondrial data tell nothing about species population sizes, and strongly depart the molecular clock assumption.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-9-54",
    doi = "10.1186/1471-2148-9-54",
    openalex = "W2004746898",
    references = "openalexw1904943263"
}

@article{doi101126science1194830,
    author = "Smith, Felisa A. and Boyer, Alison G. and Brown, James H. and Costa, Daniel P. and Dayan, Tamar and Ernest, S. K. Morgan and Evans, Alistair R. and Fortelius, Mikael and Gittleman, John L. and Hamilton, Marcus J. and Harding, Larisa E. and Lintulaakso, Kari and Lyons, S. Kathleen and McCain, Christy M. and Okie, Jordan G. and Saarinen, Juha and Sibly, Richard M. and Stephens, Patrick R. and Theodor, Jessica M. and Uhen, Mark D.",
    title = "The Evolution of Maximum Body Size of Terrestrial Mammals",
    year = "2010",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "The extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary was the seminal event that opened the door for the subsequent diversification of terrestrial mammals. Our compilation of maximum body size at the ordinal level by sub-epoch shows a near-exponential increase after the K/Pg. On each continent, the maximum size of mammals leveled off after 40 million years ago and thereafter remained approximately constant. There was remarkable congruence in the rate, trajectory, and upper limit across continents, orders, and trophic guilds, despite differences in geological and climatic history, turnover of lineages, and ecological variation. Our analysis suggests that although the primary driver for the evolution of giant mammals was diversification to fill ecological niches, environmental temperature and land area may have ultimately constrained the maximum size achieved.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1194830",
    doi = "10.1126/science.1194830",
    openalex = "W2078822756",
    references = "doi101017s0022336000059126, doi101038324148a0, doi101038nature03102, doi101038nature06277, doi101073pnas251548698, doi101371journalpbio0050022"
}

@article{doi101073pnas1012675108,
    author = "Wiegmann, Brian M. and Trautwein, Michelle and Winkler, Isaac S. and Barr, Norman B. and Kim, Jungwook and Lambkin, Christine L. and Bertone, Matthew A. and Cassel, Brian K. and Bayless, Keith M. and Heimberg, Alysha M. and Wheeler, Benjamin M. and Peterson, Kevin J. and Pape, Thomas and Sinclair, Bradley J. and Skevington, Jeffrey H. and Blagoderov, Vladimir and Caravas, Jason and Kutty, Sujatha Narayanan and Schmidt‐Ott, Urs and Kampmeier, Gail E. and Thompson, F. Christian and Grimaldi, David A. and Beckenbach, Andrew T. and Courtney, Gregory W. and Friedrich, Markus and Meier, Rudolf and Yeates, David K.",
    title = "Episodic radiations in the fly tree of life",
    year = "2011",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "Flies are one of four superradiations of insects (along with beetles, wasps, and moths) that account for the majority of animal life on Earth. Diptera includes species known for their ubiquity (Musca domestica house fly), their role as pests (Anopheles gambiae malaria mosquito), and their value as model organisms across the biological sciences (Drosophila melanogaster). A resolved phylogeny for flies provides a framework for genomic, developmental, and evolutionary studies by facilitating comparisons across model organisms, yet recent research has suggested that fly relationships have been obscured by multiple episodes of rapid diversification. We provide a phylogenomic estimate of fly relationships based on molecules and morphology from 149 of 157 families, including 30 kb from 14 nuclear loci and complete mitochondrial genomes combined with 371 morphological characters. Multiple analyses show support for traditional groups (Brachycera, Cyclorrhapha, and Schizophora) and corroborate contentious findings, such as the anomalous Deuterophlebiidae as the sister group to all remaining Diptera. Our findings reveal that the closest relatives of the Drosophilidae are highly modified parasites (including the wingless Braulidae) of bees and other insects. Furthermore, we use micro-RNAs to resolve a node with implications for the evolution of embryonic development in Diptera. We demonstrate that flies experienced three episodes of rapid radiation--lower Diptera (220 Ma), lower Brachycera (180 Ma), and Schizophora (65 Ma)--and a number of life history transitions to hematophagy, phytophagy, and parasitism in the history of fly evolution over 260 million y.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1012675108",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.1012675108",
    openalex = "W1994589056",
    references = "doi101073pnas1001225107, doi101093acprofoso97801995494290030015, doi101111j14754983200600612x, openalexw1900040508"
}

@article{doi101073pnas1016876108,
    author = "Stadler, Tanja",
    title = "Mammalian phylogeny reveals recent diversification rate shifts",
    year = "2011",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "Phylogenetic trees of present-day species allow investigation of the rate of evolution that led to the present-day diversity. A recent analysis of the mammalian phylogeny challenged the view of explosive mammalian evolution after the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K/T) boundary (65 Mya). However, due to lack of appropriate methods, the diversification (speciation minus extinction) rates in the more recent past of mammalian evolution could not be determined. In this paper, I provide a method that reveals that the tempo of mammalian evolution did not change until ∼33 Mya. This constant period was followed by a peak of diversification rates between 33 and 30 Mya. Thereafter, diversification rates remained high and constant until 8.55 Mya. Diversification rates declined significantly at 8.55 and 3.35 Mya. Investigation of mammalian subgroups (marsupials, placentals, and the six largest placental subgroups) reveals that the diversification rate peak at 33–30 Mya is mainly driven by rodents, cetartiodactyla, and marsupials. The recent diversification rate decrease is significant for all analyzed subgroups but eulipotyphla, cetartiodactyla, and primates. My likelihood approach is not limited to mammalian evolution. It provides a robust framework to infer diversification rate changes and mass extinction events in phylogenies, reconstructed from, e.g., present-day species or virus data. In particular, the method is very robust toward noise and uncertainty in the phylogeny and can account for incomplete taxon sampling.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1016876108",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.1016876108",
    openalex = "W1986740368"
}

@article{doi101126science1203117,
    author = "Rowe, Timothy B. and Macrini, Thomas E. and Luo, Zhe‐Xi",
    title = "Fossil Evidence on Origin of the Mammalian Brain",
    year = "2011",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Many hypotheses have been postulated regarding the early evolution of the mammalian brain. Here, x-ray tomography of the Early Jurassic mammaliaforms Morganucodon and Hadrocodium sheds light on this history. We found that relative brain size expanded to mammalian levels, with enlarged olfactory bulbs, neocortex, olfactory (pyriform) cortex, and cerebellum, in two evolutionary pulses. The initial pulse was probably driven by increased resolution in olfaction and improvements in tactile sensitivity (from body hair) and neuromuscular coordination. A second pulse of olfactory enhancement then enlarged the brain to mammalian levels. The origin of crown Mammalia saw a third pulse of olfactory enhancement, with ossified ethmoid turbinals supporting an expansive olfactory epithelium in the nasal cavity, allowing full expression of a huge odorant receptor genome.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1203117",
    doi = "10.1126/science.1203117",
    openalex = "W2071803223",
    references = "doi101038nature06277, doi101111j109636421973tb00786x, doi101111j109636421981tb01127x, doi107312kiel11918"
}

@article{doi101126science1211028,
    author = "Meredith, Robert W. and Janečka, Jan E. and Gatesy, John and Ryder, Oliver A. and Fisher, Colleen A. and Teeling, Emma C. and Goodbla, Alisha and Eizirik, Eduardo and Simão, Taiz L. L. and Stadler, Tanja and Rabosky, Daniel L. and Honeycutt, Rodney L. and Flynn, John J. and Ingram, Colleen M. and Steiner, Cynthia and Williams, Tiffani L. and Robinson, Terence J. and Burk-Herrick, Angela and Westerman, Michael and Ayoub, Nadia A. and Springer, Mark S. and Murphy, William J.",
    title = "Impacts of the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and KPg Extinction on Mammal Diversification",
    year = "2011",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "Previous analyses of relations, divergence times, and diversification patterns among extant mammalian families have relied on supertree methods and local molecular clocks. We constructed a molecular supermatrix for mammalian families and analyzed these data with likelihood-based methods and relaxed molecular clocks. Phylogenetic analyses resulted in a robust phylogeny with better resolution than phylogenies from supertree methods. Relaxed clock analyses support the long-fuse model of diversification and highlight the importance of including multiple fossil calibrations that are spread across the tree. Molecular time trees and diversification analyses suggest important roles for the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) mass extinction in opening up ecospace that promoted interordinal and intraordinal diversification, respectively. By contrast, diversification analyses provide no support for the hypothesis concerning the delayed rise of present-day mammals during the Eocene Period.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1211028",
    doi = "10.1126/science.1211028",
    openalex = "W2140803428",
    references = "doi101016jtree200610002, doi101023a1011317930838, doi101038381226a0, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature09705, doi101038nature10291, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi101073pnas1016876108, doi101093sysbiosyp031, doi101101gr5918807, doi101126science1067179, doi101353book59141"
}

@article{luo2011developmental,
    author = "Luo, Zhe-Xi",
    title = "Developmental Patterns in Mesozoic Evolution of Mammal Ears",
    year = "2011",
    journal = "Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics",
    abstract = "Complex structures with significant biological function can arise multiple times in evolution by common gene patterning and developmental pathways. The mammalian middle ear, with its significant hearing function, is such a complex structure and a key evolutionary innovation. Newly discovered fossils have now shown that the detachment of the ear from the jaw, an important transformation of the middle ear in early mammals, has major homoplasies; the morphogenesis of these homoplasies is also illuminated by new genetic studies of ear development in extant mammals. By extrapolating the developmental morphogenesis of genetic studies into the early mammal fossil record, evolution of the middle ear in early mammals provides an integrated case study of how development has impacted, mechanistically, the transformation of a major structural complex in evolution.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-032511-142302",
    doi = "10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-032511-142302",
    number = "1",
    openalex = "W2160809000",
    pages = "355-380",
    volume = "42",
    references = "doi101002dvdy20833, doi101038142004a0, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature06277, doi10108002724634198810011708, doi101242dev00505, doi101242dev122103229, doi1023071445584, doi107312kiel11918, openalexw1933280692"
}

@article{doi101073pnas1211733109,
    author = "Song, Sen and Liu, Liang and Edwards, Scott V. and Wu, Shaoyuan",
    title = "Resolving conflict in eutherian mammal phylogeny using phylogenomics and the multispecies coalescent model",
    year = "2012",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "The reconstruction of the Tree of Life has relied almost entirely on concatenation methods, which do not accommodate gene tree heterogeneity, a property that simulations and theory have identified as a likely cause of incongruent phylogenies. However, this incongruence has not yet been demonstrated in empirical studies. Several key relationships among eutherian mammals remain controversial and conflicting among previous studies, including the root of eutherian tree and the relationships within Euarchontoglires and Laurasiatheria. Both bayesian and maximum-likelihood analysis of genome-wide data of 447 nuclear genes from 37 species show that concatenation methods indeed yield strong incongruence in the phylogeny of eutherian mammals, as revealed by subsampling analyses of loci and taxa, which produced strongly conflicting topologies. In contrast, the coalescent methods, which accommodate gene tree heterogeneity, yield a phylogeny that is robust to variable gene and taxon sampling and is congruent with geographic data. The data also demonstrate that incomplete lineage sorting, a major source of gene tree heterogeneity, is relevant to deep-level phylogenies, such as those among eutherian mammals. Our results firmly place the eutherian root between Atlantogenata and Boreoeutheria and support ungulate polyphyly and a sister-group relationship between Scandentia and Primates. This study demonstrates that the incongruence introduced by concatenation methods is a major cause of long-standing uncertainty in the phylogeny of eutherian mammals, and the same may apply to other clades. Our analyses suggest that such incongruence can be resolved using phylogenomic data and coalescent methods that deal explicitly with gene tree heterogeneity.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1211733109",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.1211733109",
    openalex = "W2124511083",
    references = "doi101101gr5918807"
}

@article{doi101098rspb20120683,
    author = "dos Reis, Mario and Inoue, Jun and Hasegawa, Masami and Asher, Robert J. and Donoghue, Philip C. J. and Yang, Ziheng",
    title = "Phylogenomic datasets provide both precision and accuracy in estimating the timescale of placental mammal phylogeny",
    year = "2012",
    journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences",
    abstract = "The fossil record suggests a rapid radiation of placental mammals following the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction 65 million years ago (Ma); nevertheless, molecular time estimates, while highly variable, are generally much older. Early molecular studies suffer from inadequate dating methods, reliance on the molecular clock, and simplistic and over-confident interpretations of the fossil record. More recent studies have used Bayesian dating methods that circumvent those issues, but the use of limited data has led to large estimation uncertainties, precluding a decisive conclusion on the timing of mammalian diversifications. Here we use a powerful Bayesian method to analyse 36 nuclear genomes and 274 mitochondrial genomes (20.6 million base pairs), combined with robust but flexible fossil calibrations. Our posterior time estimates suggest that marsupials diverged from eutherians 168-178 Ma, and crown Marsupialia diverged 64-84 Ma. Placentalia diverged 88-90 Ma, and present-day placental orders (except Primates and Xenarthra) originated in a ∼20 Myr window (45-65 Ma) after the K-Pg extinction. Therefore we reject a pre K-Pg model of placental ordinal diversification. We suggest other infamous instances of mismatch between molecular and palaeontological divergence time estimates will be resolved with this same approach.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.0683",
    doi = "10.1098/rspb.2012.0683",
    openalex = "W2148013742",
    references = "doi1010029780470316801, doi101007bf00160154, doi101007bf02101694, doi101016jympev200908019, doi101023a1011317930838, doi101038416816a, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature10291, doi101093molbevmsm088, doi101093oxfordjournalsmolbeva003851, doi101101gr5918807, doi101159000452856, doi101186147121487214, doi1012066231, doi105860choice284558, doi105860choice355657, doi105860choice432801"
}

@article{doi101111j14697580201201526x,
    author = "Anthwal, Neal and Joshi, Leena and Tucker, Abigail S.",
    title = "Evolution of the mammalian middle ear and jaw: adaptations and novel structures",
    year = "2012",
    journal = "Journal of Anatomy",
    abstract = "Having three ossicles in the middle ear is one of the defining features of mammals. All reptiles and birds have only one middle ear ossicle, the stapes or columella. How these two additional ossicles came to reside and function in the middle ear of mammals has been studied for the last 200 years and represents one of the classic example of how structures can change during evolution to function in new and novel ways. From fossil data, comparative anatomy and developmental biology it is now clear that the two new bones in the mammalian middle ear, the malleus and incus, are homologous to the quadrate and articular, which form the articulation for the upper and lower jaws in non-mammalian jawed vertebrates. The incorporation of the primary jaw joint into the mammalian middle ear was only possible due to the evolution of a new way to articulate the upper and lower jaws, with the formation of the dentary-squamosal joint, or TMJ in humans. The evolution of the three-ossicle ear in mammals is thus intricately connected with the evolution of a novel jaw joint, the two structures evolving together to create the distinctive mammalian skull.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2012.01526.x",
    doi = "10.1111/j.1469-7580.2012.01526.x",
    openalex = "W1957261087",
    references = "doi101007978146122784737, doi101038nature05627, luo2011developmental"
}

@article{doi101186174170071060,
    author = "Campione, Nicolás E. and Evans, David C.",
    title = "A universal scaling relationship between body mass and proximal limb bone dimensions in quadrupedal terrestrial tetrapods",
    year = "2012",
    journal = "BMC Biology",
    abstract = "BACKGROUND: Body size is intimately related to the physiology and ecology of an organism. Therefore, accurate and consistent body mass estimates are essential for inferring numerous aspects of paleobiology in extinct taxa, and investigating large-scale evolutionary and ecological patterns in the history of life. Scaling relationships between skeletal measurements and body mass in birds and mammals are commonly used to predict body mass in extinct members of these crown clades, but the applicability of these models for predicting mass in more distantly related stem taxa, such as non-avian dinosaurs and non-mammalian synapsids, has been criticized on biomechanical grounds. Here we test the major criticisms of scaling methods for estimating body mass using an extensive dataset of mammalian and non-avian reptilian species derived from individual skeletons with live weights. RESULTS: Significant differences in the limb scaling of mammals and reptiles are noted in comparisons of limb proportions and limb length to body mass. Remarkably, however, the relationship between proximal (stylopodial) limb bone circumference and body mass is highly conserved in extant terrestrial mammals and reptiles, in spite of their disparate limb postures, gaits, and phylogenetic histories. As a result, we are able to conclusively reject the main criticisms of scaling methods that question the applicability of a universal scaling equation for estimating body mass in distantly related taxa. CONCLUSIONS: The conserved nature of the relationship between stylopodial circumference and body mass suggests that the minimum diaphyseal circumference of the major weight-bearing bones is only weakly influenced by the varied forces exerted on the limbs (that is, compression or torsion) and most strongly related to the mass of the animal. Our results, therefore, provide a much-needed, robust, phylogenetically corrected framework for accurate and consistent estimation of body mass in extinct terrestrial quadrupeds, which is important for a wide range of paleobiological studies (including growth rates, metabolism, and energetics) and meta-analyses of body size evolution.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-10-60",
    doi = "10.1186/1741-7007-10-60",
    openalex = "W2053913541",
    references = "christiansen2004mass, doi101016jympev200706018, doi101017cbo9780511608551, doi101017s1464793106007007, doi101086284325, doi101093bioinformaticsbtg412, doi101093sysbio41118, doi101111j146979981985tb04915x, doi101111j251761611995tb02031x, doi101126science1061967, doi101159000452856, doi103998mpub9690664, doi105860choice290302, doi105860choice490282, openalexw1558456135, openalexw2611511275"
}

@article{doi1033740140530101,
    author = "Gauthier, Jacques A. and Kearney, Maureen and Maisano, Jessica A. and Rieppel, Olivier and Behlke, Adam D.",
    title = "Assembling the Squamate Tree of Life: Perspectives from the Phenotype and the Fossil Record",
    year = "2012",
    journal = "Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History",
    abstract = "We assembled a dataset of 192 carefully selected species—51 extinct and 141 extant—and 976 apomorphies distributed among 610 phenotypic characters to investigate the phylogeny of Squamata (“lizards,” including snakes and amphisbaenians). These data enabled us to infer a tree much like those derived from previous morphological analyses, but with better support for some key clades. There are also several novel elements, some of which pose striking departures from traditional ideas about lizard evolution (e.g., that mosasaurs and polyglyphanodontians are on the scleroglossan stem, rather than parts of the crown, and related to varanoids and teiids, respectively). Long-bodied, limb-reduced, “snake-like” fossorial lizards—most notably dibamids, amphisbaenians and snakes—have been and continue to be the chief source of character conflict in squamate morphological phylogenetics. Carnivorous lizards (especially snakes, mosasaurs and varanoids) have proven a close second. Genetic data, presumably less burdened by the potential for adaptive convergence related to fossoriality, were expected to resolve these conflicts. Although recent gene phylogenies seem to do so, they also differ radically from any phylogeny based on the phenotype, especially for the most ancient crown squamate divergences that occured during the latter half of the Mesozoic. Our study relied on traditionally prepared specimens as well as high-resolution computed tomography scans that afforded unprecendented access to the cranial anatomy of Squamata. This, along with the inclusion of stem fossils, provided an unparalleled sample of the phenotype enabling us to more fully explore the extreme incongruences between molecular and morphological topologies for the squamate tree of life. Despite this extensive new database, we were unable to find morphological support for the major rearrangement of the deep divergences in Squamata proposed by recent molecular studies. Instead, our data strongly support the same fundamental topology suggested by most previous morphological studies—an Iguania-Scleroglossa basal split, a sister-group relationship between Gekkota and Autarchoglossa, and the divergence between Anguimorpha and Scincomorpha—and documents the extreme degree of morphological homoplasy required by those molecular topologies.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.3374/014.053.0101",
    doi = "10.3374/014.053.0101",
    openalex = "W2126709923",
    references = "doi101093nqs5vi146318i, doi101111j109636421978tb00376x, doi101126science2562999, doi105281zenodo16435343, openalexw78510971"
}

@article{doi101038nature12429,
    author = "Zhou, Chang‐Fu and Wu, Shaoyuan and Martin, Thomas and Luo, Zhe‐Xi",
    title = "A Jurassic mammaliaform and the earliest mammalian evolutionary adaptations",
    year = "2013",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12429",
    doi = "10.1038/nature12429",
    openalex = "W2038978417",
    references = "doi101038nature05627, luo2011developmental"
}

@article{doi101038nature12511,
    author = "Parker, Joe and Tsagkogeorga, Georgia and Cotton, James A. and Liu, Yuan and Provero, Paolo and Stupka, Elia and Rossiter, Stephen J.",
    title = "Genome-wide signatures of convergent evolution in echolocating mammals",
    year = "2013",
    journal = "Nature",
    abstract = "Evolution is typically thought to proceed through divergence of genes, proteins and ultimately phenotypes. However, similar traits might also evolve convergently in unrelated taxa owing to similar selection pressures. Adaptive phenotypic convergence is widespread in nature, and recent results from several genes have suggested that this phenomenon is powerful enough to also drive recurrent evolution at the sequence level. Where homoplasious substitutions do occur these have long been considered the result of neutral processes. However, recent studies have demonstrated that adaptive convergent sequence evolution can be detected in vertebrates using statistical methods that model parallel evolution, although the extent to which sequence convergence between genera occurs across genomes is unknown. Here we analyse genomic sequence data in mammals that have independently evolved echolocation and show that convergence is not a rare process restricted to several loci but is instead widespread, continuously distributed and commonly driven by natural selection acting on a small number of sites per locus. Systematic analyses of convergent sequence evolution in 805,053 amino acids within 2,326 orthologous coding gene sequences compared across 22 mammals (including four newly sequenced bat genomes) revealed signatures consistent with convergence in nearly 200 loci. Strong and significant support for convergence among bats and the bottlenose dolphin was seen in numerous genes linked to hearing or deafness, consistent with an involvement in echolocation. Unexpectedly, we also found convergence in many genes linked to vision: the convergent signal of many sensory genes was robustly correlated with the strength of natural selection. This first attempt to detect genome-wide convergent sequence evolution across divergent taxa reveals the phenomenon to be much more pervasive than previously recognized.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12511",
    doi = "10.1038/nature12511",
    openalex = "W2090336802",
    references = "doi101101gr5918807"
}

@article{doi101126science1229237,
    author = "O’Leary, Maureen A. and Bloch, Jonathan I. and Flynn, John J. and Gaudin, Timothy J. and Giallombardo, Andres and Giannini, Norberto P. and Goldberg, Suzann L. and Kraatz, Brian and Luo, Zhe‐Xi and Meng, Jin and Ni, Xijun and Novacek, Michael J. and Perini, Fernando A. and Randall, Zachary S. and Rougier, Guillermo W. and Sargis, Eric J. and Silcox, Mary and Simmons, Nancy B. and Spaulding, Michelle and Velazco, Paúl M. and Weksler, Marcelo and Wible, John R. and Cirranello, Andrea L.",
    title = "The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals",
    year = "2013",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "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 phenomic characters de novo for 86 fossil and living species. Combining these data with molecular sequences, we obtained a phylogenetic tree that, when calibrated with fossils, shows that crown clade Placentalia and placental orders originated after the K-Pg boundary. Many nodes discovered using molecular data are upheld, but phenomic signals overturn molecular signals to show Sundatheria (Dermoptera + Scandentia) as the sister taxon of Primates, a close link between Proboscidea (elephants) and Sirenia (sea cows), and the monophyly of echolocating Chiroptera (bats). Our tree suggests that Placentalia first split into Xenarthra and Epitheria; extinct New World species are the oldest members of Afrotheria.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1229237",
    doi = "10.1126/science.1229237",
    openalex = "W1992714434",
    references = "doi101007978146139246016, doi101023a1011317930838, doi10103835054550, doi101038416816a, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature10291, doi101073pnas0334222100, doi10108002724634198810011708, doi10108002724634199910011129, doi101080106351501753462876, doi10108010635150802429642, doi101093bioinformaticsbtl446, doi101093molbevmsp259, doi101093molbevmss020, doi101093nar22224673, doi101098rstb19920117, doi101109gce20105676129, doi101111j109600311994tb00179x, doi101111j109600311999tb00270x, doi101111j10960031200800217x, doi101126science1067179, doi101126science1105113, doi101126science1154339, doi101126science1211028, doi1012066231, doi101353book59141, doi10166600948373200632236eohiet20co2, doi1023071223169, doi1023071375443, doi105281zenodo18028696, doi107312kiel11918, openalexw2982931797, openalexw78894702"
}

@article{doi101038nature13622,
    author = "Gill, Pamela G. and Purnell, Mark A. and Crumpton, Nick and Brown, Kate Robson and Gostling, Neil J. and Stampanoni, Marco and Rayfield, Emily J.",
    title = "Dietary specializations and diversity in feeding ecology of the earliest stem mammals",
    year = "2014",
    journal = "Nature",
    abstract = "The origin and radiation of mammals are key events in the history of life, with fossils placing the origin at 220 million years ago, in the Late Triassic period. The earliest mammals, representing the first 50 million years of their evolution and including the most basal taxa, are widely considered to be generalized insectivores. This implies that the first phase of the mammalian radiation--associated with the appearance in the fossil record of important innovations such as heterodont dentition, diphyodonty and the dentary-squamosal jaw joint--was decoupled from ecomorphological diversification. Finds of exceptionally complete specimens of later Mesozoic mammals have revealed greater ecomorphological diversity than previously suspected, including adaptations for swimming, burrowing, digging and even gliding, but such well-preserved fossils of earlier mammals do not exist, and robust analysis of their ecomorphological diversity has previously been lacking. Here we present the results of an integrated analysis, using synchrotron X-ray tomography and analyses of biomechanics, finite element models and tooth microwear textures. We find significant differences in function and dietary ecology between two of the earliest mammaliaform taxa, Morganucodon and Kuehneotherium--taxa that are central to the debate on mammalian evolution. Morganucodon possessed comparatively more forceful and robust jaws and consumed 'harder' prey, comparable to extant small-bodied mammals that eat considerable amounts of coleopterans. Kuehneotherium ingested a diet comparable to extant mixed feeders and specialists on 'soft' prey such as lepidopterans. Our results reveal previously hidden trophic specialization at the base of the mammalian radiation; hence even the earliest mammaliaforms were beginning to diversify--morphologically, functionally and ecologically. In contrast to the prevailing view, this pattern suggests that lineage splitting during the earliest stages of mammalian evolution was associated with ecomorphological specialization and niche partitioning.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13622",
    doi = "10.1038/nature13622",
    openalex = "W1999773372",
    references = "doi101038nature03822, doi101038nature06277, doi101098rspb20120683, doi101126science1211028, doi101126science1229237, doi1015159781400849505, doi1023071445584, doi107312kiel11918, luo2011developmental, openalexw1900040508"
}

@article{doi101038ncomms4625,
    author = "Koyabu, Daisuke and Werneburg, Ingmar and Morimoto, Naoki and Zollikofer, Christoph P. E. and Forasiepi, Analía M. and Endo, Hideki and Kimura, Junpei and Ohdachi, Satoshi D. and Sơn, Nguyễn Trường and Sánchez‐Villagra, Marcelo R.",
    title = "Mammalian skull heterochrony reveals modular evolution and a link between cranial development and brain size",
    year = "2014",
    journal = "Nature Communications",
    abstract = "The multiple skeletal components of the skull originate asynchronously and their developmental schedule varies across amniotes. Here we present the embryonic ossification sequence of 134 species, covering all major groups of mammals and their close relatives. This comprehensive data set allows reconstruction of the heterochronic and modular evolution of the skull and the condition of the last common ancestor of mammals. We show that the mode of ossification (dermal or endochondral) unites bones into integrated evolutionary modules of heterochronic changes and imposes evolutionary constraints on cranial heterochrony. However, some skull-roof bones, such as the supraoccipital, exhibit evolutionary degrees of freedom in these constraints. Ossification timing of the neurocranium was considerably accelerated during the origin of mammals. Furthermore, association between developmental timing of the supraoccipital and brain size was identified among amniotes. We argue that cranial heterochrony in mammals has occurred in concert with encephalization but within a conserved modular organization.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4625",
    doi = "10.1038/ncomms4625",
    openalex = "W2077515473",
    references = "doi101111j109636421981tb01127x, luo2011developmental"
}

@article{doi101371journalpbio1001775,
    author = "Rolland, Jonathan and Condamine, Fabien L. and Jiguet, Frédéric and Morlon, Hélène",
    title = "Faster Speciation and Reduced Extinction in the Tropics Contribute to the Mammalian Latitudinal Diversity Gradient",
    year = "2014",
    journal = "PLoS Biology",
    abstract = {The increase in species richness from the poles to the tropics, referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient, is one of the most ubiquitous biodiversity patterns in the natural world. Although understanding how rates of speciation and extinction vary with latitude is central to explaining this pattern, such analyses have been impeded by the difficulty of estimating diversification rates associated with specific geographic locations. Here, we use a powerful phylogenetic approach and a nearly complete phylogeny of mammals to estimate speciation, extinction, and dispersal rates associated with the tropical and temperate biomes. Overall, speciation rates are higher, and extinction rates lower, in the tropics than in temperate regions. The diversity of the eight most species-rich mammalian orders (covering 92\% of all mammals) peaks in the tropics, except that of the Lagomorpha (hares, rabbits, and pikas) reaching a maxima in northern-temperate regions. Latitudinal patterns in diversification rates are strikingly consistent with these diversity patterns, with peaks in species richness associated with low extinction rates (Primates and Lagomorpha), high speciation rates (Diprotodontia, Artiodactyla, and Soricomorpha), or both (Chiroptera and Rodentia). Rates of range expansion were typically higher from the tropics to the temperate regions than in the other direction, supporting the "out of the tropics" hypothesis whereby species originate in the tropics and disperse into higher latitudes. Overall, these results suggest that differences in diversification rates have played a major role in shaping the modern latitudinal diversity gradient in mammals, and illustrate the usefulness of recently developed phylogenetic approaches for understanding this famous yet mysterious pattern.},
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001775",
    doi = "10.1371/journal.pbio.1001775",
    openalex = "W2134936302",
    references = "darlington1959area, doi101016jtree200409011, doi101017cbo9780511623387, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature11631, doi10108010635150701883881, doi101086282398, doi101086381004, doi101093molbevmss075, doi101126science1229237, doi101186147121481288, doi1023071223169, doi105860choice332720"
}

@article{doi101038nature14905,
    author = "Martin, Thomas and Marugán‐Lobón, Jesús and Vullo, Romain and Martín‐Abad, Hugo and Luo, Zhe‐Xi and Buscalioni, Ángela D.",
    title = "A Cretaceous eutriconodont and integument evolution in early mammals",
    year = "2015",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14905",
    doi = "10.1038/nature14905",
    openalex = "W1907899470",
    references = "luo2011developmental"
}

@article{doi101073pnas1519387112,
    author = "Luo, Zhe‐Xi and Gatesy, Stephen M. and Jenkins, Farish A. and Amaral, William W. and Shubin, Neil H.",
    title = "Mandibular and dental characteristics of Late Triassic mammaliaform Haramiyavia and their ramifications for basal mammal evolution",
    year = "2015",
    journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",
    abstract = "As one of the earliest-known mammaliaforms, Haramiyavia clemmenseni from the Rhaetic (Late Triassic) of East Greenland has held an important place in understanding the timing of the earliest radiation of the group. Reanalysis of the type specimen using high-resolution computed tomography (CT) has revealed new details, such as the presence of the dentary condyle of the mammalian jaw hinge and the postdentary trough for mandibular attachment of the middle ear-a transitional condition of the predecessors to crown Mammalia. Our tests of competing phylogenetic hypotheses with these new data show that Late Triassic haramiyids are a separate clade from multituberculate mammals and are excluded from the Mammalia. Consequently, hypotheses of a Late Triassic diversification of the Mammalia that depend on multituberculate affinities of haramiyidans are rejected. Scanning electron microscopy study of tooth-wear facets and kinematic functional simulation of occlusion with virtual 3D models from CT scans confirm that Haramiyavia had a major orthal occlusion with the tallest lingual cusp of the lower molars occluding into the lingual embrasure of the upper molars, followed by a short palinal movement along the cusp rows alternating between upper and lower molars. This movement differs from the minimal orthal but extensive palinal occlusal movement of multituberculate mammals, which previously were regarded as relatives of haramiyidans. The disparity of tooth morphology and the diversity of dental functions of haramiyids and their contemporary mammaliaforms suggest that dietary diversification is a major factor in the earliest mammaliaform evolution.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1519387112",
    doi = "10.1073/pnas.1519387112",
    openalex = "W2177405989",
    references = "doi101007978146122784737, doi101038nature10880, doi101038nature12429, doi101038nature13622, doi101038nature13718, doi101093oso97801985076040010001, doi101126science1260879, doi101146annurevecolsys032511142302, doi101186174170071060, doi107146moggeosciv32i140904, doi107312kiel11918, luo2011developmental, openalexw78894702"
}

@article{doi1010882051672x42023002,
    author = "DeSantis, Larisa R.G.",
    title = "Dental microwear textures: reconstructing diets of fossil mammals",
    year = "2016",
    journal = "Surface Topography Metrology and Properties",
    abstract = "Dietary information of fossil mammals can be revealed via the analysis of tooth morphology, tooth wear, tooth geochemistry, and the microscopic wear patterns on tooth surfaces resulting from food processing. Although dental microwear has long been used by anthropologists and paleontologists to clarify diets in a diversity of mammals, until recently these methods focused on the counting of wear features (e.g., pits and scratches) from two-dimensional surfaces (typically via scanning electron microscopes or low-magnification light microscopes). The analysis of dental microwear textures can instead reveal dietary information in a broad range of herbivorous, omnivorous, and carnivorous mammals by characterizing microscopic tooth surfaces in three-dimensions, without the counting of individual surface features. To date, dental microwear textures in ungulates, xenarthrans, marsupials, carnivorans, and primates (including humans and their ancestors) are correlated with known dietary behavior in extant taxa and reconstruct ancient diets in a diversity of prehistoric mammals. For example, tough versus hard object feeding can be characterized across disparate phylogenetic groups and can distinguish grazers, folivorous, and flesh consumers (tougher food consumers) from woody browsers, frugivores, and bone consumers (harder object feeders). This paper reviews how dental microwear textures can be useful to reconstructing diets in a broad array of living and extinct mammals, with commentary on areas of future research.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1088/2051-672x/4/2/023002",
    doi = "10.1088/2051-672x/4/2/023002",
    openalex = "W2311833390",
    references = "doi101007s004420050311, doi1010160031018294901007, doi101016jjhevol200604006, doi101016s0047248486800100, doi10103838229, doi101038nature03822, doi101038nature13622, doi101073pnas260368897, doi101126science684415, doi1012060003008220003010001fcoumu20co2, doi1012060003008220023660001aitrou20co2, doi10167102724634200727763eoodif20co2"
}

@article{doi101093gbeevv261,
    author = "Tarver, James E. and dos Reis, Mario and Mirarab, Siavash and Moran, Raymond J. and Parker, Sean and O’Reilly, Joseph and King, Benjamin L. and O’Connell, Mary J. and Asher, Robert J. and Warnow, Tandy and Peterson, Kevin J. and Donoghue, Philip C. J. and Pisani, Davide",
    title = "The Interrelationships of Placental Mammals and the Limits of Phylogenetic Inference",
    year = "2016",
    journal = "Genome Biology and Evolution",
    abstract = "Placental mammals comprise three principal clades: Afrotheria (e.g., elephants and tenrecs), Xenarthra (e.g., armadillos and sloths), and Boreoeutheria (all other placental mammals), the relationships among which are the subject of controversy and a touchstone for debate on the limits of phylogenetic inference. Previous analyses have found support for all three hypotheses, leading some to conclude that this phylogenetic problem might be impossible to resolve due to the compounded effects of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and a rapid radiation. Here we show, using a genome scale nucleotide data set, microRNAs, and the reanalysis of the three largest previously published amino acid data sets, that the root of Placentalia lies between Atlantogenata and Boreoeutheria. Although we found evidence for ILS in early placental evolution, we are able to reject previous conclusions that the placental root is a hard polytomy that cannot be resolved. Reanalyses of previous data sets recover Atlantogenata + Boreoeutheria and show that contradictory results are a consequence of poorly fitting evolutionary models; instead, when the evolutionary process is better-modeled, all data sets converge on Atlantogenata. Our Bayesian molecular clock analysis estimates that marsupials diverged from placentals 157-170 Ma, crown Placentalia diverged 86-100 Ma, and crown Atlantogenata diverged 84-97 Ma. Our results are compatible with placental diversification being driven by dispersal rather than vicariance mechanisms, postdating early phases in the protracted opening of the Atlantic Ocean.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evv261",
    doi = "10.1093/gbe/evv261",
    openalex = "W2231539885",
    references = "doi101038nature13718, doi101038nature14120, doi101073pnas1519387112"
}

@article{doi101111brv12280,
    author = "Lovegrove, Barry G.",
    title = "A phenology of the evolution of endothermy in birds and mammals",
    year = "2016",
    journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society",
    abstract = "Recent palaeontological data and novel physiological hypotheses now allow a timescaled reconstruction of the evolution of endothermy in birds and mammals. A three-phase iterative model describing how endothermy evolved from Permian ectothermic ancestors is presented. In Phase One I propose that the elevation of endothermy - increased metabolism and body temperature (T b) - complemented large-body-size homeothermy during the Permian and Triassic in response to the fitness benefits of enhanced embryo development (parental care) and the activity demands of conquering dry land. I propose that Phase Two commenced in the Late Triassic and Jurassic and was marked by extreme body-size miniaturization, the evolution of enhanced body insulation (fur and feathers), increased brain size, thermoregulatory control, and increased ecomorphological diversity. I suggest that Phase Three occurred during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic and involved endothermic pulses associated with the evolution of muscle-powered flapping flight in birds, terrestrial cursoriality in mammals, and climate adaptation in response to Late Cenozoic cooling in both birds and mammals. Although the triphasic model argues for an iterative evolution of endothermy in pulses throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, it is also argued that endothermy was potentially abandoned at any time that a bird or mammal did not rely upon its thermal benefits for parental care or breeding success. The abandonment would have taken the form of either hibernation or daily torpor as observed in extant endotherms. Thus torpor and hibernation are argued to be as ancient as the origins of endothermy itself, a plesiomorphic characteristic observed today in many small birds and mammals.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12280",
    doi = "10.1111/brv.12280",
    openalex = "W2346237294",
    references = "doi101002ara20206, doi101016jcub201408034, doi101016jcub201508003, doi101038nature11146, doi101038nature12424, doi101038nature12973, doi101038nature13467, doi101038nature13718, doi101073pnas1203238109, doi101073pnas1519387112, doi101086422766, doi101086425185, doi101098rspb20110238, doi101098rspb20130508, doi101111brv12157, doi101111j1469185x201100190x, doi101126science1180219, doi101126science1200043, doi101126science1206196, doi101126science1213780, doi101126science1228753, doi101126science1253143, doi101126science1253293, doi101371journalpone0068714, doi1016660094837320030290605etatoo20co2, doi1016710272463420050250865hitrif20co2"
}

@article{doi101002ar23989,
    author = "Muchlinski, Magdalena N. and Wible, John R. and Corfe, Ian J. and Sullivan, Matthew and Grant, Robyn A.",
    title = "Good Vibrations: The Evolution of Whisking in Small Mammals",
    year = "2018",
    journal = "The Anatomical Record",
    abstract = "While most mammals have whiskers, some tactile specialists-mainly small, nocturnal, and arboreal species-can actively move their whiskers in a symmetrical, cyclic movement called whisking. Whisking enables mammals to rapidly, tactually scan their environment to efficiently guide locomotion and foraging in complex habitats. The muscle architecture that enables whisking is preserved from marsupials to primates, prompting researchers to suggest that a common ancestor might have had moveable whiskers. Studying the evolution of whisker touch sensing is difficult, and we suggest that measuring an aspect of skull morphology that correlates with whisking would enable comparisons between extinct and extant mammals. We find that whisking mammals have larger infraorbital foramen (IOF) areas, which indicates larger infraorbital nerves and an increase in sensory acuity. While this relationship is quite variable and IOF area cannot be used to solely predict the presence of whisking, whisking mammals all have large IOF areas. Generally, this pattern holds true regardless of an animal's substrate preferences or activity patterns. Data from fossil mammals and ancestral character state reconstruction and tracing techniques for extant mammals suggest that whisking is not the ancestral state for therian mammals. Instead, whisking appears to have evolved independently as many as seven times across the clades Marsupialia, Afrosoricida, Eulipotyphla, and Rodentia, with Xenarthra the only placental superordinal clade lacking whisking species. However, the term whisking only captures symmetrical and rhythmic movements of the whiskers, rather than all possible whisker movements, and early mammals may still have had moveable whiskers. Anat Rec, 2018. © 2018 American Association for Anatomy.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.23989",
    doi = "10.1002/ar.23989",
    openalex = "W2898077773",
    references = "doi101002evan20251, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature06277, doi101038nature10291, doi101038nature13622, doi101038nature13718, doi101093bioinformaticsbtg412, doi101093bioinformaticsbtm538, doi101093bioinformaticsbtq166, doi101111j2041210x201100169x, doi101126science1229237, doi101186147121481288"
}

@article{doi101038s4158601805214,
    author = "Lautenschlager, Stephan and Gill, Pamela G. and Luo, Zhe‐Xi and Fagan, Michael J. and Rayfield, Emily J.",
    title = "The role of miniaturization in the evolution of the mammalian jaw and middle ear",
    year = "2018",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0521-4",
    doi = "10.1038/s41586-018-0521-4",
    openalex = "W2892139824",
    references = "doi101002jmor1051470404, doi101002jmor1051600208, doi1010160021929088901674, doi101016jjtbi200808017, doi101038200835d0, doi101038nature06277, doi101038nature13622, doi101093oso97801985076040010001, doi101098rsos160342, doi101139z91327, doi101146annureves24110193002441, doi1016660094837320030290605etatoo20co2, doi107312kiel11918"
}

@article{doi101007s10914019094678,
    author = "Benoît, Julien and Ruf, Irina and Miyamae, Juri A. and Fernández, Vincent and Rodrigues, Pablo and Rubidge, Bruce S.",
    title = "The Evolution of the Maxillary Canal in Probainognathia (Cynodontia, Synapsida): Reassessment of the Homology of the Infraorbital Foramen in Mammalian Ancestors",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "Journal of Mammalian Evolution",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-019-09467-8",
    doi = "10.1007/s10914-019-09467-8",
    openalex = "W2946246559",
    references = "doi101002ar23989"
}

@article{doi101038s4158601917920,
    author = "Wang, Haibing and Meng, Jin and Wang, Yuan",
    title = "Cretaceous fossil reveals a new pattern in mammalian middle ear evolution",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "Nature",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1792-0",
    doi = "10.1038/s41586-019-1792-0",
    openalex = "W2991444703",
    references = "doi101038s4158601805214"
}

@article{doi101371journalpbio3000494,
    author = "Upham, Nathan S. and Esselstyn, Jacob A. and Jetz, Walter",
    title = "Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution, and conservation",
    year = "2019",
    journal = "PLoS Biology",
    abstract = {Big, time-scaled phylogenies are fundamental to connecting evolutionary processes to modern biodiversity patterns. Yet inferring reliable phylogenetic trees for thousands of species involves numerous trade-offs that have limited their utility to comparative biologists. To establish a robust evolutionary timescale for all approximately 6,000 living species of mammals, we developed credible sets of trees that capture root-to-tip uncertainty in topology and divergence times. Our "backbone-and-patch" approach to tree building applies a newly assembled 31-gene supermatrix to two levels of Bayesian inference: (1) backbone relationships and ages among major lineages, using fossil node or tip dating, and (2) species-level "patch" phylogenies with nonoverlapping in-groups that each correspond to one representative lineage in the backbone. Species unsampled for DNA are either excluded ("DNA-only" trees) or imputed within taxonomic constraints using branch lengths drawn from local birth-death models ("completed" trees). Joining time-scaled patches to backbones results in species-level trees of extant Mammalia with all branches estimated under the same modeling framework, thereby facilitating rate comparisons among lineages as disparate as marsupials and placentals. We compare our phylogenetic trees to previous estimates of mammal-wide phylogeny and divergence times, finding that (1) node ages are broadly concordant among studies, and (2) recent (tip-level) rates of speciation are estimated more accurately in our study than in previous "supertree" approaches, in which unresolved nodes led to branch-length artifacts. Credible sets of mammalian phylogenetic history are now available for download at http://vertlife.org/phylosubsets, enabling investigations of long-standing questions in comparative biology.},
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494",
    doi = "10.1371/journal.pbio.3000494",
    openalex = "W2991998196",
    references = "doi10100703064746897, doi101007s1091401693638, doi101023a1011317930838, doi101038416816a, doi101038nature05634, doi101038nature06277, doi101038nature10291, doi101038nature11631, doi101038nature22897, doi101038nature25794, doi101073pnas1319091111, doi101073pnas1519387112, doi101093acprofoso97801985670280010001, doi101093bioinformaticsbts199, doi101093jmammalgyx147, doi101093jmammalgyy179, doi101093molbevmsm193, doi101093molbevmsv037, doi101093sysbiosyr047, doi101093sysbiosyr107, doi101093sysbiosyv080, doi101098rspb20120683, doi101111evo12681, doi101126science1157704, doi101126science1211028, doi101126science1229237, doi101371journalpone0089543, doi101371journalpone0183070, doi1026879424"
}

@article{doi101038s41467020188984,
    author = "Newham, Elis and Gill, Pamela G. and Brewer, Philippa and Benton, Michael J. and Fernández, Vincent and Gostling, Neil J. and Haberthür, David and Jernvall, Jukka and Kankaanpää, Tuomas and Kallonen, Aki and Navarro, Charles and Pacureanu, Alexandra and Richards, Kelly and Brown, Kate Robson and Schneider, Philipp and Suhonen, Heikki and Tafforeau, Paul and Williams, Katherine and Zeller‐Plumhoff, Berit and Corfe, Ian J.",
    title = "Reptile-like physiology in Early Jurassic stem-mammals",
    year = "2020",
    journal = "Nature Communications",
    abstract = "Despite considerable advances in knowledge of the anatomy, ecology and evolution of early mammals, far less is known about their physiology. Evidence is contradictory concerning the timing and fossil groups in which mammalian endothermy arose. To determine the state of metabolic evolution in two of the earliest stem-mammals, the Early Jurassic Morganucodon and Kuehneotherium, we use separate proxies for basal and maximum metabolic rate. Here we report, using synchrotron X-ray tomographic imaging of incremental tooth cementum, that they had maximum lifespans considerably longer than comparably sized living mammals, but similar to those of reptiles, and so they likely had reptilian-level basal metabolic rates. Measurements of femoral nutrient foramina show Morganucodon had blood flow rates intermediate between living mammals and reptiles, suggesting maximum metabolic rates increased evolutionarily before basal metabolic rates. Stem mammals lacked the elevated endothermic metabolism of living mammals, highlighting the mosaic nature of mammalian physiological evolution.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18898-4",
    doi = "10.1038/s41467-020-18898-4",
    openalex = "W3091992950",
    references = "doi101038s4158601805214, doi101093biolinneanblw044, doi101371journalpone0088834"
}

@article{doi101111evo13929,
    author = "Grossnickle, David M.",
    title = "Feeding ecology has a stronger evolutionary influence on functional morphology than on body mass in mammals",
    year = "2020",
    journal = "Evolution",
    abstract = "Ecological specialization is a central driver of adaptive evolution. However, selective pressures may uniquely affect different ecomorphological traits (e.g., size and shape), complicating efforts to investigate the role of ecology in generating phenotypic diversity. Comparative studies can help remedy this issue by identifying specific relationships between ecologies and morphologies, thus elucidating functionally relevant traits. Jaw shape is a dietary correlate that offers considerable insight on mammalian evolution, but few studies have examined the influence of diet on jaw morphology across mammals. To this end, I apply phylogenetic comparative methods to mandibular measurements and dietary data for a diverse sample of mammals. Especially powerful predictors of diet are metrics that capture either the size of the angular process, which increases with greater herbivory, or the length of the posterior portion of the jaw, which decreases with greater herbivory. The size of the angular process likely reflects sizes of attached muscles that produce jaw movements needed to grind plant material. Further, I examine the impact of feeding ecology on body mass, an oft-used ecological surrogate in macroevolutionary studies. Although body mass commonly increases with evolutionary shifts to herbivory, it is outperformed by functional jaw morphology as a predictor of diet. Body mass is influenced by numerous factors beyond diet, and it may be evolutionarily labile relative to functional morphologies. This suggests that ecological diversification events may initially facilitate body mass diversification at smaller taxonomic and temporal scales, but sustained selective pressures will subsequently drive greater trait partitioning in functional morphologies.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13929",
    doi = "10.1111/evo.13929",
    openalex = "W3002290775",
    references = "doi101016jtree201905008, doi101093icbicz115, doi101111jeb12937"
}

@article{doi101111evo14094,
    author = "Grossnickle, David M. and Chen, Meng and Wauer, James G. A. and Pevsner, Spencer K. and Weaver, Lucas N. and Meng, Qingjin and Liu, Di and Zhang, Yuguang and Luo, Zhe‐Xi",
    title = "Incomplete convergence of gliding mammal skeletons*",
    year = "2020",
    journal = "Evolution",
    abstract = {Ecology and biomechanics play central roles in the generation of phenotypic diversity. When unrelated taxa invade a similar ecological niche, biomechanical demands can drive convergent morphological transformations. Thus, examining convergence helps to elucidate the key catalysts of phenotypic change. Gliding mammals are often presented as a classic case of convergent evolution because they independently evolved in numerous clades, each possessing patagia ("wing" membranes) that generate lift during gliding. We use phylogenetic comparative methods to test whether the skeletal morphologies of the six clades of extant gliding mammals demonstrate convergence. Our results indicate that glider skeletons are convergent, with glider groups consistently evolving proportionally longer, more gracile limbs than arborealists, likely to increase patagial surface area. Nonetheless, we interpret gliders to represent incomplete convergence because (1) evolutionary model-fitting analyses do not indicate strong selective pressures for glider trait optima, (2) the three marsupial glider groups diverge rather than converge, and (3) the gliding groups remain separated in morphospace (rather than converging on a single morphotype), which is reflected by an unexpectedly high level of morphological disparity. That glider skeletons are morphologically diverse is further demonstrated by fossil gliders from the Mesozoic Era, which possess unique skeletal characteristics that are absent in extant gliders. Glider morphologies may be strongly influenced by factors such as body size and attachment location of patagia on the forelimb, which can vary among clades. Thus, convergence in gliders appears to be driven by a simple lengthening of the limbs, whereas additional skeletal traits reflect nuances of the gliding apparatus that are distinct among different evolutionary lineages. Our unexpected results add to growing evidence that incomplete convergence is prevalent in vertebrate clades, even among classic cases of convergence, and they highlight the importance of examining form-function relationships in light of phylogeny, biomechanics, and the fossil record.},
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14094",
    doi = "10.1111/evo.14094",
    openalex = "W3083173011",
    references = "doi101016jtree201905008, doi1010800272463420161111225"
}

@article{doi101016jcub202102009,
    author = "Jones, Katrina E. and Dickson, Blake V. and Angielczyk, Kenneth D. and Pierce, Stephanie E.",
    title = "Adaptive landscapes challenge the “lateral-to-sagittal” paradigm for mammalian vertebral evolution",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Current Biology",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.02.009",
    doi = "10.1016/j.cub.2021.02.009",
    openalex = "W3135035214",
    references = "doi1010800272463420161111225"
}

@article{doi101038s42003021017573,
    author = "Morales-García, Nuria Melisa and Gill, Pamela G. and Janis, Christine M. and Rayfield, Emily J.",
    title = "Jaw shape and mechanical advantage are indicative of diet in Mesozoic mammals",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Communications Biology",
    abstract = "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 functional diversity of early mammals informs on the ecological structure of palaeocommunities throughout the longest era of mammalian evolution: the Mesozoic. Here, we analyse how jaw shape and mechanical advantage of the masseter (MAM) and temporalis (MAT) muscles relate to diet in 70 extant and 45 extinct mammals spanning the Late Triassic-Late Cretaceous. In extant mammals, jaw shape discriminates well between dietary groups: insectivores have long jaws, carnivores intermediate to short jaws, and herbivores have short jaws. Insectivores have low MAM and MAT, carnivores have low MAM and high MAT, and herbivores have high MAM and MAT. These traits are also informative of diet among Mesozoic mammals (based on previous independent determinations of diet) and set the basis for future ecomorphological studies.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01757-3",
    doi = "10.1038/s42003-021-01757-3",
    openalex = "W3132456843",
    references = "doi101016jtree201905008"
}

@article{doi101111brv12822,
    author = "Grigg, Gordon C. and Nowack, Julia and Bicudo, J. Eduardo P. W. and Bal, Naresh C. and Woodward, Holly N. and Seymour, Roger S.",
    title = "Whole‐body endothermy: ancient, homologous and widespread among the ancestors of mammals, birds and crocodylians",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society",
    abstract = "-ATPase (SERCA) in skeletal muscle, similar to a process seen in some fishes. This similarity prompted our realisation that the capacity for whole-body endothermy could even have pre-dated the divergence of Amniota into Synapsida and Sauropsida, leading us to hypothesise the homology of whole-body endothermy in birds and mammals, in contrast to the current assumption of their independent (convergent) evolution. To explore the extent of similarity between muscle NST in mammals and birds we undertook a detailed review of these processes and their control in each group. We found considerable but not complete similarity between them: in extant mammals the 'slippage' is controlled by the protein sarcolipin (SLN), in birds the SLN is slightly different structurally and its role in NST is not yet proved. However, considering the multi-millions of years since the separation of synapsids and diapsids, we consider that the similarity between NST production in birds and mammals is consistent with their whole-body endothermy being homologous. If so, we should expect to find evidence for it much earlier and more widespread among extinct amniotes than is currently recognised. Accordingly, we conducted an extensive survey of the palaeontological literature using established proxies. Fossil bone histology reveals evidence of sustained rapid growth rates indicating tachymetabolism. Large body size and erect stature indicate high systemic arterial blood pressures and four-chambered hearts, characteristic of tachymetabolism. Large nutrient foramina in long bones are indicative of high bone perfusion for rapid somatic growth and for repair of microfractures caused by intense locomotion. Obligate bipedality appeared early and only in whole-body endotherms. Isotopic profiles of fossil material indicate endothermic levels of body temperature. These proxies led us to compelling evidence for the widespread occurrence of whole-body endothermy among numerous extinct synapsids and sauropsids, and very early in each clade's family tree. These results are consistent with and support our hypothesis that tachymetabolic endothermy is plesiomorphic in Amniota. A hypothetical structure for the heart of the earliest endothermic amniotes is proposed. We conclude that there is strong evidence for whole-body endothermy being ancient and widespread among amniotes and that the similarity of biochemical processes driving muscle NST in extant birds and mammals strengthens the case for its plesiomorphy.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12822",
    doi = "10.1111/brv.12822",
    openalex = "W4200490813",
    references = "cubo2020were, doi101016jgr202008003, doi101016s0092867400814105, doi101017pab201519, doi101038262207a0, doi101038nature11264, doi101038ncomms9296, doi101038s4155901910473, doi101038srep06196, doi1010719781486300679, doi101073pnas1206625109, doi101086283547, doi101093biolinneanblw044, doi101093sysbiosyw033, doi101096fj020367com, doi101098rstb20190136, doi101098rstb20190142, doi101111brv12137, doi101111j10958312201001431x, doi101126sciadvaaw4486, doi101126science1187443, doi101126science493968, doi101126scienceaal4853, doi101152physiol000162016, doi101152physrev000152003, doi1012063521, doi101210er20020012, doi101371journalpone0011613, doi101371journalpone0033539, doi101371journalpone0069361, doi105860choice355657, doi107717peerj1778, doi107717peerj7764, köhler2012seasonal, pontzer2009biomechanics, seymour1976dinosaurs, zhao2019ontogenetic"
}

@article{doi101111mam12253,
    author = "Grant, Robyn A. and Goss, V.G.A.",
    title = "What can whiskers tell us about mammalian evolution, behaviour, and ecology?",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Mammal Review",
    abstract = "Abstract Most mammals have whiskers; however, nearly everything we know about whiskers derives from just a handful of species, including laboratory rats Rattus norvegicus and mice Mus musculus, as well as some species of pinniped and marsupial. We explore the extent to which the knowledge of the whisker system from a handful of species applies to mammals generally. This will help us understand whisker evolution and function, in order to gain more insights into mammalian behaviour and ecology. This review is structured around Tinbergen’s four questions, since this method is an established, comprehensive, and logical approach to studying behaviour. We ask: how do whiskers work, develop, and evolve? And what are they for? While whiskers are all slender, curved, tapered, keratinised hairs that transmit vibrotactile information, we show that there are marked differences between species with respect to whisker arrangement, numbers, length, musculature, development, and growth cycles. The conservation of form and a common muscle architecture in mammals suggests that early mammals had whiskers. Whiskers may have been functional even in therapsids. However, certain extant mammalian species are equipped with especially long and sensitive whiskers, in particular nocturnal, arboreal species, and aquatic species, which live in complex environments and hunt moving prey. Knowledge of whiskers and whisker use can guide us in developing conservation protocols and designing enriched enclosures for captive mammals. We suggest that further comparative studies, embracing a wider variety of mammalian species, are required before one can make large‐scale predictions relating to evolution and function of whiskers. More research is needed to develop robust techniques to enhance the welfare and conservation of mammals.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12253",
    doi = "10.1111/mam.12253",
    openalex = "W3164004460",
    references = "doi101002ar23989"
}

@article{doi103389fevo2021667218,
    author = "Warren, Ben and Nowotny, Manuela",
    title = "Bridging the Gap Between Mammal and Insect Ears – A Comparative and Evolutionary View of Sound-Reception",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution",
    abstract = "Insects must wonder why mammals have ears only in their head and why they evolved only one common principle of ear design—the cochlea. Ears independently evolved at least 19 times in different insect groups and therefore can be found in completely different body parts. The morphologies and functional characteristics of insect ears are as wildly diverse as the ecological niches they exploit. In both, insects and mammals, hearing organs are constrained by the same biophysical principles and their respective molecular processes for mechanotransduction are thought to share a common evolutionary origin. Due to this, comparative knowledge of hearing across animal phyla provides crucial insight into fundamental processes of auditory transduction, especially at the biomechanical and molecular level. This review will start by comparing hearing between insects and mammals in an evolutionary context. It will then discuss current findings about sound reception will help to bridge the gap between both research fields.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.667218",
    doi = "10.3389/fevo.2021.667218",
    openalex = "W3191333204",
    references = "doi101038s4158601805214"
}

@article{doi101002bies202100060,
    author = "Newham, Elis and Gill, Pamela G. and Corfe, Ian J.",
    title = "New tools suggest a middle Jurassic origin for mammalian endothermy",
    year = "2022",
    journal = "BioEssays",
    abstract = "We suggest that mammalian endothermy was established amongst Middle Jurassic crown mammals, through reviewing state-of-the-art fossil and living mammal studies. This is considerably later than the prevailing paradigm, and has important ramifications for the causes, pattern, and pace of physiological evolution amongst synapsids. Most hypotheses argue that selection for either enhanced aerobic activity, or thermoregulation was the primary driver for synapsid physiological evolution, based on a range of fossil characters that have been linked to endothermy. We argue that, rather than either alternative being the primary selective force for the entirety of endothermic evolution, these characters evolved quite independently through time, and across the mammal family tree, principally as a response to shifting environmental pressures and ecological opportunities. Our interpretations can be tested using closely linked proxies for both factors, derived from study of fossils of a range of Jurassic and Cretaceous mammaliaforms and early mammals.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.202100060",
    doi = "10.1002/bies.202100060",
    openalex = "W4213200202",
    references = "doi101001jama199503520390039030, doi101002ar23989, doi101016jgr202008003, doi101016jjhevol200904009, doi101038nature06277, doi101038s41467018049547, doi101073pnas1907847116, doi101098rstb20190142, doi101111j02698463200400841x, doi101126science1059412, doi101126science493968, doi101152physrev000472006, doi105962bhltitle7369"
}

@article{doi101126scienceabm7525,
    author = "Goswami, Anjali and Noirault, Eve and Coombs, Ellen J. and Clavel, Julien and Fabre, Anne‐Claire and Halliday, Thomas J. D. and Churchill, Morgan and Curtis, Abigail and Watanabe, Akinobu and Simmons, Nancy B. and Beatty, Brian L. and Geisler, Jonathan H. and Fox, David L. and Felice, Ryan N.",
    title = "Attenuated evolution of mammals through the Cenozoic",
    year = "2022",
    journal = "Science",
    abstract = "The Cenozoic diversification of placental mammals is the archetypal adaptive radiation. Yet, discrepancies between molecular divergence estimates and the fossil record fuel ongoing debate around the timing, tempo, and drivers of this radiation. Analysis of a three-dimensional skull dataset for living and extinct placental mammals demonstrates that evolutionary rates peak early and attenuate quickly. This long-term decline in tempo is punctuated by bursts of innovation that decreased in amplitude over the past 66 million years. Social, precocial, aquatic, and herbivorous species evolve fastest, especially whales, elephants, sirenians, and extinct ungulates. Slow rates in rodents and bats indicate dissociation of taxonomic and morphological diversification. Frustratingly, highly similar ancestral shape estimates for placental mammal superorders suggest that their earliest representatives may continue to elude unequivocal identification.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm7525",
    doi = "10.1126/science.abm7525",
    openalex = "W4307410158",
    references = "doi101016jjhevol201606005, doi101126scienceaay2268"
}

@article{doi101098rstb20220091,
    author = "Tseng, Z. Jack and Garcia-Lara, Sergio and Flynn, John J. and Holmes, Emily A. and Rowe, Timothy B. and Dickson, Blake V.",
    title = "A switch in jaw form–function coupling during the evolution of mammals",
    year = "2023",
    journal = "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences",
    abstract = "The evolutionary shift from a single-element ear, multi-element jaw to a multi-element ear, single-element jaw during the transition to crown mammals marks one of the most dramatic structural transformations in vertebrates. Research on this transformation has focused on mammalian middle-ear evolution, but a mandible comprising only the dentary is equally emblematic of this evolutionary radiation. Here, we show that the remarkably diverse jaw shapes of crown mammals are coupled with surprisingly stereotyped jaw stiffness. This strength-based morphofunctional regime has a genetic basis and allowed mammalian jaws to effectively resist deformation as they radiated into highly disparate forms with markedly distinct diets. The main functional consequences for the mandible of decoupling hearing and mastication were a trade-off between higher jaw stiffness versus decreased mechanical efficiency and speed compared with non-mammals. This fundamental and consequential shift in jaw form-function underpins the ecological and taxonomic diversification of crown mammals. This article is part of the theme issue 'The mammalian skull: development, structure and function'.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0091",
    doi = "10.1098/rstb.2022.0091",
    openalex = "W4376613539",
    references = "doi101038s4158601805214, doi101126scienceabl5584"
}

@article{doi101038s41586024077331,
    author = "Panciroli, Elsa and Benson, Roger B J and Fernandez, Vincent and Fraser, Nicholas C and Humpage, Matt and Luo, Zhe-Xi and Newham, Elis and Walsh, Stig",
    title = "Jurassic fossil juvenile reveals prolonged life history in early mammals.",
    year = "2024",
    journal = "Nature",
    abstract = "Living mammal groups exhibit rapid juvenile growth with a cessation of growth in adulthood1. Understanding the emergence of this pattern in the earliest mammaliaforms (mammals and their closest extinct relatives) is hindered by a paucity of fossils representing juvenile individuals. We report exceptionally complete juvenile and adult specimens of the Middle Jurassic docodontan Krusatodon, providing anatomical data and insights into the life history of early diverging mammaliaforms. We used synchrotron X-ray micro-computed tomography imaging of cementum growth increments in the teeth2-4 to provide evidence of pace of life in a Mesozoic mammaliaform. The adult was about 7 years and the juvenile 7 to 24 months of age at death and in the process of replacing its deciduous dentition with its final, adult generation. When analysed against a dataset of life history parameters for extant mammals5, the relative sequence of adult tooth eruption was already established in Krusatodon and in the range observed in extant mammals but this development was prolonged, taking place during a longer period as part of a significantly longer maximum lifespan than extant mammals of comparable adult body mass (156 g or less). Our findings suggest that early diverging mammaliaforms did not experience the same life histories as extant small-bodied mammals and the fundamental shift to faster growth over a shorter lifespan may not have taken place in mammaliaforms until during or after the Middle Jurassic.",
    url = "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39048827/",
    doi = "10.1038/s41586-024-07733-1",
    openalex = "W4400949006",
    pmid = "39048827",
    references = "doi101016jnimb201309030, doi101038nature06277, doi101046j13652818200201010x, doi101086367591, doi101093gerona622149, doi101093oso97801985076040010001, doi101111j136520281979tb00256x, doi101111j146979981990tb04316x, doi101186174170071060, doi1023073566088"
}

@article{doi101038s41598024644345,
    author = "Fonseca, Pedro H M and Martinelli, Agustín G and Gill, Pamela G and Rayfield, Emily J and Schultz, Cesar L and Kerber, Leonardo and Ribeiro, Ana Maria and Francischini, Heitor and Soares, Marina B",
    title = "New evidence from high-resolution computed microtomography of Triassic stem-mammal skulls from South America enhances discussions on turbinates before the origin of Mammaliaformes.",
    year = "2024",
    journal = "Scientific reports",
    abstract = "The nasal cavity of living mammals is a unique structural complex among tetrapods, acquired along a series of major morphological transformations that occurred mainly during the Mesozoic Era, within the Synapsida clade. Particularly, non-mammaliaform cynodonts document several morphological changes in the skull, during the Triassic Period, that represent the first steps of the mammalian bauplan. We here explore the nasal cavity of five cynodont taxa, namely Thrinaxodon, Chiniquodon, Prozostrodon, Riograndia, and Brasilodon, in order to discuss the main changes within this skull region. We did not identify ossified turbinals in the nasal cavity of these taxa and if present, as non-ossified structures, they would not necessarily be associated with temperature control or the development of endothermy. We do, however, notice a complexification of the cartilage anchoring structures that divide the nasal cavity and separate it from the brain region in these forerunners of mammals.",
    url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11180108/",
    doi = "10.1038/s41598-024-64434-5",
    openalex = "W4399706078",
    pmcid = "PMC11180108",
    pmid = "38879680",
    references = "doi101038272333a0, doi101038293057a0, doi10108002724634198810011708, doi101093jmammalgyx147, doi101093oso97801985076040010001, doi101111j109636421981tb01127x, doi101111j1469185x201000122x, doi101126science1203117, doi1023071445584, doi107312kiel11918"
}

@article{doi101017jpa202510121,
    author = "Bolton, Andrew D. and Mangera, Taahirah and Benoît, Julien",
    title = "150 years of synapsid paleoneurology: the origins of the mammalian brain, behavior, sense organs and physiology",
    year = "2025",
    journal = "Journal of Paleontology",
    abstract = "Abstract A century and a half of paleoneurological study of synapsids has provided invaluable insight into the evolution of their brain, sense organs, behavior, and physiology. Here, we review and discuss the evidence for parental care, brooding, intraspecific combat, display, and gregariousness, and conclude that evidence for higher levels of social interactions and communication is piling up and may soon push the origin of sociality in the mammalian lineage to the middle Permian. We also review the paleoneurological cues (the trigeminal canals, parietal foramen, and inner ear) that support a new evolutionary hypothesis in which the homeogene MSX2 mutated early in the probainognathian cynodonts and changed their biology towards a more mammalian condition. This includes the loss of the parietal foramen, inflation of the cerebellar vermis, maintenance of a fur pelt, and appearance of mammary glands, some 247 million years ago. This was followed by the origin of the ability to whisk 241 million years ago, and that of endothermy 233 million years ago, as indicated by the evolution of the trigeminal and semicircular canals, respectively. Finally, we review the immense progress made in the study of encephalization and support that probainognathians went through a neurosensory revolution during the Triassic. Their newly acquired small body size, fur, and nocturnal lifestyle generated sensory input that affected the evolution of all their sensory organs, leading up to the development of the modern mammalian brain.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2025.10121",
    doi = "10.1017/jpa.2025.10121",
    openalex = "W4413201134",
    references = "doi101002ar25215, doi101002ar25526, doi101002ar25652, doi101002jmor1051470404, doi101002spp270021, doi101016jearscirev2024104702, doi10103874231, doi101038s41586024077331, doi101038s41598024644345, doi101093oso97801985076040010001, doi101098rspb20130508, doi101126sciadvado4555, doi101126science1123026, doi101126science1203117, doi101146annurevecolsys39110707173502, doi101163156853966x00155, doi1023071445584, doi107312kiel11918, rowe2023evolution"
}

@article{doi101111joa70010,
    author = "Funston, Gregory F and Kynigopoulou, Zoi and Williamson, Thomas E and Brusatte, Stephen L",
    title = "Palaeohistology and life history of the early Palaeocene taeniodont Conoryctes comma (Mammalia: Eutheria).",
    year = "2025",
    journal = "Journal of anatomy",
    abstract = "The life histories of Palaeocene mammals are poorly known, but may have been central to their success in diversifying across terrestrial ecosystems after the end-Cretaceous extinction. Among these mammalian groups, the eutherian Taeniodonta are particularly enigmatic, with few modern analogues and no living descendants, despite being one of the only lineages to apparently traverse the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary. Here, we investigate the life history of an early Palaeocene taeniodont, Conoryctes comma, based on a multi-individual, multi-element sample. Nearly all elements sampled exhibit similar osteohistological architecture, with a small internal zone of compacted coarse cancellous bone surrounded by an internal cortex of periosteally derived fibrolamellar bone of variable thickness, and an outer cortex of lamellar bone. The well-vascularized fibrolamellar complex in the limb bones, lacking cyclical growth marks, is indicative of overall rapid growth to near adult body size. Cyclical growth marks are present in the outer cortex after the transition to slow-growing lamellar bone, but not in the inner cortex, suggesting sexual maturity was reached in 1 year. In some elements, an internal non-cyclical growth mark shares histological similarities with weaning marks in living mammals and other contemporary Palaeocene mammals, and occurred at the body size predicted for this transition in therian mammals. The unusual presence of compacted coarse cancellous bone near the midshafts of multiple limb bones may be related to cortical thickening, and is similar to the arrangement described in some fossorial mammals, supporting previous assertions of this lifestyle in Conoryctes. Altogether, these palaeohistological signals suggest a life history in C. comma similar to living eutherians, despite uncertainty about whether it is within crown Placentalia or a close outgroup. Thus, our data are consistent with an early origin of placental-like reproductive strategies in their eutherian ancestors, although this attribute was likely shared more broadly among Mesozoic mammal lineages prior to the end-Cretaceous extinction.",
    url = "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12397073/",
    doi = "10.1111/joa.70010",
    openalex = "W4412394202",
    pmcid = "PMC12397073",
    pmid = "40657952",
    references = "doi101086273307, doi101086410622, doi101093nqs5vi146318i, doi1011112041210x13087, doi101111j1469, doi101126science1229237, doi1016710272463420000200115lbhoth20co2, doi1018900814941, openalexw1904943263, openalexw2184264297"
}

@article{doi101007s1091402509789w,
    author = "Viladot, Alexandra and Casanovas‐Vilar, Isaac and Sánchez, Israel M. and Nacarino-Meneses, Carmen",
    title = "Growth and life history of a palaeomerycid: Inferences from the histological analysis of the long bones of Ampelomeryx ginsburgi (Ruminantia, Giraffomorpha) from Els Casots (Catalonia, Spain)",
    year = "2026",
    journal = "Journal of Mammalian Evolution",
    abstract = "The palaeomerycid Ampelomeryx ginsburgi is one of the most iconic mammals found at the early Middle Miocene fossil site of els Casots (Catalonia). To date, several investigations have addressed its taxonomy and phylogeny, but many aspects of its paleobiology still remain to be studied. Here, we performed a paleohistological analysis on several limb bones to provide a first insight into its growth and life history. Specifically, we studied bone tissue types and bone growth marks in four tibiae, one humerus, and two metapodial bones. As in many other mammals, we found that the predominant type of primary bone in A. ginsburgi is fibrolamellar bone, suggesting high growth rates for this extinct artiodactyl. The various analyzed bones, however, differ in the orientation of the vascular canals, likely because they experienced different biomechanical stresses and exhibited different rates of intrinsic growth. Different types of secondary tissue, including compacted coarse cancellous bone, were also found. The skeletochronological study focused on the tibia, where we observed that the external fundamental system always appears after the third cyclical growth mark. This suggests that A. ginsburgi achieved skeletal maturity after its third year of life. Growth plots, on the other hand, revealed that reproductive maturity occurred after the second year of life. All in all, our study provides a preliminary understanding of the paleobiology of A. ginsburgi from els Casots and sets the stage for further investigations.",
    url = "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-025-09789-w",
    doi = "10.1007/s10914-025-09789-w",
    openalex = "W7155229738",
    references = "doi101002jmor10029, doi101016jrevpalbo200908001, doi101016s0764446900001815, doi101016s1631069102014294, doi1010292020pa004037, doi101111joa70010, doi101126sciadvaaz1346, doi101126scienceaba6853, doi101242jeb00841, doi103106ms20240050, doi10560219780801881206, köhler2012seasonal"
}