Kieren J. Mitchell

TL;DR: It is suggested that convergence toward gigantism and flightlessness was facilitated by early Tertiary expansion into the diurnal herbivory niche after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

TL;DR: A pattern of mesic-adapted lineages evolving to use more arid and open habitats, which is broadly consistent with regional climate and environmental change is found, however, contrary to the general trend, several lineages subsequently appear to have reverted from drier to more mesic habitats.

TL;DR: This paper used 101 mitochondrial genomes and data from 26 nuclear loci to reconstruct a dated phylogeny including 97% of extant genera and 58% of modern marsupial species, and found a pattern of mesic-adapted lineages evolving to use more arid and open habitats, which is broadly consistent with regional climate and environmental change.

TL;DR: This work uses complete ancient mitochondrial genomes and genome-wide nuclear DNA surveys to reveal that the wisent is the product of hybridization between the extinct steppe bison and ancestors of modern cattle and contains up to 10% aurochs genomic ancestry.

TL;DR: Comparative genomic analyses demonstrated that amino acid homoplasies between the thylacine and canids are largely consistent with neutral evolution, and support models of adaptive convergence driven primarily by cis-regulatory evolution.