Per G. P. Ericson

TL;DR: The calibration results suggest that Neoaves, after an initial split from Galloanseres in Mid-Cretaceous, diversified around or soon after the K/T boundary, and show that there is no solid molecular evidence for an extensive pre-Tertiary radiation of Neoaves.

TL;DR: A precipitous drop in costs and increase in sequencing efficiency is anticipated, with concomitant development of improved annotation technology, and it is proposed to create a collection of tissue and DNA specimens for 10,000 vertebrate species specifically designated for whole-genome sequencing in the very near future.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the endemic New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) are the sister taxon to all other extant passerines, supporting a Gondwanan origin and early radiation of passerines.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that functional flight adaptations and constraints associated with different evolutionary lineages have an important influence on cruising flapping flight speed that goes beyond the general aerodynamic scaling effects of mass and wing loading.

TL;DR: The observed levels of damage-derived sequencing errors were lower than those observed in previously published frozen bone samples, even though one of the specimens was >50,000 14C years old and another had been stored for 200 years at room temperature.