Molecular evidence of an African Phiomorpha-South American Caviomorpha clade and support for Hystricognathi based on the complete mitochondrial genome of the cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus).

The complete mitochondrial genome of an African cane rat, Thryonomys swinderianus (Rodentia, Hystricognathi), was included in a phylogenetic analysis along with 4 rodents, 14 additional eutherians, and 3 noneutherian outgroups. Monophyly of the suborder Hystricognathi, represented by the cane rat and the South American guinea pig, Cavia porcellus, was strongly supported by maximum-parsimony, neighbor-joining, and maximum-likelihood methods. The molecular-based estimate of the divergence time of Old and New World Hystricognathi (approximately 85 million years before present, MYBP) is consistent with an hypothesis of vicariance divergence due to the rifting of the African and South American continents 86-100 MYBP.

The phylogenetic position of the Talpidae within eutheria based on analysis of complete mitochondrial sequences.

The complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of the mole Talpa europaea was sequenced and included in phylogenetic analyses together with another lipotyphlan (insectivore) species, the hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus, and 22 other eutherian species plus three outgroup taxa (two marsupials and a monotreme). The phylogenetic analyses reconstructed a sister group relationship between the mole and fruit bat Artibeus jamaicensis (order Chiroptera). The Talpa/Artibeus clade constitutes a sister clade of the cetferungulates, a clade including Cetacea, Artiodactyla, Perissodactyla, and Carnivora.

Allozyme and morphological variation in two subspecies of Dryas octopetala (Rosaceae)in Alaska.

The Alaskan endemic shrub Dryas octopetala ssp. alaskensis and its circumpolar conspecific ssp. octopetala are adapted to closely adjacent habitats in alpine areas of Alaska.

A molecular view of pinniped relationships with particular emphasis on the true seals.

Phylogenetic analysis of conservative nucleotide substitutions in 18 complete sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of Phocidae (true seals), Odobenidae (walruses), and Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals), plus three ursid and three felid sequences, identified the pinnipeds as monophyletic with Otariidae and Odobenidae on a common evolutionary branch. Analysis of total nucleotide differences separated the evolutionary lineages of northern and southern phocids. Both lineages are distinct from the most ancestral phocid genus, Monachus (monk seals), represented by the Hawaiian monk seal.