Two pup vocalization types are genetically and functionally separable in deer mice.

Vocalization is a widespread social behavior in vertebrates that can affect fitness in the wild. Although many vocal behaviors are highly conserved, heritable features of specific vocalization types can vary both within and between species, raising the questions of why and how some vocal behaviors evolve. Here, using new computational tools to automatically detect and cluster vocalizations into distinct acoustic categories, we compare pup isolation calls across neonatal development in eight taxa of deer mice (genus Peromyscus) and compare them with laboratory mice (C57BL6/J strain) and free-living, wild house mice (Mus musculus domesticus).

A chromosomal inversion contributes to divergence in multiple traits between deer mouse ecotypes.

How locally adapted ecotypes are established and maintained within a species is a long-standing question in evolutionary biology. Using forest and prairie ecotypes of deer mice (), we characterized the genetic basis of variation in two defining traits-tail length and coat color-and discovered a 41-megabase chromosomal inversion linked to both. The inversion frequency is 90% in the dark, long-tailed forest ecotype; decreases across a habitat transition; and is absent from the light, short-tailed prairie ecotype.

An enhancer of contributes to parallel evolution of cryptically colored beach mice.

Identifying the genetic basis of repeatedly evolved traits provides a way to reconstruct their evolutionary history and ultimately investigate the predictability of evolution. Here, we focus on the oldfield mouse (), which occurs in the southeastern United States, where it exhibits considerable color variation. Dorsal coats range from dark brown in mainland mice to near white in mice inhabiting sandy beaches; this light pelage has evolved independently on Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coasts as camouflage from predators.