Carey Krajewski

A detailed synthesis of dasyurid evolutionary biology for students, teachers and researchers.

The marsupial family Dasyuridae has a history of study extending from 18th century naturalists to the modern genomics era. The Evolution of Dasyurid Marsupials: Systematics and Family History tells the story of dasyurid evolution as it unfolded in the context of changing world views on biodiversity, biotic history and scientific methodology, from i...

From the back cover: "Reflecting the diversity of five leading mammalogists, the fifth edition of Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, Ecology significantly updates taxonomy, includes a new introductory chapter on the science of mammalogy, and highlights several recently described species. To enhance its appeal to students, textual material has been r...

Five species are currently recognised in the dasyurid genus Murexia, i.e. longicaudata, naso, habbema, melanurus and rothschildi. Morphological data, including spacing of premolar teeth, the footpads and aspects of external appearance, together with nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences from multiple exemplars from across the range of each specie...

Multiple mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences reveal substantial genetic variation within the dasyurid marsupial genus Planigale, suggesting greater taxonomic diversity than is currently recognised. To further investigate planigale relationships 116 new mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences, including 16 new specimens, were added to our data...

We reassessed the phylogenetic relationships of dasyuromorphians using a large molecular database comprising previously published and new sequences for both nuclear (nDNA) and mitochondrial (mtDNA) genes from the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), most living species of Dasyuridae, and the recently extinct marsupial wolf, Thylacinus cynocephalus. Our...

Phylogenetic relationships among the 6 species of quolls (Dasyurus) are resolved using DNA sequences from 4 mitochondrial and 5 nuclear loci (approximately 15kb) sampled from 1 to 29 individuals per species. Our estimate of quoll phylogeny concurs with previous DNA-based estimates in placing Dasyurus hallucatus as sister to the remaining species, a...

Sminthopsis is the most speciose genus of living dasyurid marsupials and, along with its close relatives Antechinomys and Ningaui, constitutes the clade Sminthopsini. Phylogenetic relationships among the 23 species in this clade have been the subject of much morphological and molecular investigation, including a recent integration of penis morpholo...

We estimated phylogenetic relationships among all 15 extant species of cranes in the gruiform family Gruidae from complete sequences of their mitochondrial genomes. The gene order of crane mitochondria I genomes corresponds to that of the chicken and present few structural novelties compared with previously described birds. Sequences of the control...

Monotremes are the sole living representatives of Prototheria and include the duckbilled platypus and four species of echidnas. Monotremes are restricted to Australia and New Guinea and exhibit a mosaic of primitive features that are similar to reptiles. Molecular time estimates for the platypus-echidna split, based on diverse methods and data, ave...

Opossums, kangaroos, koalas and their kin (marsupials) are grouped into ~20 families and seven orders in the mammalian infraclass Metatheria. Recent phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial, nuclear, and mixed molecular/morphological data sets support a basal split between didelphimorph opossums and all other marsupials. These analyses also support A...

The approximately 330 living species of marsupials are currently divided into three American (Didelphimorphia, Microbiotheria, and Paucituberculata) and four Australasian (Dasyuromorphia, Diprotodontia, Notoryctemorphia, and Peramelemorphia) orders. Studies of interordinal relationships generally support the monophyly of Australidelphia, which incl...

Dasyurid marsupials show a remarkable diversity of reproductive patterns ranging from aseasonal polyoestry to restricted annual breeding in which males synchronously die after a brief mating season. Previous studies have categorized dasyurid reproduction into six strategies, defined on the basis of five life-history characters. We provide an up-to-...

Among the 19 currently recognized species of Sminthopsis, differences in the morphology of the free portion of the penis can be seen in the tip, which may be bifid, blunt, knoblike, or have a terminal median process, and which may have a subterminal skin fold; and the urethral opening and terminal passage (urethral grooves or urethral chamber). The...

Five species of dasyurid marsupials endemic to New Guinea and herein referred to as Murexia longicaudata, M. rothschildi, M. habbema, M. naso, and M. melanurus have a varied taxonomic history. Until 1984, the latter 3 species had been assigned to the otherwise strictly Australian genus Antechinus, but comparisons of phallic morphology showed that t...

Opinions on the systematic relationships of birds in the avian order Gruiformes have been as diverse as the families included within it. Despite ongoing debate over monophyly of the order and relationships among its various members, recent opinion has converged on the monophyly of a "core" group of five families classified as the suborder Grues: th...

Complete nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b and 12S rRNA genes and partial sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene and the nuclear ɛ-globin gene were obtained from multiple exemplars of the New Guinean dasyurid, Myoictis. Allozyme data were also obtained from most of the same animals. The molecular data show that the genus comprises a nu...

Genetic variation within the Murina species group, which includes S. murina, S. gilberti, S. leucopus, S. dolichura and S. archeri, was examined through analyses of complete 12S rRNA, partial control region mitochondrial DNA sequences and partial omega-globin nuclear DNA sequences. Sminthopsis butleri was found to be an additional member of the Mur...

Doradidae is a putatively monophyletic group of South American freshwater catfishes containing 30 extant genera and 72 valid species. Only one study to date has attempted to estimate phylogenetic relationships among doradids. This morphological analysis partitioned species into two basal genera (Wertheimeria and Francisodoras) and a crown group of...

Previous analyses of DNA sequences for mitochondrial cytochrome-b and 12S rRNA, along with the nuclear protamine P1 genes, suggested that the New Guinean dasyurid genera Phascolosorex and Neophascogale (phascolosoricines) form the sister groups of quolls (Dasyurus) and Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus). This runs counter to a common perception that ph...

Relationships among the seven extant orders of marsupials remain poorly understood. Most classifications recognize a fundamental split between Ameridelphia, which contains the American orders Didelphimorphia and Paucituberculata, and Australidelphia, which contains four Australasian orders (Dasyuromorphia, Diprotodontia, Notoryctemorphia, and Peram...

Molecular phylogenetic studies (albumin microcomplement fixation, DNA hybridisation, and DNA sequence analyses) since 1990 have refined the hypothesis of dasyuromorphian relationships inferred from morphological and allozyme data in 1982. DNA sequences weakly support Thylacinidae and Dasyuridae as sister-families apart from Myrmecobiidae, but this...

Six subspecies of sandhill cranes (Gruscanadensis) have been denoted based onperceived morphological and/or breedinglocality differences among them. Threesubspecies are migratory, breeding from thehigh arctic in North America and Siberia(lesser sandhill, G. c. canadensis),south through central Canada (Canadiansandhill, G. c. rowani) and into thenor...

The complete 12S rRNA gene was sequenced for multiple exemplars of the New Guinean bandicoot genera Microperoryctes and Echymipera representing many of the currently recognized subspecies. These two genera are resolved as monophyletic sister taxa but there was no genetic support for the family Peroryctidae proposed by Groves and Flannery (1990). Wi...

Genetic variation within the macroura species group, which includes Sminthopsis macroura, S. virginiae, S. douglasi, and S. bindi, was examined through analyses of complete mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene sequences, partial control-region DNA sequences, and allozymes. Divergent genetic lineages appear to be present within S. macroura and S. virginiae,...

Recent molecular studies have provided estimates of phylogeny for nearly all living and recently extinct species in the Order Dasyuromorphia, the dominant clade of insectivorous-carnivorous marsupials in Australasia. We review these studies along with morphology-based ones, and present an analysis of all cytochrome b, 12S rRNA, and protamine P1 gen...

Dasyurid marsupials show a remarkable diversity of reproductive patterns ranging from aseasonal polyoestry to restricted annual breeding in which males synchronously die after a brief mating season. Previous studies have categorized dasyurid reproduction into six strategies, defined on the basis of five life-history characters. We provide an up-to-...

Recent molecular studies have provided estimates of phylogeny for nearly all living and recently extinct species in the Order Dasyuromorphia, the dominant clade of insectivorous-carnivorous marsupials in Australasia. We review these studies along with morphology-based ones, and present an analysis of all cytochrome b, 12S rRNA, and protamine P1 gen...

Genetic variation within the genus Planigale was examined through analyses of 12S rRNA gene sequences and allozymes. The level of genetic divergence between the five currently recognised Planigale species was compared and the magnitude of divergence among populations assessed. This examination of molecular variation within the genus revealed that P...

Although modern morphological and molecular analyses support the monophyly of the Australasian marsupial order Dasyuromorphia, there is much less certainty about relationships among its constituent families (Dasyuridae, Myrmecobiidae, and Thylacinidae). While most authors regard Dasyuridae as monophyletic, a few have suggested that thylacines, numb...

12S rRNA sequences resolve the two Australian bandicoot genera Perameles and Isoodon as monophyletic clades which diverged from one another in the middle Miocene. Perameles bougainville, the most divergent species of this genus, appears to have split from the P. gunnii + P. nasuta lineage in the late Miocene, whilst subsequent speciation events occ...

ki ctes over whether molecular sequence data should be partitioned for phylogenetic analysis often confound two types of heterogeneity among partitions. We distinguish historical heterogeneity (i.e., different partitions have different evolutionary relationships) from dynamic heterogeneity (i.e., different partitions show different patterns of sequ...

We report analyses of complete DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (1146 bp), 12S rRNA (974 bp), partial control region (371 bp) loci, and the nuclear protamine P1 (616 bp) gene from all but one species (Sminthopsis butleri) of the dasyurid marsupial tribe Sminthopsini, as well as several outgroups. Parsimony analyses of combined nuclea...

The pig-footed bandicoot, Chaeropus ecaudatus, is presumed to be extinct as no specimens have been collected or seen since early this century. Usually classified as a specialized member of the family Peramelidae, there is nevertheless still some doubt as to its taxonomic affinities, because this animal is highly specialized and shows several unique...

Alternative hypotheses in higher-level marsupial systematics have different implications for marsupial origins, character evolution, and biogeography. Resolving the position of the South American monito del monte (Order Microbiotheria) is of particular importance in that alternate hypotheses posit sister-group relationships between microbiotheres a...

Phylogenetic analysis of complete cytochrome-b, 12S-rRNA, and protamine-Pl gene sequences from 17 of the 18 extant species of Phascogalinae (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) suggests relationships that are strikingly congruent with previous morphological and molecular studies. Australian and New Guinean members of Antechinus comprise separate monophyletic...