Robin M Beck

• Reader in Biology at University of Salford

Ancient tooth enamel, and to some extent dentin and bone, contain characteristic peptides that persist for long periods of time. In particular, peptides from the enamel proteome (enamelome) have been used to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of fossil taxa. However, the enamelome is based on only about 10 genes, whose protein products unde...

The “Diahot Tooth” is an isolated postcanine tooth of a large herbivorous mammal, discovered in the Diahot region of northern New Caledonia in 1875. Most authors have identified it as an upper premolar of a rhinocerotid, but an alternative proposal is that it belongs to a diprotodontoid marsupial that has been named Zygomaturus diahotensis. Either...

Dental topographic metrics (DTMs), which quantify different aspects of the shape of teeth, are powerful tools for studying dietary adaptation and evolution in mammals. Current DTM protocols usually rely on proprietary software, which may be unavailable to researchers for reasons of cost. We address this issue in the context of a DTM analysis of the...

Ancient tooth enamel, and to some extent dentin and bone, contain characteristic peptides that persist for long periods of time. In particular, peptides from the enamel proteome (enamelome) have been used to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of fossil specimens and to estimate divergence times. However, the enamelome is based on only about...

Noncoding DNA is central to our understanding of human gene regulation and complex diseases1,2, and measuring the evolutionary sequence constraint can establish the functional relevance of putative regulatory elements in the human genome3–9. Identifying the genomic elements that have become constrained specifically in primates has been hampered by...

Understanding the drivers of speciation is fundamental in evolutionary biology, and recent studies highlight hybridization as an important evolutionary force. Using whole-genome sequencing data from 22 species of guenons (tribe Cercopithecini), one of the world's largest primate radiations, we show that rampant gene flow characterizes their evoluti...

South American native ungulates (SANUs) comprise a highly diverse, possibly monophyletic assemblage of mammals, with five currently recognized orders (Notoungulata, Litopterna, Astrapotheria, Pyrotheria, and Xenungulata). This group has a long (~65 Ma) evolutionary history but went extinct relatively recently, with the last species surviving until...

Bats are among the most recognizable, numerous, and widespread of all mammals. But much of their fossil record is missing, and bat origins remain poorly understood, as do the relationships of early to modern bats. Here, we describe a new early Eocene bat that helps bridge the gap between archaic stem bats and the hyperdiverse modern bat radiation o...

Diprotodontians are the morphologically and ecologically most diverse order of marsupials. However, an approximately 30-million-year gap in the Australian terrestrial vertebrate fossil record means that the first half of diprotodontian evolution is unknown. Fossil taxa from immediately either side of this gap are therefore critical for reconstructi...

Dental topographic metrics (DTMs), which quantify different aspects of the shape of teeth, are powerful tools for studying dietary adaptation and evolution in mammals. However, comparative samples of scanned mammal teeth suitable for analysis with DTMs remain limited in size and scope, with little or no representation of some major lineages, even w...

Dental topographic metrics (DTMs), which quantify different aspects of the shape of teeth, are powerful tools for studying dietary adaptation and evolution in mammals. However, comparative samples of scanned mammal teeth suitable for analysis with DTMs remain limited in size and scope, with little or no representation of some major lineages, even w...

Understanding the drivers of speciation is fundamental in evolutionary biology, and recent studies highlight hybridization as a potential facilitator of adaptive radiations. Using whole-genome sequencing data from 22 species of guenons (tribe Cercopithecini), one of the world's largest primate radiations, we show that rampant gene flow characterize...

Personalized genome sequencing has revealed millions of genetic differences between individuals, but our understanding of their clinical relevance remains largely incomplete. To systematically decipher the effects of human genetic variants, we obtained whole-genome sequencing data for 809 individuals from 233 primate species and identified 4.3 mill...

The rich diversity of morphology and behavior displayed across primate species provides an informative context in which to study the impact of genomic diversity on fundamental biological processes. Analysis of that diversity provides insight into long-standing questions in evolutionary and conservation biology and is urgent given severe threats the...

Incorporating morphological data into modern phylogenies allows integration of fossil evidence, facilitating divergence dating and macroevolutionary inferences. Improvements in the phylogenetic utility of morphological data have been sought via Procrustes-based geometric morphometrics (GMM), but with mixed success and little clarity over what anato...

Personalized genome sequencing has revealed millions of genetic differences between individuals, but our understanding of their clinical relevance remains largely incomplete. To systematically decipher the effects of human genetic variants, we obtained whole genome sequencing data for 809 individuals from 233 primate species, and identified 4.3 mil...

The rich diversity of morphology and behavior displayed across primate species provides an informative context in which to study the impact of genomic diversity on fundamental biological processes. Analysis of that diversity provides insight into long-standing questions in evolutionary and conservation biology, and is urgent given severe threats th...

Urrayira whitei gen. et sp. nov. is described based on dental remains from middle Pleistocene cave sites at Mount Etna, Queensland. Its higher-level systematic affinities are unclear but it appears to be a dasyuromorphian. It is unusual in having a specialized reduced dentition characterized by reduction of the stylar cusps, protocone and talonid,...

Robin M. D. Beck [r.m.d.beck@salford.ac.uk], School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester M5 4WT, UK. Julien Louys [j.louys@griffith.edu.au], Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. Jacqueline M. T. Nguyen [jacqueline.nguyen@flinders.edu.au], Australian Museum Re...

Phylogenies with estimates of divergence times are essential for investigating many evolutionary questions. In principle, “tip-dating” is arguably the most appropriate approach, with fossil and extant taxa analysed together in a single analysis, and topology and divergence times estimated simultaneously. However, “node-dating” (as used in many mole...

Large-scale molecular datasets have generally outperformed morphological data for inferring phylogeny, and sources of error in the latter are poorly understood. The morphologically and ecologically diverse marsupial order Diprotodontia (kangaroos and their relatives, the koala, wombats and possums) is well suited to considering these issues. Recent...

The diversity and phylogeny of marsupials and their stem relatives (collectively, Metatheria) is reviewed, from their divergence from their sister taxon (Eutheria) and the earliest fossil record of metatherians, to the relationships between and within the seven extant marsupial orders. An up-to-date list of published phylogenetic definitions releva...

Malleodectes? wentworthi, sp. nov. is a highly specialized durophagous marsupial from a Middle Miocene limestone cave deposit in the Riversleigh World Heritage area, northern Australia. It provides the first information regarding the lower dentition of malleodectids, an extinct family of dasyuromorphians. It is also the smallest durophagous member...

There have been multiple published phylogenetic analyses of platyrrhine primates (New World monkeys) using both morphological and molecular data, but relatively few that have integrated both types of data into a total evidence approach. Here, we present phylogenetic analyses of recent and fossil platyrrhines, based on a total evidence data set of 4...

Giant wombats (defined here as ≥70 kg) are found in the genera Phascolonus, Ramsayia and perhaps Sedophascolomys. Ramsayia is currently the most poorly known, having been described from mandibular and cranial fragments. Here, we report the most complete cranial remains attributable to the genus, identified as R. magna. The specimen provides new ins...

A new molecular phylogeny of a remarkable radiation of New Guinean and Australian rodents indicates multiple transitions between biomes and biogeographical regions within the group, and suggests that a key role was played by the geological history of New Guinea.

The current literature on marsupial phylogenetics includes numerous studies based on analyses of morphological data with limited sampling of Recent and fossil taxa, and many studies based on analyses of molecular data with dense sampling of Recent taxa, but few studies have combined both data types. Another dichotomy in the marsupial phylogenetic l...

Mitochondrial DNA remains a cornerstone for molecular ecology, especially for study species from which high‐quality tissue samples cannot be easily obtained. Methods using mitochondrial markers are usually reliant on reference databases, but these are often incomplete. Furthermore, available mitochondrial genomes often lack crucial metadata, such a...

4 Phylogenies with estimates of divergence times are essential for investigating many evolutionary 5 questions. In principle, "tip-dating" is arguably the most appropriate approach, with fossil and 6 extant taxa analyzed together in a single analysis, and topology and divergence times estimated 7 simultaneously. However, "node-dating" (as used in m...

The current literature on marsupial phylogenetics includes numerous studies based on analyses of morphological data with relatively limited sampling of Recent and fossil taxa, and many studies based on analyses of molecular data that include a dense sampling of Recent taxa, but relatively few that combine both data types. Another dichotomy in the m...

The oldest fossils referable to the marsupial order Peramelemorphia (which includes modern bandicoots and bilbies) stratigraphically date from the upper Oligocene of Australia. Here we describe new ancient peramelemorphian remains from the Etadunna, Namba and Wipajiri formations, which fill gaps in the documented evolutionary history of the clade s...

Little is known about how the large brains of mammals are accommodated into the dazzling diversity of their skulls. It has been suggested that brain shape is influenced by relative brain size, that it evolves or develops according to extrinsic or intrinsic mechanical constraints, and that its shape can provide insights into its proportions and func...

The phylogenetic position of Gondwanatheria within Mammaliaformes has historically been controversial. The well-preserved skeleton of Adalatherium hui from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar offers a unique opportunity to address this issue, based on morphological data from the whole skeleton. Gondwanatheria were, until recently, known only from fra...

Little is known about how the large brains of mammals are accommodated into the dazzling diversity of their skulls. It has been suggested that brain shape is influenced by relative brain size, that it evolves or develops according to extrinsic or intrinsic mechanical constraints, and that its shape can provide insights into its proportions and func...

The paleogeographic history of the Indian sub-continent is unique among Earth's landmasses. From being part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana for most of the Mesozoic, through a period of isolation as a drifting entity in the Late Cretaceous, to colliding with Asia near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, the Indian subcontinent has been associate...

“Sparassocynids” are small, carnivorously-adapted marsupials known from the late Miocene and Pliocene of South America, thought to be relatives of living didelphid opossums but of otherwise uncertain phylogenetic relationships. Here, we describe a nearly complete juvenile skull of the “sparassocynid” Sparassocynus derivatus, from the Pliocene (~5–3...

We describe the partial cranium and skeleton of a new diprotodontian marsupial from the late Oligocene (~26–25 Ma) Namba Formation of South Australia. This is one of the oldest Australian marsupial fossils known from an associated skeleton and it reveals previously unsuspected morphological diversity within Vombatiformes, the clade that includes wo...

The estimation of the timing of major divergences in early mammal evolution is challenging owing to conflicting interpretations of key fossil taxa. One contentious group is Haramiyida, the earliest members of which are from the Late Triassic. Many phylogenetic analyses have placed haramiyi-dans in a clade with multituberculates within crown Mammali...

Skeletal growth rates reconstructed from bone histology in extinct insular hippopotamids, elephants, bovids and sauropods have been used to infer dwarfism as a response to island conditions. Limited published records of osteocyte lacunae densities (Ot.Dn), a proxy for living osteocyte proliferation, have suggested a slower rate of bone metabolism i...

South America and Australia are the only major landmasses where the dominant faunivorous mammals for most of the Cenozoic were metatherians (marsupials and their fossil relatives), most notably microbiotherians, paucituberculatans, sparassodonts and didelphimorphians in South America, and peramelemorphians and dasyuromorphians (dasyurids and thylac...

Marsupials and their fossil relatives, which collectively comprise Metatheria, have been of scientific interest for centuries, with many aspects of their evolution and systematics subject to intense research and debate. Here, we review progress over the last 25 years, which has included the description of many new species (modern and fossil), and m...

The incorporation of stratigraphic data into phylogenetic analysis has a long history of debate, but is not currently standard practice for palaeontologists. Bayesian tip-dating (or morphological clock) phylogenetic methods have returned these arguments to the spotlight, but how tip-dating affects the recovery of evolutionary relationships has yet...

Phylogenies of mammals based on morphological data continue to show several major areas of conflict with the current consensus view of their relationships, which is based largely on molecular data. This raises doubts as to whether current morphological character sets are able to accurately resolve mammal relationships. We tested this under a hypoth...

Morphological phylogenies of mammals continue to show major conflicts with the robust molecular consensus view of their relationships. This raises doubts as to whether current morphological character sets are able to accurately resolve mammal relationships, particularly for fossil taxa for which, in most cases, molecular data is unlikely to ever be...

A new genus and species of fossil bat is described from New Zealand's only pre-Pleistocene Cenozoic terrestrial fauna, the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna of Central Otago, South Island. Bayesian total evidence phylogenetic analysis places this new Southern Hemisphere taxon among the burrowing bats (mystacinids) of New Zealand and Australia, althoug...

The skull of the polydolopimorphian marsupialiform Epidolops ameghinoi is described in detail for the first time, based on a single well-preserved cranium and associated left and right dentaries plus additional craniodental fragments, all from the early Eocene (53–50 million year old) Itaboraí fauna in southeastern Brazil. Notable craniodental feat...

Background The order Dasyuromorphia is a diverse radiation of faunivorous marsupials, comprising >80 modern species in Australia and New Guinea. It includes dasyurids, the numbat (the myrmecobiid Myrmecobius fasciatus) and the recently extinct thylacine (the thylacinid Thylacinus cyncocephalus). There is also a diverse fossil record of dasyuromorph...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181712.].

We describe a near-complete, three-dimensionally preserved skeleton of a metatherian (relative of modern marsupials) from the middle Eocene (Lutetian: 44–43 million years ago) Lülük member of the Uzunçarşıdere Formation, central Turkey. With an estimated body mass of 3–4 kg, about the size of a domestic cat (Felis catus) or spotted quoll (Dasyurus...

Comparative material of modern and fossil metatherians examined in this study. (DOCX)

Assumed age ranges (in MYA) for fossil taxa included in phylogenetic analysis. (DOCX)

Total evidence (morphological and molecular) character matrix for analysing phylogenetic relationships of metatherians using Bayesian undated and “tip-and-node dating” approaches. (NEX)

Morphological character scores of Anatoliadelphys and Didelphodon for phylogenetic analysis. (DOCX)

Morphological synapomorphies for all clades present in our undated and dated analyses, under both Accelerated Transformation (ACCTRAN) and Delayed Transformation (DELTRAN). (TXT)

Scientific Reports 6 : Article number: 26911 10.1038/srep26911 ; published online: 27 May 2016 ; updated: 07 September 2016 The original version of this Article contained the genus and species name of an unpublished taxon ‘Whollydooleya tomnpatrichorum’.

Whollydooleya tomnpatrichorum gen. et sp. nov. is a new, highly specialised hypercarnivorous dasyuromorphian from a new mid-Cenozoic limestone deposit southwest of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northwestern Queensland. Dental dimensions suggest it may have weighed at least twice as much as the living Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)....

The leaf-nosed bats in Hipposideridae and Rhinonycteridae currently have an Old World tropical to subtropical distribution, with a fossil record extending back to the middle Eocene of Europe. The Riversleigh World Heritage fossil site in northwestern Queensland constitutes a particularly rich archive of faunal diversity for Old World leaf-nosed bat...

A new specimen of the bizarrely specialised Malleodectes mirabilis from middle Miocene deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area provides the first and only information about the molar dentition of this strange group of extinct marsupials. Apart from striking autapomorphies such as the enormous P3, other dental features such as stylar cusp D...

I present a comprehensive overview of our current understanding of the phylogeny of Metatheria, focusing on recent studies that have presented algorithmic analyses of character matrices. I discuss the position of Metatheria within Mammalia, relationships among the various fossil metatherian groups currently known, and relationships within the metat...

Pian, R., Archer, M., Hand, S.J., Beck, R.M.D. and Cody, A. 2016. The upper dentition and relationships of the enigmatic Australian Cretaceous mammal Kollikodon ritchiei. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 74: 97–105. Mesozoic mammals from Australia are rare, so far only known from the Early Cretaceous, and most are poorly represented in terms of dentition...

Beck, R.M.D., Warburton, N.M., Archer, M., Hand, S.J. and Aplin, K.P. 2016. Going underground: postcranial morphology of the early Miocene marsupial mole Naraboryctes philcreaseri and the evolution of fossoriality in notoryctemorphians. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 74: 151–171. We present the first detailed descriptions of postcranial elements of the...

This chapter provides an evolutionary context to comparative research on monotremes and marsupials. It explains the evolutionary origins of the three mammalian clades in the mammalian (and pre-mammalian) from the ancient lineage of synapsids, summarizes their most obvious biological differences, and briefly the difference between the terms “Monotre...

There is increasing evidence that early mammals evolved rapidly into a range of body forms and habitats, right under the noses of the dinosaurs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lineage zones within nine contemporaneous mammalian lineages represented in the Cenozoic fossil vertebrate record from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northern Australia are used to resolve a series of faunal intervals from the Late Oligocene to Late Miocene. The results agree with previous interpretations of Cenozoic biostratigraphy, provid...

Analyses of a comprehensive morphological character matrix of mammals using 'relaxed' clock models (which simultaneously estimate topology, divergence dates and evolutionary rates), either alone or in combination with an 8.5 kb nuclear sequence dataset, retrieve implausibly ancient, Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous estimates for the initial diversifi...

Three new species of the macropodoid genus Hypsiprymnodon are described from early to middle Miocene fossil deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. A phylogenetic analysis of macropodoid relationships that includes these new taxa is presented. Monophyly of Macropodinae + Sthenurinae is recovered, as is a clade comp...