Sensory systems evolve and enable organisms to perceive their sensory Umwelt, the unique
set of cues relevant for their survival. The multiple components that comprise sensory …

The evolution of novel enzymes has fueled the diversification of life on earth for billions of
years. Insights into events that set the stage for the evolution of a new enzyme can be …

Vampire bats are the only mammals that feed exclusively on blood. To uncover genomic
changes associated with this dietary adaptation, we generated a haplotype-resolved …

Photic niche shifts of mammals are associated with changing visual capabilities, primarily
mediated by three visual pigments, two (SWS1 and M/LWS) of them for color vision and …

The loss of previously adaptive traits is typically linked to relaxation in selection, yet the
molecular steps leading to such repeated losses are rarely known. Molecular studies of loss …

Abstract Changes in behaviour may initiate shifts to new adaptive zones, with physical
adaptations for novel environments evolving later. While new mutations are commonly …

We synthesize ontogenetic work spanning the past century that show evolutionarily lost
structures are rarely entirely absent from earlier developmental stages. We discuss …

Bats are incredibly diverse, both morphologically and taxonomically. Bats are the only
mammalian group to have achieved powered flight, an adaptation that is hypothesized to …

Sensory receptors enable animals to perceive their external world, and functional properties
of receptors evolve to detect the specific cues relevant for an organism's survival. Changes …

The advent of next generation sequencing technologies (NGS) has greatly accelerated our
understanding of critical aspects of organismal biology from non-model organisms. Bats …