Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2025

A Bioinformatics Pipeline for Investigating Molecular Evolution and Gene Expression using RNA-seq
Published on: May 28, 2021
The largest hoplophonine and a complex new hypothesis of nimravid evolution
1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA. pbarrett@uoregon.edu.
Abstract:
Nimravids were the first carnivorans to evolve saberteeth, but previously portrayed as having a narrow evolutionary trajectory of increasing degrees of sabertooth specialization. Here I present a novel hypothesis about the evolution of this group, including a description of Eusmilus adelos, the largest known hoplophonine, which forces a re-evaluation of not only their relationships, but perceived paleoecology. Using a tip-dated Bayesian analysis with sophisticated evolutionary models, nimravids can now be viewed as following two paths of evolution: one led to numerous early dirk-tooth forms, including E. adelos, while the other converged on living feline morphology, tens of millions of years before its appearance in felids.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Convergent Evolution
Eukaryotic Evolution
Contrary to the endosymbiont theory, the eukaryote-first hypothesis proposes that the simpler prokaryotic and...
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
Viral Mutations
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon...
Bacterial RNA Polymerase
In most genes, the transcription site is a single base present upstream of the coding sequence. Though RNAP is a catalytically efficient enzyme, it does not recognize...

