Since the 1980s, a renewed understanding of molecular development has afforded an unprecedented level of knowledge of the mechanisms by which phenotype in animals and plants has evolved. In this volume, top scientists in these fields provide perspectives on how molecular data in biology help to elucidate key questions in estimating paleontological divergence and in understanding the mechanisms behind phenotypic evolution. Paleobiological questions such as genome size, digit homologies, genetic control cascades behind phenotype, estimates of vertebrate divergence dates, and rates of...

An in-depth study of chromosomal variation, which is an important mechanism in speciation, in a single mammalian species (the common shrew) that has more such variation than any other. This book will be of interest to researchers studying speciation as it describes an extraordinary and unique 'model system'.