Pavel Gol’din

Abstract The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we first generate a de novo genome assembly of the black rat.

Highlights • Miocene marine mammals from the Paratethys Sea often have highly compact bones • Dense bones evolved independently in Paratethyan whales, dolphins, and seals • Bone mass increase may have begun as an adaptation to regional hypersalinity • Paratethyan marine mammals persisted despite being isolated from the world ocean Summary 1 de Buffrénil V. Canoville A. D’Anastasio R.