The evolution of gestation length in eutherian mammals.

Abstract

Eutherian mammals exhibit considerable variation in their gestation lengths, which has traditionally been linked to variation in other traits, including body mass and lifespan. To understand how gestation length variation, including its association with body mass and lifespan variation, changed over mammalian evolution, we conducted phylogeny-informed analyses of 845 representative extant species. We found that gestation length substantially differed in both whether and how strongly it was associated with body mass and lifespan across mammals. For example, gestation length was not associated with lifespan or body mass in Chiroptera and Cetacea but was strongly associated only with body mass in Carnivora. We also identified 52 evolutionary shifts in gestation length variation across the mammal phylogeny and 14 shifts when we jointly considered variation of all three traits; six shifts were shared. Notably, two of these shifts, both positive, occurred at the roots of Cetacea and Pinnipedia, respectively, coinciding with the transition of these clades to the marine environment, whereas a negative shift occurred at the root of Chiroptera, coinciding with the evolution of flight in this clade. These results suggest that the relationship between gestation length and the two other traits has varied substantially across mammalian phylogeny.