Divergent evolution occurs when related populations become increasingly different from each other as they adapt to different environments. This can sometimes lead to the formation of new species.

This finding is significant as it suggests similar evolutionary dynamics shaped the development of ant-plant mutualisms across these two divergent lineages, separated by more than 400 million years.

It seems likely that these rapid bursts of evolution are linked to, for example, species arriving on a new island or exploring a new lifestyle such as becoming nocturnal.

These wildly divergent skinks are giving biologists the chance to study the very basics of evolution. They have all evolved within the last 20 million years, allowing researchers to track how the ...