Fred Ruhe
Well-known member
Neil Brocklehurst and Daniel J. Field, 2024
Tip dating and Bayes factors provide insight into the divergences of crownbird clades across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
Proc. R. Soc. B291: 20232618.https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2618
Abstract: and free pdf: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.2618
The origin of crown birds (Neornithes) remains contentious owing to conflicting divergence time hypotheses obtained from alternative sources of data. The fossil record suggests limited diversification of Neornithes in the Late Mesozoic and a substantial radiation in the aftermath of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) mass extinction, approximately 66 Ma. Molecular clockstudies, however, have yielded estimates for neornithine origins ranging from the Early Cretaceous (130 Ma) to less than 10 Myr before the K–Pg. We use Bayes factors to compare the fit of node ages from different molecular clock studies to an independent morphological dataset. Our results allow us to reject scenarios of crown bird origins deep in the Early Cretaceous, as well asan origin of crown birds within the last 10 Myr of the Cretaceous. The scenario best supported by our analyses is one where Neornithes originated between the Early and Late Cretaceous (ca100 Ma), while numerous divergences within major neoavian clades either span or postdate the K–Pg. This study affirms the importance of the K–Pg on the diversification of modern birds, and the potential of combined-evidence tip-dating analyses to illuminate recalcitrant‘rocks versus clocks’debates.
Enjoy,
Fred
Tip dating and Bayes factors provide insight into the divergences of crownbird clades across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
Proc. R. Soc. B291: 20232618.https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2618
Abstract: and free pdf: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.2618
The origin of crown birds (Neornithes) remains contentious owing to conflicting divergence time hypotheses obtained from alternative sources of data. The fossil record suggests limited diversification of Neornithes in the Late Mesozoic and a substantial radiation in the aftermath of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) mass extinction, approximately 66 Ma. Molecular clockstudies, however, have yielded estimates for neornithine origins ranging from the Early Cretaceous (130 Ma) to less than 10 Myr before the K–Pg. We use Bayes factors to compare the fit of node ages from different molecular clock studies to an independent morphological dataset. Our results allow us to reject scenarios of crown bird origins deep in the Early Cretaceous, as well asan origin of crown birds within the last 10 Myr of the Cretaceous. The scenario best supported by our analyses is one where Neornithes originated between the Early and Late Cretaceous (ca100 Ma), while numerous divergences within major neoavian clades either span or postdate the K–Pg. This study affirms the importance of the K–Pg on the diversification of modern birds, and the potential of combined-evidence tip-dating analyses to illuminate recalcitrant‘rocks versus clocks’debates.
Enjoy,
Fred
