Journal
BIOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 12, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0609
Keywords
birds; dinosaurs; divergence time; phylogeny
Categories
Funding
- BBSRC [BB/K006754/1]
- NSF [EAR-1147537]
- NERC [NE/I005536/1]
- ARC [DE140101879]
- BBSRC [BB/K006754/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- NERC [NE/I005536/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Australian Research Council [DE140101879] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/K006754/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/I005536/1] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Branch lengths-measured in character changes-are an essential requirement of clock-based divergence estimation, regardless of whether the fossil calibrations used represent nodes or tips. However, a separate set of divergence time approaches are typically used to date palaeontological trees, which may lack such branch lengths. Among these methods, sophisticated probabilistic approaches have recently emerged, in contrast with simpler algorithms relying on minimum node ages. Here, using a novel phylogenetic hypothesis for Mesozoic dinosaurs, we apply two such approaches to estimate divergence times for: (i) Dinosauria, (ii) Avialae (the earliest birds) and (iii) Neornithes (crown birds). We find: (i) the plausibility of a Permian origin for dinosaurs to be dependent on whether Nyasasaurus is the oldest dinosaur, (ii) a Middle to Late Jurassic origin of avian flight regardless of whether Archaeopteryx or Aurornis is considered the first bird and (iii) a Late Cretaceous origin for Neornithes that is broadly congruent with other node-and tip-dating estimates. Demonstrating the feasibility of probabilistic time-scaling further opens up divergence estimation to the rich histories of extinct biodiversity in the fossil record, even in the absence of detailed character data.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available