Attenuated evolution of mammals through the Cenozoic.

Goswami, Anjali; Noirault, Eve; Coombs, Ellen J; Clavel, Julien; Fabre, Anne-Claire Odile; Halliday, Thomas J D; Churchill, Morgan; Curtis, Abigail; Watanabe, Akinobu; Simmons, Nancy B; Beatty, Brian L; Geisler, Jonathan H; Fox, David L; Felice, Ryan N (2022). Attenuated evolution of mammals through the Cenozoic. Science, 378(6618), pp. 377-383. American Association for the Advancement of Science 10.1126/science.abm7525

Text science.abm7525.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (2MB) | Request a copy

The Cenozoic diversification of placental mammals is the archetypal adaptive radiation. Yet, discrepancies between molecular divergence estimates and the fossil record fuel ongoing debate around the timing, tempo, and drivers of this radiation. Analysis of a three-dimensional skull dataset for living and extinct placental mammals demonstrates that evolutionary rates peak early and attenuate quickly. This long-term decline in tempo is punctuated by bursts of innovation that decreased in amplitude over the past 66 million years. Social, precocial, aquatic, and herbivorous species evolve fastest, especially whales, elephants, sirenians, and extinct ungulates. Slow rates in rodents and bats indicate dissociation of taxonomic and morphological diversification. Frustratingly, highly similar ancestral shape estimates for placental mammal superorders suggest that their earliest representatives may continue to elude unequivocal identification.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

1 since deposited on 28 Oct 2022
1 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item