Goswami, Anjali;
Noirault, Eve;
Coombs, Ellen J;
Clavel, Julien;
Fabre, Anne-Claire;
Halliday, Thomas JD;
Churchill, Morgan;
... Felice, Ryan N; + view all
(2022)
Attenuated evolution of mammals through the Cenozoic.
Science
, 378
(6618)
pp. 377-383.
10.1126/science.abm7525.
![[thumbnail of abm7525_final_w_embedded figures.docx]](https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
abm7525_final_w_embedded figures.docx - Accepted Version Download (46MB) |
Abstract
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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Attenuated evolution of mammals through the Cenozoic |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1126/science.abm7525 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm7525 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Animals, Female, Biological Evolution, Eutheria, Fossils, Phylogeny, Rodentia, Skull |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Cell and Developmental Biology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10160301 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
