Budd, G.E. and Mann, R.P. orcid.org/0000-0003-0701-1274 (2023) Two Notorious Nodes: a Critical Examination of Relaxed Molecular Clock Age Estimates of the Bilaterian Animals and Placental Mammals. Systematic Biology. syad057. ISSN 1063-5157
Abstract
The popularity of relaxed clock Bayesian inference of clade origin timings has generated several recent publications with focal results considerably older than the fossils of the clades in question. Here, we critically examine two such clades: the animals (with a focus on the bilaterians) and the mammals (with a focus on the placentals). Each example displays a set of characteristic pathologies which, although much commented on, are rarely corrected for. We conclude that in neither case does the molecular clock analysis provide any evidence for an origin of the clade deeper than what is suggested by the fossil record. In addition, both these clades have other features (including, in the case of the placental mammals, proximity to a large mass extinction) that allow us to generate precise expectations of the timings of their origins. Thus, in these instances, the fossil record can provide a powerful test of molecular clock methodology, and why it goes astray, and we have every reason to think these problems are general.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Systematic Biologists. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
Keywords: | Cambrian explosion; mammalian evolution; molecular clocks. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mathematics (Leeds) > Statistics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Oct 2023 16:13 |
Last Modified: | 31 Oct 2023 16:25 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/sysbio/syad057 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:202977 |