1
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Wilson JD, Huang EJ, Lyson TR, Bever GS. Freshwater fish and the Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundary: a critical assessment of survivorship patterns. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20241025. [PMID: 39196282 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.1025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2024] [Revised: 07/09/2024] [Accepted: 07/25/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Mass extinctions are major influences on both the phylogenetic structure of the modern biota and our ability to reconstruct broad-based patterns of evolutionary history. The most recent mass extinction is also the most famous-that which implicates a bolide impact in defining the Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundary (K/Pg). Although the biotic effects of this event receive intensive scrutiny, certain ecologically important and diverse groups remain woefully understudied. One such group is the freshwater ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii). These fish represent 25% of modern vertebrate diversity, yet the isolated and fragmentary nature of their K/Pg fossil record limits our understanding of their diversity dynamics across this event. Here, we address this problem using diversification analysis of molecular-based phylogenies alongside a morphotype analysis of fossils recovered from a unique site in the Denver Basin of western North America that provides unprecedented K/Pg resolution. Our results reveal previously unrecognized signals of post-K/Pg diversification in freshwater clades and suggest that the change was driven by localized and sporadic patterns of extinction. Supported inferences regarding the effects of the K/Pg event on freshwater fish also inform our expectations of how freshwater faunas might recover from the current biodiversity crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob D Wilson
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 Monument Street , Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - E J Huang
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 Monument Street , Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Tyler R Lyson
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard , Denver, CO 80205, USA
| | - Gabriel S Bever
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 Monument Street , Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard , Denver, CO 80205, USA
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
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2
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Pereira AG, Antonelli A, Silvestro D, Faurby S. Two Major Extinction Events in the Evolutionary History of Turtles: One Caused by an Asteroid, the Other by Hominins. Am Nat 2024; 203:644-654. [PMID: 38781523 DOI: 10.1086/729604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
AbstractWe live in a time of accelerated biological extinctions that has the potential to mirror past mass extinction events. However, the rarity of mass extinctions and the restructuring of diversity they cause complicate direct comparisons between the current extinction crisis and earlier events. Among animals, turtles (Testudinata) are one of few groups that have both a rich fossil record and sufficiently stable ecological and functional roles to enable meaningful comparisons between the end-Cretaceous mass extinction (∼66 Ma) and the ongoing wave of extinctions. Here we analyze the fossil record of the entire turtle clade and identify two peaks in extinction rates over their evolutionary history. The first coincides with the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition, reflecting patterns previously reported for other taxa. The second major extinction event started in the Pliocene and continues until now. This peak is detectable only for terrestrial turtles and started much earlier in Africa and Eurasia than elsewhere. On the basis of the timing, geography, and functional group of this extinction event, we postulate a link to co-occurring hominins rather than climate change as the cause. These results lend further support to the view that negative biodiversity impacts were already incurred by our ancestors and related lineages and demonstrate the severity of this continued impact through human activities.
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3
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Wilenzik IV, Barger BB, Pyron RA. Fossil-informed biogeographic analysis suggests Eurasian regionalization in crown Squamata during the early Jurassic. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17277. [PMID: 38708352 PMCID: PMC11067913 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Squamata (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) is a Triassic lineage with an extensive and complex biogeographic history, yet no large-scale study has reconstructed the ancestral range of early squamate lineages. The fossil record indicates a broadly Pangaean distribution by the end- Cretaceous, though many lineages (e.g., Paramacellodidae, Mosasauria, Polyglyphanodontia) subsequently went extinct. Thus, the origin and occupancy of extant radiations is unclear and may have been localized within Pangaea to specific plates, with potential regionalization to distinct Laurasian and Gondwanan landmasses during the Mesozoic in some groups. Methods We used recent tectonic models to code extant and fossil squamate distributions occurring on nine discrete plates for 9,755 species, with Jurassic and Cretaceous fossil constraints from three extinct lineages. We modeled ancestral ranges for crown Squamata from an extant-only molecular phylogeny using a suite of biogeographic models accommodating different evolutionary processes and fossil-based node constraints from known Jurassic and Cretaceous localities. We hypothesized that the best-fit models would not support a full Pangaean distribution (i.e., including all areas) for the origin of crown Squamata, but would instead show regionalization to specific areas within the fragmenting supercontinent, likely in the Northern Hemisphere where most early squamate fossils have been found. Results Incorporating fossil data reconstructs a localized origin within Pangaea, with early regionalization of extant lineages to Eurasia and Laurasia, while Gondwanan regionalization did not occur until the middle Cretaceous for Alethinophidia, Scolecophidia, and some crown Gekkotan lineages. While the Mesozoic history of extant squamate biogeography can be summarized as a Eurasian origin with dispersal out of Laurasia into Gondwana, their Cenozoic history is complex with multiple events (including secondary and tertiary recolonizations) in several directions. As noted by previous authors, squamates have likely utilized over-land range expansion, land-bridge colonization, and trans-oceanic dispersal. Tropical Gondwana and Eurasia hold more ancient lineages than the Holarctic (Rhineuridae being a major exception), and some asymmetries in colonization (e.g., to North America from Eurasia during the Cenozoic through Beringia) deserve additional study. Future studies that incorporate fossil branches, rather than as node constraints, into the reconstruction can be used to explore this history further.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian V. Wilenzik
- Department of Biology, George Washington University, Washington D.C., United States of America
| | - Benjamin B. Barger
- Department of Biology, George Washington University, Washington D.C., United States of America
| | - R. Alexander Pyron
- Department of Biology, George Washington University, Washington D.C., United States of America
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4
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Scarpetta SG. A Palaeogene stem crotaphytid ( Aciprion formosum) and the phylogenetic affinities of early fossil pleurodontan iguanians. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:221139. [PMID: 38204790 PMCID: PMC10776235 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Pleurodonta is an ancient, diverse clade of iguanian lizard distributed primarily in the Western Hemisphere. Although the clade is a frequent subject of systematic research, phylogenetic resolution among the major pleurodontan clades is elusive. That uncertainty has complicated the interpretations of many fossil pleurodontans. I describe a fossil skull of a pleurodontan lizard from the Palaeogene of Wyoming that was previously allocated to the puzzling taxon Aciprion formosum, and provide an updated morphological matrix for iguanian lizards. Phylogenetic analyses using Bayesian inference demonstrate that the fossil skull is the oldest and first definitive stem member of Crotaphytidae (collared and leopard lizards), establishing the presence of that clade in North America during the Palaeogene. I also discuss new or revised hypotheses for the relationships of several early pleurodontans. In particular, I examine potential evidence for crown-Pleurodonta in the Cretaceous of Mongolia (Polrussia), stem Pleurodonta in the Cretaceous of North America (Magnuviator) and a stem anole in the Eocene of North America (Afairiguana). I suggest that the placement of the fossil crotaphytid is stable to the uncertain phylogeny of Pleurodonta, but recognize the dynamic nature of fossil diagnosis and the potential for updated systematic hypotheses for the other fossils analysed here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon G. Scarpetta
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California Berkeley, 3101 UC Berkeley Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Environmental Science, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
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5
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Meyer D, Brownstein CD, Jenkins KM, Gauthier JA. A Morrison stem gekkotan reveals gecko evolution and Jurassic biogeography. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20232284. [PMID: 38018104 PMCID: PMC10685121 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Geckos are a speciose and globally distributed clade of Squamata (lizards, including snakes and amphisbaenians) that are characterized by a host of modifications for nocturnal, scansorial and insectivorous ecologies. They are among the oldest divergences in the lizard crown, so understanding the origin of geckoes (Gekkota) is essential to understanding the origin of Squamata, the most species-rich extant tetrapod clade. However, the poor fossil record of gekkotans has obscured the sequence and timing of the assembly of their distinctive morphology. Here, we describe the first North American stem gekkotan based on a three-dimensionally preserved skull from the Morrison Formation of western North America. Despite its Late Jurassic age, the new species already possesses several key characteristics of the gekkotan skull along with retained ancestral features. We show that this new stem gekkotan, and several previously named species of uncertain phylogenetic relationships, comprise a widespread clade of early crown lizards, substantiating faunal homogeneity in Laurasia during the Late Jurassic that extended across disparate ecological, body-size and physiological classes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dalton Meyer
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06506520-8109, USA
| | - Chase D. Brownstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8106, USA
- Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, CT 06903, USA
| | - Kelsey M. Jenkins
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06506520-8109, USA
- Yale Peabody Museum, New Haven, CT 06520-8118, USA
| | - Jacques A. Gauthier
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06506520-8109, USA
- Yale Peabody Museum, New Haven, CT 06520-8118, USA
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6
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Ali JR, Hedges SB. The colonisation of Madagascar by land-bound vertebrates. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1583-1606. [PMID: 37142264 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Despite discussions extending back almost 160 years, the means by which Madagascar's iconic land vertebrates arrived on the island remains the focus of active debate. Three options have been considered: vicariance, range expansion across land bridges, and dispersal over water. The first assumes that a group (clade/lineage) occupied the island when it was connected with the other Gondwana landmasses in the Mesozoic. Causeways to Africa do not exist today, but have been proposed by some researchers for various times in the Cenozoic. Over-water dispersal could be from rafting on floating vegetation (flotsam) or by swimming/drifting. A recent appraisal of the geological data supported the idea of vicariance, but found nothing to justify the notion of past causeways. Here we review the biological evidence for the mechanisms that explain the origins of 28 of Madagascar's land vertebrate clades [two other lineages (the geckos Geckolepis and Paragehyra) could not be included in the analysis due to phylogenetic uncertainties]. The podocnemid turtles and typhlopoid snakes are conspicuous for they appear to have arisen through a deep-time vicariance event. The two options for the remaining 26 (16 reptile, five land-bound-mammal, and five amphibian), which arrived between the latest Cretaceous and the present, are dispersal across land bridges or over water. As these would produce very different temporal influx patterns, we assembled and analysed published arrival times for each of the groups. For all, a 'colonisation interval' was generated that was bracketed by its 'stem-old' and 'crown-young' tree-node ages; in two instances, the ranges were refined using palaeontological data. The synthesis of these intervals for all clades, which we term a colonisation profile, has a distinctive shape that can be compared, statistically, to various models, including those that assume the arrivals were focused in time. The analysis leads us to reject the various land bridge models (which would show temporal concentrations) and instead supports the idea of dispersal over water (temporally random). Therefore, the biological evidence is now in agreement with the geological evidence, as well as the filtered taxonomic composition of the fauna, in supporting over-water dispersal as the mechanism that explains all but two of Madagascar's land-vertebrate groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason R Ali
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
| | - S Blair Hedges
- Center for Biodiversity, Temple University, 1925 N 12th Street, Suite 502, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA
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7
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Thompson JB, Ramírez-Barahona S. No phylogenetic evidence for angiosperm mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230314. [PMID: 37700701 PMCID: PMC10498348 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction event (K-Pg) witnessed upwards of 75% of animal species going extinct, most notably among these are the non-avian dinosaurs. A major question in macroevolution is whether this extinction event influenced the rise of flowering plants (angiosperms). The fossil record suggests that the K-Pg event had a strong regional impact on angiosperms with up to 75% species extinctions, but only had a minor impact on the extinction rates of major lineages (families and orders). Phylogenetic evidence for angiosperm extinction dynamics through time remains unexplored. By analysing two angiosperm mega-phylogenies containing approximately 32 000-73 000 extant species, here we show relatively constant extinction rates throughout geological time and no evidence for a mass extinction at the K-Pg boundary. Despite high species-level extinction observed in the fossil record, our results support the macroevolutionary resilience of angiosperms to the K-Pg mass extinction event via survival of higher lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie B. Thompson
- The Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Life Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, UK
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8
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Fronhofer EA, Corenblit D, Deshpande JN, Govaert L, Huneman P, Viard F, Jarne P, Puijalon S. Eco-evolution from deep time to contemporary dynamics: The role of timescales and rate modulators. Ecol Lett 2023; 26 Suppl 1:S91-S108. [PMID: 37840024 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Eco-evolutionary dynamics, or eco-evolution for short, are often thought to involve rapid demography (ecology) and equally rapid heritable phenotypic changes (evolution) leading to novel, emergent system behaviours. We argue that this focus on contemporary dynamics is too narrow: Eco-evolution should be extended, first, beyond pure demography to include all environmental dimensions and, second, to include slow eco-evolution which unfolds over thousands or millions of years. This extension allows us to conceptualise biological systems as occupying a two-dimensional time space along axes that capture the speed of ecology and evolution. Using Hutchinson's analogy: Time is the 'theatre' in which ecology and evolution are two interacting 'players'. Eco-evolutionary systems are therefore dynamic: We identify modulators of ecological and evolutionary rates, like temperature or sensitivity to mutation, which can change the speed of ecology and evolution, and hence impact eco-evolution. Environmental change may synchronise the speed of ecology and evolution via these rate modulators, increasing the occurrence of eco-evolution and emergent system behaviours. This represents substantial challenges for prediction, especially in the context of global change. Our perspective attempts to integrate ecology and evolution across disciplines, from gene-regulatory networks to geomorphology and across timescales, from today to deep time.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dov Corenblit
- GEOLAB, Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Laboratoire écologie fonctionnelle et environnement, Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | | | - Lynn Govaert
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Philippe Huneman
- Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques (CNRS/Université Paris I Sorbonne), Paris, France
| | - Frédérique Viard
- ISEM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Montpellier, France
| | - Philippe Jarne
- CEFE, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - IRD - EPHE, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Sara Puijalon
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, Villeurbanne, France
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9
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Yu Y, Zhang C, Xu X. Complex macroevolution of pterosaurs. Curr Biol 2023; 33:770-779.e4. [PMID: 36787747 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 11/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
Pterosaurs, the earliest flying tetrapods, are the subject of some recent quantitative macroevolutionary analyses from different perspectives.1-2 Here, we use an integrative approach involving newly assembled phylogenetic and body size datasets, net diversification rates, morphological rates, and morphological disparity to gain a holistic understanding of the pterosaur macroevolution. The first two parameters are important in quantitative analyses of macroevolution, but they have been rarely used in previous pterosaur studies.1,3,4,2,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 Our study reveals an ∼115-Ma period-from Early Triassic to Early Cretaceous-of multi-wave increasing net diversification rates and disparity, as well as high morphological rates, followed by an ∼65-Ma period-from Early Cretaceous to the end of the Cretaceous-of mostly negative net diversification rates, decreasing disparity, and relatively low morphological rates in pterosaur evolution. Our study demonstrates the following: (1) body size plays an important role in pterosaur lineage diversification during nearly their whole evolutionary history, and the evolution of locomotion, trophic, and ornamental structures also plays a role in different periods; (2) birds, the other major flying tetrapod group at the time, might have affected pterosaur macroevolution for ∼100 Ma; and (3) different mass extinction events might have affected pterosaur evolution differently. Particularly, the revealed decline in pterosaur biodiversity during the Middle and Late Cretaceous periods provides further support for the possible presence of a biodiversity decline of large-sized terrestrial amniotes starting in the mid-Cretaceous,13,14 which may have been caused by multiple factors including a global land area decrease during these periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yilun Yu
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Chi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China.
| | - Xing Xu
- Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology, Yunnan University, Kunming, China; Shenyang Normal University, Paleontological Museum of Liaoning, Shenyang, China.
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10
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García-Girón J, Chiarenza AA, Alahuhta J, DeMar DG, Heino J, Mannion PD, Williamson TE, Wilson Mantilla GP, Brusatte SL. Shifts in food webs and niche stability shaped survivorship and extinction at the end-Cretaceous. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eadd5040. [PMID: 36475805 PMCID: PMC9728968 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add5040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
It has long been debated why groups such as non-avian dinosaurs became extinct whereas mammals and other lineages survived the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago. We used Markov networks, ecological niche partitioning, and Earth System models to reconstruct North American food webs and simulate ecospace occupancy before and after the extinction event. We find a shift in latest Cretaceous dinosaur faunas, as medium-sized species counterbalanced a loss of megaherbivores, but dinosaur niches were otherwise stable and static, potentially contributing to their demise. Smaller vertebrates, including mammals, followed a consistent trajectory of increasing trophic impact and relaxation of niche limits beginning in the latest Cretaceous and continuing after the mass extinction. Mammals did not simply proliferate after the extinction event; rather, their earlier ecological diversification might have helped them survive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge García-Girón
- Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
- Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, University of León, Campus de Vegazana, 24007 León, Spain
| | - Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza
- Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Grupo de Ecología Animal, Centro de Investigacion Mariña, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
| | - Janne Alahuhta
- Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
| | - David G. DeMar
- Department of Biology, University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA
| | - Jani Heino
- Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland
| | - Philip D. Mannion
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT London, UK
| | | | - Gregory P. Wilson Mantilla
- Department of Biology, University of Washington and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Stephen L. Brusatte
- School of GeoSciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, James Hutton Road, EH9 3FE Edinburgh, UK
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11
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Brownstein CD, Meyer DL, Fabbri M, Bhullar BAS, Gauthier JA. Evolutionary origins of the prolonged extant squamate radiation. Nat Commun 2022; 13:7087. [PMID: 36446761 PMCID: PMC9708687 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34217-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Squamata is the most diverse clade of terrestrial vertebrates. Although the origin of pan-squamates lies in the Triassic, the oldest undisputed members of extant clades known from nearly complete, uncrushed material come from the Cretaceous. Here, we describe three-dimensionally preserved partial skulls of two new crown lizards from the Late Jurassic of North America. Both species are placed at the base of the skink, girdled, and night lizard clade Pan-Scincoidea, which consistently occupies a position deep inside the squamate crown in both morphological and molecular phylogenies. The new lizards show that several features uniting pan-scincoids with another major lizard clade, the pan-lacertoids, in trees using morphology were convergently acquired as predicted by molecular analyses. Further, the palate of one new lizard bears a handful of ancestral saurian characteristics lost in nearly all extant squamates, revealing an underappreciated degree of complex morphological evolution in the early squamate crown. We find strong evidence for close relationships between the two new species and Cretaceous taxa from Eurasia. Together, these results suggest that early crown squamates had a wide geographic distribution and experienced complicated morphological evolution even while the Rhynchocephalia, now solely represented by the tuatara, was the dominant clade of lepidosaurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chase D. Brownstein
- grid.47100.320000000419368710Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA ,Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, CT USA
| | - Dalton L. Meyer
- grid.47100.320000000419368710Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA
| | - Matteo Fabbri
- grid.47100.320000000419368710Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA ,grid.299784.90000 0001 0476 8496Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL USA
| | - Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar
- grid.47100.320000000419368710Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA ,grid.47100.320000000419368710Yale Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA
| | - Jacques A. Gauthier
- grid.47100.320000000419368710Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA ,grid.47100.320000000419368710Yale Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA
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12
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Prolonged morphological expansion of spiny-rayed fishes following the end-Cretaceous. Nat Ecol Evol 2022; 6:1211-1220. [PMID: 35835827 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01801-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Spiny-rayed fishes (Acanthomorpha) dominate modern marine habitats and account for more than a quarter of all living vertebrate species. Previous time-calibrated phylogenies and patterns from the fossil record explain this dominance by correlating the origin of major acanthomorph lineages with the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction. Here we infer a time-calibrated phylogeny using ultraconserved elements that samples 91.4% of all acanthomorph families and investigate patterns of body shape disparity. Our results show that acanthomorph lineages steadily accumulated throughout the Cenozoic and underwent a significant expansion of among-clade morphological disparity several million years after the end-Cretaceous. These acanthomorph lineages radiated into and diversified within distinct regions of morphospace that characterize iconic lineages, including fast-swimming open-ocean predators, laterally compressed reef fishes, bottom-dwelling flatfishes, seahorses and pufferfishes. The evolutionary success of spiny-rayed fishes is the culmination of multiple species-rich and phenotypically disparate lineages independently diversifying across the globe under a wide range of ecological conditions.
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13
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Internet of Spacecraft for Multi-Planetary Defense and Prosperity. SIGNALS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/signals3030026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent years have seen unprecedentedly fast-growing prosperity in the commercial space industry. Several privately funded aerospace manufacturers, such as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) and Blue Origin have transformed what we used to know about this capital-intense industry and gradually reshaped the future of human civilization. As private spaceflight and multi-planetary immigration gradually become realities from science fiction (sci-fi) and theory, both opportunities and challenges will be presented. In this article, we first review the progress in space exploration and the underlying space technologies. Next, we revisit the K-Pg extinction event and the Chelyabinsk event and predict extra-terrestrialization, terraformation, and planetary defense, including the emerging near-Earth object (NEO) observation and NEO impact avoidance technologies and strategies. Furthermore, a framework for the Solar Communication and Defense Networks (SCADN) with advanced algorithms and high efficacy is proposed to enable an Internet of distributed deep-space sensing, communications, and defense to cope with disastrous incidents such as asteroid/comet impacts. Furthermore, perspectives on the legislation, management, and supervision of founding the proposed SCADN are also discussed in depth.
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14
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Slavenko A, Dror L, Camaiti M, Farquhar JE, Shea GM, Chapple DG, Meiri S. Evolution of diel activity patterns in skinks (Squamata: Scincidae), the world's second-largest family of terrestrial vertebrates. Evolution 2022; 76:1195-1208. [PMID: 35355258 PMCID: PMC9322454 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2021] [Revised: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Many animals have strict diel activity patterns, with unique adaptations for either diurnal or nocturnal activity. Diel activity is phylogenetically conserved, yet evolutionary shifts in diel activity occur and lead to important changes in an organism's morphology, physiology, and behavior. We use phylogenetic comparative methods to examine the evolutionary history of diel activity in skinks, one of the largest families of terrestrial vertebrates. We examine how diel patterns are associated with microhabitat, ambient temperatures, and morphology. We found support for a nondiurnal ancestral skink. Strict diurnality in crown group skinks only evolved during the Paleogene. Nocturnal habits are associated with fossorial activity, limb reduction and loss, and warm temperatures. Our results shed light on the evolution of diel activity patterns in a large radiation of terrestrial ectotherms and reveal how both intrinsic biotic and extrinsic abiotic factors can shape the evolution of animal activity patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Slavenko
- School of BiosciencesUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldSouth YorkshireUnited Kingdom
| | - Liat Dror
- School of ZoologyTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
| | - Marco Camaiti
- School of Biological SciencesMonash UniversityClaytonVictoriaAustralia
| | - Jules E. Farquhar
- School of Biological SciencesMonash UniversityClaytonVictoriaAustralia
| | - Glenn M. Shea
- Sydney School of Veterinary Science B01University of SydneyNew South WalesAustralia,Australian Museum Research InstituteThe Australian MuseumSydneyNew South WalesAustralia
| | - David G. Chapple
- School of Biological SciencesMonash UniversityClaytonVictoriaAustralia
| | - Shai Meiri
- School of ZoologyTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael,The Steinhardt Museum of Natural HistoryTel AvivIsrael
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15
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Bolet A, Stubbs TL, Herrera-Flores JA, Benton MJ. The Jurassic rise of squamates as supported by lepidosaur disparity and evolutionary rates. eLife 2022; 11:e66511. [PMID: 35502582 PMCID: PMC9064307 DOI: 10.7554/elife.66511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The squamates (lizards, snakes, and relatives) today comprise more than 10,000 species, and yet their sister group, the Rhynchocephalia, is represented by a single species today, the tuatara. The explosion in squamate diversity has been tracked back to the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution, 100 million years ago (Ma), the time when flowering plants began their takeover of terrestrial ecosystems, associated with diversification of coevolving insects and insect-eating predators such as lizards, birds, and mammals. Squamates arose much earlier, but their long pre-Cretaceous history of some 150 million years (Myr) is documented by sparse fossils. Here, we provide evidence for an initial radiation of squamate morphology in the Middle and Late Jurassic (174-145 Ma), and show that they established their key ecological roles much earlier than had been assumed, and they have not changed them much since.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnau Bolet
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaCerdanyola del VallèsSpain
- School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolBristolUnited Kingdom
| | - Thomas L Stubbs
- School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolBristolUnited Kingdom
| | | | - Michael J Benton
- School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolBristolUnited Kingdom
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16
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Smith KT, Bhullar BAS, Bloch JI. New Diminutive Eocene Lizard Reveals High K-Pg Survivorship and Taxonomic Diversity of Stem Xenosaurs in North America. AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES 2022. [DOI: 10.1206/3986.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Krister T. Smith
- Department of Messel Research and Mammalogy, Senckenberg Research Institute, and Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute for Ecology, Diversity and Evolution, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; and Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York
| | - Jonathan I. Bloch
- Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
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17
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Čerňanský A, Stanley EL, Daza JD, Bolet A, Arias JS, Bauer AM, Vidal-García M, Bevitt JJ, Peretti AM, Aung NN, Evans SE. A new Early Cretaceous lizard in Myanmar amber with exceptionally preserved integument. Sci Rep 2022; 12:1660. [PMID: 35102237 PMCID: PMC8803969 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05735-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
We here report on a well-preserved juvenile lizard specimen in Albian amber (ca. 110 mya) from the Hkamti site (Myanmar). This new taxon is represented by an articulated skull and the anterior portion of the trunk, including the pectoral girdle and forelimbs. The scleral ossicles and eyelid are also visible, and the specimen exhibits pristine detail of the integument (of both head and body). In a combined molecular and morphological analysis, it was consistently recovered as a scincoid lizard (Scinciformata), as sister to Tepexisaurus + Xantusiidae. However, the phylogenetic position of the new taxon should be interpreted with caution as the holotype is an immature individual. We explored the possibility of miscoding ontogenetically variable characters by running alternative analyses in which these characters were scored as missing data for our taxon. With the exception of one tree, in which it was sister to Amphisbaenia, the specimen was recovered as a Pan-xantusiid. Moreover, we cannot rule out the possibility that it represents a separate lineage of uncertain phylogenetic position, as it is the case for many Jurassic and Cretaceous taxa. Nonetheless, this fossil offers a rare opportunity to glimpse the external appearance of one group of lizards during the Early Cretaceous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrej Čerňanský
- Department of Ecology, Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská dolina, 84215, Bratislava, Slovakia.
| | - Edward L Stanley
- Department of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Juan D Daza
- Department of Biological Sciences, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA
| | - Arnau Bolet
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - J Salvador Arias
- Unidad Ejecutora Lillo (CONICET, Fundación Miguel Lillo), San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
| | - Aaron M Bauer
- Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA
| | - Marta Vidal-García
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Joseph J Bevitt
- Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, Australia
| | - Adolf M Peretti
- GRS Gemresearch Swisslab AG, Baumschulweg 13, 6045, Meggen, Switzerland
- Peretti Museum Foundation, Baumschulweg 13, 6045, Meggen, Switzerland
| | - Nyi Nyi Aung
- Peretti Museum Foundation, Baumschulweg 13, 6045, Meggen, Switzerland
- Myanmar Geosciences Society, c/o Department of Geology, University of Yangon, 11041, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Susan E Evans
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
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18
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Rapid increase in snake dietary diversity and complexity following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001414. [PMID: 34648487 PMCID: PMC8516226 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The Cenozoic marked a period of dramatic ecological opportunity in Earth history due to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs as well as to long-term physiographic changes that created new biogeographic theaters and new habitats. Snakes underwent massive ecological diversification during this period, repeatedly evolving novel dietary adaptations and prey preferences. The evolutionary tempo and mode of these trophic ecological changes remain virtually unknown, especially compared with co-radiating lineages of birds and mammals that are simultaneously predators and prey of snakes. Here, we assemble a dataset on snake diets (34,060 observations on the diets of 882 species) to investigate the history and dynamics of the multidimensional trophic niche during the global radiation of snakes. Our results show that per-lineage dietary niche breadths remained remarkably constant even as snakes diversified to occupy disparate outposts of dietary ecospace. Rapid increases in dietary diversity and complexity occurred in the early Cenozoic, and the overall rate of ecospace expansion has slowed through time, suggesting a potential response to ecological opportunity in the wake of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Explosive bursts of trophic innovation followed colonization of the Nearctic and Neotropical realms by a group of snakes that today comprises a majority of living snake diversity. Our results indicate that repeated transformational shifts in dietary ecology are important drivers of adaptive radiation in snakes and provide a framework for analyzing and visualizing the evolution of complex ecological phenotypes on phylogenetic trees. The Cenozoic marked a period of dramatic ecological opportunity in Earth history due to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and long-term physiographic changes. This phylogenetic natural history study offers new insights into the evolution of snake ecological diversity after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, as they took advantage of these new opportunities.
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19
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Evolution and dispersal of snakes across the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5335. [PMID: 34521829 PMCID: PMC8440539 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25136-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2018] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Mass extinctions have repeatedly shaped global biodiversity. The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction caused the demise of numerous vertebrate groups, and its aftermath saw the rapid diversification of surviving mammals, birds, frogs, and teleost fishes. However, the effects of the K-Pg extinction on the evolution of snakes-a major clade of predators comprising over 3,700 living species-remains poorly understood. Here, we combine an extensive molecular dataset with phylogenetically and stratigraphically constrained fossil calibrations to infer an evolutionary timescale for Serpentes. We reveal a potential diversification among crown snakes associated with the K-Pg mass extinction, led by the successful colonisation of Asia by the major extant clade Afrophidia. Vertebral morphometrics suggest increasing morphological specialisation among marine snakes through the Paleogene. The dispersal patterns of snakes following the K-Pg underscore the importance of this mass extinction event in shaping Earth's extant vertebrate faunas.
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20
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How do lizard niches conserve, diverge or converge? Further exploration of saurian evolutionary ecology. BMC Ecol Evol 2021; 21:149. [PMID: 34330210 PMCID: PMC8323276 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-021-01877-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Environmental conditions on Earth are repeated in non-random patterns that often coincide with species from different regions and time periods having consistent combinations of morphological, physiological and behavioral traits. Observation of repeated trait combinations among species confronting similar environmental conditions suggest that adaptive trait combinations are constrained by functional tradeoffs within or across niche dimensions. In an earlier study, we assembled a high-resolution database of functional traits for 134 lizard species to explore ecological diversification in relation to five fundamental niche dimensions. Here we expand and further examine multivariate relationships in that dataset to assess the relative influence of niche dimensions on the distribution of species in 6-dimensional niche space and how these may deviate from distributions generated from null models. We then analyzed a dataset with lower functional-trait resolution for 1023 lizard species that was compiled from our dataset and a published database, representing most of the extant families and environmental conditions occupied by lizards globally. Ordinations from multivariate analysis were compared with null models to assess how ecological and historical factors have resulted in the conservation, divergence or convergence of lizard niches. Results Lizard species clustered within a functional niche volume influenced mostly by functional traits associated with diet, activity, and habitat/substrate. Consistent patterns of trait combinations within and among niche dimensions yielded 24 functional groups that occupied a total niche space significantly smaller than plausible spaces projected by null models. Null model tests indicated that several functional groups are strongly constrained by phylogeny, such as nocturnality in the Gekkota and the secondarily acquired sit-and-wait foraging strategy in Iguania. Most of the widely distributed and species-rich families contained multiple functional groups thereby contributing to high incidence of niche convergence. Conclusions Comparison of empirical patterns with those generated by null models suggests that ecological filters promote limited sets of trait combinations, especially where similar conditions occur, reflecting both niche convergence and conservatism. Widespread patterns of niche convergence following ancestral niche diversification support the idea that lizard niches are defined by trait-function relationships and interactions with environment that are, to some degree, predictable and independent of phylogeny. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12862-021-01877-8.
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21
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Ledesma DT, Scarpetta SG, Bell CJ. Variation in the skulls of Elgaria and Gerrhonotus (Anguidae, Gerrhonotinae) and implications for phylogenetics and fossil identification. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11602. [PMID: 34327052 PMCID: PMC8310624 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND There are limited data on intra- and interspecific osteological variation for many squamate clades. Those data are relevant for phylogenetic analyses that use osteological characters and for apomorphic identifications of fossils. We investigate whether morphological features in the skulls of extant gerrhonotine lizards can be used to distinguish taxa at the species- and genus-level and assess whether newly discovered intra- and interspecific osteological variation alters the utility of previously reported apomorphic features. We examined skulls of species belonging to the gerrhonotine genera Elgaria and Gerrhonotus. These genera contain 17 extant species, but the cranial osteology of only a few species was previously examined. As a result, intra- and interspecific osteological variation of these gerrhonotines is poorly understood. METHODS We employed high-resolution x-ray computed tomography (CT) to scan 25 alcohol-preserved specimens. We provide data on the skulls of all eight species of Elgaria, four for the first time, and five species of Gerrhonotus, three for the first time. We examined 3-D reconstructed skulls of the scanned specimens as well as dry, traditionally prepared skeletons (when they were available). RESULTS We found that the purported diagnostic utility of many previously described morphological features is impacted because of substantial morphological variation between and within species. We present an assessment of osteological differences that may be useful to differentiate species of Elgaria and Gerrhonotus, many of which are present on isolated cranial elements commonly recovered as fossils, including the premaxilla, maxilla, parietal, pterygoid, prootic, dentary, and surangular. We demonstrate the importance of documenting patterns of osteological variation using large sample sizes, and the utility of examining disarticulated cranial elements of the squamate skull to identify diagnostic morphology. This study adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that extensive documentation of morphological variation is needed to further our understanding of the phylogenetic and diagnostic utility of morphological features across vertebrate clades. Efforts in that direction likely will benefit from examination of disarticulated skeletal elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- David T. Ledesma
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States
| | - Simon G. Scarpetta
- Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States
| | - Christopher J. Bell
- Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States
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22
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Condamine FL, Guinot G, Benton MJ, Currie PJ. Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3833. [PMID: 34188028 PMCID: PMC8242047 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23754-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2019] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The question why non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago (Ma) remains unresolved because of the coarseness of the fossil record. A sudden extinction caused by an asteroid is the most accepted hypothesis but it is debated whether dinosaurs were in decline or not before the impact. We analyse the speciation-extinction dynamics for six key dinosaur families, and find a decline across dinosaurs, where diversification shifted to a declining-diversity pattern ~76 Ma. We investigate the influence of ecological and physical factors, and find that the decline of dinosaurs was likely driven by global climate cooling and herbivorous diversity drop. The latter is likely due to hadrosaurs outcompeting other herbivores. We also estimate that extinction risk is related to species age during the decline, suggesting a lack of evolutionary novelty or adaptation to changing environments. These results support an environmentally driven decline of non-avian dinosaurs well before the asteroid impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabien L Condamine
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier | CNRS|IRD|EPHE), Montpellier, France.
| | - Guillaume Guinot
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (Université de Montpellier | CNRS|IRD|EPHE), Montpellier, France
| | - Michael J Benton
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Philip J Currie
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
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23
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Fachini TS, Onary S, Palci A, Lee MS, Bronzati M, Hsiou AS. Cretaceous Blind Snake from Brazil Fills Major Gap in Snake Evolution. iScience 2020; 23:101834. [PMID: 33305189 PMCID: PMC7718481 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Revised: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Blind snakes (Scolecophidia) are minute cryptic snakes that diverged at the base of the evolutionary radiation of modern snakes. They have a scant fossil record, which dates back to the Upper Paleocene-Lower Eocene (∼56 Ma); this late appearance conflicts with molecular evidence, which suggests a much older origin for the group (during the Mesozoic: 160–125 Ma). Here we report a typhlopoid blind snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil, Boipeba tayasuensis gen. et sp. nov, which extends the scolecophidian fossil record into the Mesozoic and reduces the fossil gap predicted by molecular data. The new species is estimated to have been over 1 m long, much larger than typical modern scolecophidians (<30 cm). This finding sheds light on the early evolution of blind snakes, supports the hypothesis of a Gondwanan origin for the Typhlopoidea, and indicates that early scolecophidians had large body size, and only later underwent miniaturization. Boipeba tayasuensis is the oldest fossil blind snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil A new phylogenetic analysis places the taxon within living typhlopoids Boipeba is estimated to be ∼1 m in length, larger than any living blind snake The small body size of extant blind snakes is due to subsequent miniaturization
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiago Schineider Fachini
- Laboratório de Paleontologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
- Corresponding author
| | - Silvio Onary
- Laboratório de Paleontologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
- South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
- Corresponding author
| | - Alessandro Palci
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
- South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Michael S.Y. Lee
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
- South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
| | - Mario Bronzati
- Laboratório de Evolução e Biologia Integrativa, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Annie Schmaltz Hsiou
- Laboratório de Paleontologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
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24
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Scarpetta SG. Effects of phylogenetic uncertainty on fossil identification illustrated by a new and enigmatic Eocene iguanian. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15734. [PMID: 32978416 PMCID: PMC7519069 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72509-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Fossil identifications made in a phylogenetic framework are beholden to specific tree hypotheses. Without phylogenetic consensus, the systematic provenance of any given fossil can be volatile. Paleobiogeographic and divergence time hypotheses are contingent on the accurate systematic placement of fossils. Thus, fossil diagnoses should consider multiple topologies when phylogenetic resolution or clear apomorphies are lacking. However, such analyses are infrequently performed. Pleurodonta (Squamata: Iguania) is an ancient and frequently-studied lizard clade for which phylogenetic resolution is notoriously elusive. I describe a skull fossil of a new pleurodontan lizard taxon from the Eocene deposits of the Willwood Formation, Wyoming, and use the new taxon as a case-study to explore the effects of phylogenetic uncertainty on fossil identification. The relationships of the new taxon differ considerably among analyses, and resulting interpretations are correspondingly disparate. These results illustrate generalizable and severe issues with fossil interpretations made without consideration of alternative phylogenetic hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon G Scarpetta
- Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
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25
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Martins MJF, Hunt G, Thompson CM, Lockwood R, Swaddle JP, Puckett TM. Shifts in sexual dimorphism across a mass extinction in ostracods: implications for sexual selection as a factor in extinction risk. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200730. [PMID: 32811315 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual selection often favours investment in expensive sexual traits that help individuals compete for mates. In a rapidly changing environment, however, allocation of resources to traits related to reproduction at the expense of those related to survival may elevate extinction risk. Empirical testing of this hypothesis in the fossil record, where extinction can be directly documented, is largely lacking. The rich fossil record of cytheroid ostracods offers a unique study system in this context: the male shell is systematically more elongate than that of females, and thus the sexes can be distinguished, even in fossils. Using mixture models to identify sex clusters from size and shape variables derived from the digitized valve outlines of adult ostracods, we estimated sexual dimorphism in ostracod species before and after the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction in the United States Coastal Plain. Across this boundary, we document a substantial shift in sexual dimorphism, driven largely by a pronounced decline in the taxa with dimorphism indicating both very high and very low male investment. The shift away from high male investment, which arises largely from evolutionary changes within genera that persist through the extinction, parallels extinction selectivity previously documented during the Late Cretaceous under a background extinction regime. Our results suggest that sexual selection and the allocation of resources towards survival versus reproduction may be an important factor for species extinction during both background and mass extinctions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gene Hunt
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Carmi Milagros Thompson
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Rowan Lockwood
- Department of Geology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA
| | - John P Swaddle
- Department of Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA
| | - T Markham Puckett
- School of Biological, Environmental and Earth Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA
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26
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Colston TJ, Kulkarni P, Jetz W, Pyron RA. Phylogenetic and spatial distribution of evolutionary diversification, isolation, and threat in turtles and crocodilians (non-avian archosauromorphs). BMC Evol Biol 2020; 20:81. [PMID: 32650718 PMCID: PMC7350713 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-020-01642-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The origin of turtles and crocodiles and their easily recognized body forms dates to the Triassic and Jurassic. Despite their long-term success, extant species diversity is low, and endangerment is extremely high compared to other terrestrial vertebrate groups, with ~ 65% of ~ 25 crocodilian and ~ 360 turtle species now threatened by exploitation and habitat loss. Here, we combine available molecular and morphological evidence with statistical and machine learning algorithms to present a phylogenetically informed, comprehensive assessment of diversification, threat status, and evolutionary distinctiveness of all extant species. Results In contrast to other terrestrial vertebrates and their own diversity in the fossil record, the recent extant lineages of turtles and crocodilians have not experienced any global mass extinctions or lineage-wide shifts in diversification rate or body-size evolution over time. We predict threat statuses for 114 as-yet unassessed or data-deficient species and identify a concentration of threatened turtles and crocodilians in South and Southeast Asia, western Africa, and the eastern Amazon. We find that unlike other terrestrial vertebrate groups, extinction risk increases with evolutionary distinctiveness: a disproportionate amount of phylogenetic diversity is concentrated in evolutionarily isolated, at-risk taxa, particularly those with small geographic ranges. Our findings highlight the important role of geographic determinants of extinction risk, particularly those resulting from anthropogenic habitat-disturbance, which affect species across body sizes and ecologies. Conclusions Extant turtles and crocodilians maintain unique, conserved morphologies which make them globally recognizable. Many species are threatened due to exploitation and global change. We use taxonomically complete, dated molecular phylogenies and various approaches to produce a comprehensive assessment of threat status and evolutionary distinctiveness of both groups. Neither group exhibits significant overall shifts in diversification rate or body-size evolution, or any signature of global mass extinctions in recent, extant lineages. However, the most evolutionarily distinct species tend to be the most threatened, and species richness and extinction risk are centered in areas of high anthropogenic disturbance, particularly South and Southeast Asia. Range size is the strongest predictor of threat, and a disproportionate amount of evolutionary diversity is at risk of imminent extinction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy J Colston
- Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA. .,Present address: Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32304, USA.
| | | | - Walter Jetz
- Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - R Alexander Pyron
- Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA
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Abstract
We present a quantitative test of end-Cretaceous extinction scenarios and how these would have affected dinosaur habitats. Combining climate and ecological modeling tools, we demonstrate a substantial detrimental effect on dinosaur habitats caused by an impact winter scenario triggered by the Chicxulub asteroid. We were not able to obtain such an extinction state with several modeling scenarios of Deccan volcanism. We further show that the concomitant prolonged eruption of the Deccan traps might have acted as an ameliorating agent, buffering the negative effects on climate and global ecosystems that the asteroid impact produced at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. The Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction, 66 Ma, included the demise of non-avian dinosaurs. Intense debate has focused on the relative roles of Deccan volcanism and the Chicxulub asteroid impact as kill mechanisms for this event. Here, we combine fossil-occurrence data with paleoclimate and habitat suitability models to evaluate dinosaur habitability in the wake of various asteroid impact and Deccan volcanism scenarios. Asteroid impact models generate a prolonged cold winter that suppresses potential global dinosaur habitats. Conversely, long-term forcing from Deccan volcanism (carbon dioxide [CO2]-induced warming) leads to increased habitat suitability. Short-term (aerosol cooling) volcanism still allows equatorial habitability. These results support the asteroid impact as the main driver of the non-avian dinosaur extinction. By contrast, induced warming from volcanism mitigated the most extreme effects of asteroid impact, potentially reducing the extinction severity.
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Woolley CH, Smith ND, Sertich JJW. New fossil lizard specimens from a poorly-known squamate assemblage in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8846. [PMID: 32337098 PMCID: PMC7169976 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2019] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent collection efforts in the upper Campanian (∼76-73.5 Ma) Fruitland and Kirtland formations of northwestern New Mexico have significantly increased the taxonomic diversity of lizards in this historically poorly understood squamate assemblage. New lizard specimens from the “Hunter Wash Local Fauna” of the upper Fruitland and lower Kirtland formations include: (1) new specimens referable to Chamopsiidae; (2) new material belonging to Scincomorpha, (3) new material belonging to Anguidae; and (4) the first reported predatory lizard (Platynota) material from the Campanian of New Mexico. The increase in lizard diversity in the “Hunter Wash Local Fauna” expands our understanding of Late Cretaceous squamate taxonomy, distribution, and diversity in the Western Interior of North America (Laramidia). Collectively, the described specimens represent family-level diversity similar to that seen in other Campanian foreland basin deposits of the Western Interior, such as the mid-paleolatitude Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah, the higher paleolatitude Dinosaur Park Formation of southern Alberta, and the lower paleolatitude Aguja Formation of southwestern Texas. The lizards of the “Hunter Wash Local Fauna” represent crucial mid-paleolatitude data from a coastal plain depositional setting in Laramidia—allowing for comparisons to more well-studied assemblages at different latitudes and in different depositional settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Henrik Woolley
- Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America.,Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Nathan D Smith
- Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Joseph J W Sertich
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, CO, United States of America
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29
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Magalhaes ILF, Azevedo GHF, Michalik P, Ramírez MJ. The fossil record of spiders revisited: implications for calibrating trees and evidence for a major faunal turnover since the Mesozoic. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 95:184-217. [PMID: 31713947 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2019] [Revised: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Studies in evolutionary biology and biogeography increasingly rely on the estimation of dated phylogenetic trees using molecular clocks. In turn, the calibration of such clocks is critically dependent on external evidence (i.e. fossils) anchoring the ages of particular nodes to known absolute ages. In recent years, a plethora of new fossil spiders, especially from the Mesozoic, have been described, while the number of studies presenting dated spider phylogenies based on fossil calibrations increased sharply. We critically evaluate 44 of these studies, which collectively employed 67 unique fossils in 180 calibrations. Approximately 54% of these calibrations are problematic, particularly regarding unsupported assignment of fossils to extant clades (44%) and crown (rather than stem) dating (9%). Most of these cases result from an assumed equivalence between taxonomic placement of fossils and their phylogenetic position. To overcome this limitation, we extensively review the literature on fossil spiders, with a special focus on putative synapomorphies and the phylogenetic placement of fossil species with regard to their importance for calibrating higher taxa (families and above) in the spider tree of life. We provide a curated list including 41 key fossils intended to be a basis for future estimations of dated spider phylogenies. In a second step, we use a revised set of 23 calibrations to estimate a new dated spider tree of life based on transcriptomic data. The revised placement of key fossils and the new calibrated tree are used to resolve a long-standing debate in spider evolution - we tested whether there has been a major turnover in the spider fauna between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. At least 17 (out of 117) extant families have been recorded from the Cretaceous, implying that at least 41 spider lineages in the family level or above crossed the Cretaeous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary. The putative phylogenetic affinities of families known only from the Mesozoic suggest that at least seven Cretaceous families appear to have no close living relatives and might represent extinct lineages. There is no unambiguous fossil evidence of the retrolateral tibial apophysis clade (RTA-clade) in the Mesozoic, although molecular clock analyses estimated the major lineages within this clade to be at least ∼100 million years old. Our review of the fossil record supports a major turnover showing that the spider faunas in the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic are very distinct at high taxonomic levels, with the Mesozoic dominated by Palpimanoidea and Synspermiata, while the Cenozoic is dominated by Araneoidea and RTA-clade spiders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan L F Magalhaes
- División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, C1405DJR, Argentina
| | - Guilherme H F Azevedo
- División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, C1405DJR, Argentina
| | - Peter Michalik
- Zoologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Greifswald, Loitzer Straβe 26, Greifswald, D-17489, Germany
| | - Martín J Ramírez
- División Aracnología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, Buenos Aires, C1405DJR, Argentina
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30
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Godoy PL, Benson RBJ, Bronzati M, Butler RJ. The multi-peak adaptive landscape of crocodylomorph body size evolution. BMC Evol Biol 2019; 19:167. [PMID: 31390981 PMCID: PMC6686447 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-019-1466-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Accepted: 06/24/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Little is known about the long-term patterns of body size evolution in Crocodylomorpha, the > 200-million-year-old group that includes living crocodylians and their extinct relatives. Extant crocodylians are mostly large-bodied (3-7 m) predators. However, extinct crocodylomorphs exhibit a wider range of phenotypes, and many of the earliest taxa were much smaller (< 1.2 m). This suggests a pattern of size increase through time that could be caused by multi-lineage evolutionary trends of size increase or by selective extinction of small-bodied species. Here, we characterise patterns of crocodylomorph body size evolution using a model fitting-approach (with cranial measurements serving as proxies). We also estimate body size disparity through time and quantitatively test hypotheses of biotic and abiotic factors as potential drivers of crocodylomorph body size evolution. RESULTS Crocodylomorphs reached an early peak in body size disparity during the Late Jurassic, and underwent an essentially continual decline since then. A multi-peak Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model outperforms all other evolutionary models fitted to our data (including both uniform and non-uniform), indicating that the macroevolutionary dynamics of crocodylomorph body size are better described within the concept of an adaptive landscape, with most body size variation emerging after shifts to new macroevolutionary regimes (analogous to adaptive zones). We did not find support for a consistent evolutionary trend towards larger sizes among lineages (i.e., Cope's rule), or strong correlations of body size with climate. Instead, the intermediate to large body sizes of some crocodylomorphs are better explained by group-specific adaptations. In particular, the evolution of a more aquatic lifestyle (especially marine) correlates with increases in average body size, though not without exceptions. CONCLUSIONS Shifts between macroevolutionary regimes provide a better explanation of crocodylomorph body size evolution on large phylogenetic and temporal scales, suggesting a central role for lineage-specific adaptations rather than climatic forcing. Shifts leading to larger body sizes occurred in most aquatic and semi-aquatic groups. This, combined with extinctions of groups occupying smaller body size regimes (particularly during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic), gave rise to the upward-shifted body size distribution of extant crocodylomorphs compared to their smaller-bodied terrestrial ancestors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro L Godoy
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. .,Present Address: Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA.
| | | | - Mario Bronzati
- Laboratório de Paleontologia de Ribeirão Preto, FFCLRP, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Richard J Butler
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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31
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Watanabe A, Fabre AC, Felice RN, Maisano JA, Müller J, Herrel A, Goswami A. Ecomorphological diversification in squamates from conserved pattern of cranial integration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:14688-14697. [PMID: 31262818 PMCID: PMC6642379 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1820967116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Factors intrinsic and extrinsic to organisms dictate the course of morphological evolution but are seldom considered together in comparative analyses. Among vertebrates, squamates (lizards and snakes) exhibit remarkable morphological and developmental variations that parallel their incredible ecological spectrum. However, this exceptional diversity also makes systematic quantification and analysis of their morphological evolution challenging. We present a squamate-wide, high-density morphometric analysis of the skull across 181 modern and extinct species to identify the primary drivers of their cranial evolution within a unified, quantitative framework. Diet and habitat preferences, but not reproductive mode, are major influences on skull-shape evolution across squamates, with fossorial and aquatic taxa exhibiting convergent and rapid changes in skull shape. In lizards, diet is associated with the shape of the rostrum, reflecting its use in grasping prey, whereas snakes show a correlation between diet and the shape of posterior skull bones important for gape widening. Similarly, we observe the highest rates of evolution and greatest disparity in regions associated with jaw musculature in lizards, whereas those forming the jaw articulation evolve faster in snakes. In addition, high-resolution ancestral cranial reconstructions from these data support a terrestrial, nonfossorial origin for snakes. Despite their disparate evolutionary trends, lizards and snakes unexpectedly share a common pattern of trait integration, with the highest correlations in the occiput, jaw articulation, and palate. We thus demonstrate that highly diverse phenotypes, exemplified by lizards and snakes, can and do arise from differential selection acting on conserved patterns of phenotypic integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akinobu Watanabe
- Department of Anatomy, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568;
- Life Sciences Department, Vertebrates Division, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024
| | - Anne-Claire Fabre
- Life Sciences Department, Vertebrates Division, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
| | - Ryan N Felice
- Life Sciences Department, Vertebrates Division, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
- Centre for Integrative Anatomy, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica A Maisano
- Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712
| | - Johannes Müller
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin 10115, Germany
| | - Anthony Herrel
- Département Adaptations du Vivant, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 75005, France
| | - Anjali Goswami
- Life Sciences Department, Vertebrates Division, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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32
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O'leary MA, Bouaré ML, Claeson KM, Heilbronn K, Hill RV, Mccartney J, Sessa JA, Sissoko F, Tapanila L, Wheeler E, Roberts EM. Stratigraphy and Paleobiology of the Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleogene Sediments from the Trans-Saharan Seaway in Mali. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2019. [DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.436.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maureen A. O'leary
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University; Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History
| | | | - Kerin M. Claeson
- Department of Bio-Medical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
| | - Kelly Heilbronn
- Geosciences, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
| | - Robert V. Hill
- Department of Science Education, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
| | - Jacob Mccartney
- Department of Biology, State University of New York College at Geneseo
| | - Jocelyn A. Sessa
- Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History
| | - Famory Sissoko
- Institut des Sciences Humaines, Bamako, Republic of Mali
| | - Leif Tapanila
- Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello; Division of Earth Science, Idaho Museum of Natural History
| | - Elisabeth Wheeler
- Department of Research and Collections, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
| | - Eric M. Roberts
- Geosciences, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
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33
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Huang JP, Kraichak E, Leavitt SD, Nelsen MP, Lumbsch HT. Accelerated diversifications in three diverse families of morphologically complex lichen-forming fungi link to major historical events. Sci Rep 2019; 9:8518. [PMID: 31253825 PMCID: PMC6599062 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-44881-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2019] [Accepted: 05/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Historical mass extinction events had major impacts on biodiversity patterns. The most recent and intensively studied event is the Cretaceous - Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (ca. 66 million years ago [MYA]). However, the factors that may have impacted diversification dynamics vary across lineages. We investigated the macroevolutionary dynamics with a specific focus on the impact of major historical events such as the K-Pg mass extinction event on two major subclasses - Lecanoromycetidae and Ostropomycetidae - of lichen-forming fungi and tested whether variation in the rate of diversification can be associated with the evolution of a specific trait state - macrolichen. Our results reveal accelerated diversification events in three families of morphologically complex lichen-forming fungi - Cladoniaceae, Parmeliaceae, and Peltigeraceae - which are from the subclass Lecanoromycetidae and mostly composed of macrolichens, those that form three dimensional structures. Our RTT plot result for the subclass Lecanoromycetidae also reveals accelerated diversification. Changes in diversification rates occurred around the transition between Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras and was likely related to the K-Pg mass extinction event. The phylogenetic positions for rate increases estimated based on marginal shift probability are, however, scattered from 100 to 40 MYA preventing us from making explicit inference. Although we reveal that the phenotypic state of macrolichens is associated with a higher diversification rate than microlichens, we also show that the evolution of macrolichens predated the K-Pg event. Furthermore, the association between macrolichens and increased diversification is not universal and can be explained, in part, by phylogenetic relatedness. By investigating the macroevolutionary dynamics of lichen-forming fungi our study provides a new empirical system suitable to test the effect of major historical event on shaping biodiversity patterns and to investigate why changes in biodiversity patterns are not in concordance across clades. Our results imply that multiple historical events during the transition from Mesozoic to Cenozoic eras, including the K-Pg mass extinction event, impacted the evolutionary dynamics in lichen-forming fungi. However, future studies focusing on individual lichen-forming fungal families are required to ascertain whether diversification rates are associated with growth form and certain geological events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jen-Pan Huang
- Integrative Research Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA. .,Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
| | - Ekaphan Kraichak
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Steven D Leavitt
- Department of Biology and M. L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA
| | - Matthew P Nelsen
- Integrative Research Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA
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Halliday TJD, dos Reis M, Tamuri AU, Ferguson-Gow H, Yang Z, Goswami A. Rapid morphological evolution in placental mammals post-dates the origin of the crown group. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20182418. [PMID: 30836875 PMCID: PMC6458320 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2018] [Accepted: 02/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Resolving the timing and pattern of early placental mammal evolution has been confounded by conflict among divergence date estimates from interpretation of the fossil record and from molecular-clock dating studies. Despite both fossil occurrences and molecular sequences favouring a Cretaceous origin for Placentalia, no unambiguous Cretaceous placental mammal has been discovered. Investigating the differing patterns of evolution in morphological and molecular data reveals a possible explanation for this conflict. Here, we quantified the relationship between morphological and molecular rates of evolution. We show that, independent of divergence dates, morphological rates of evolution were slow relative to molecular evolution during the initial divergence of Placentalia, but substantially increased during the origination of the extant orders. The rapid radiation of placentals into a highly morphologically disparate Cenozoic fauna is thus not associated with the origin of Placentalia, but post-dates superordinal origins. These findings predict that early members of major placental groups may not be easily distinguishable from one another or from stem eutherians on the basis of skeleto-dental morphology. This result supports a Late Cretaceous origin of crown placentals with an ordinal-level adaptive radiation in the early Paleocene, with the high relative rate permitting rapid anatomical change without requiring unreasonably fast molecular evolutionary rates. The lack of definitive Cretaceous placental mammals may be a result of morphological similarity among stem and early crown eutherians, providing an avenue for reconciling the fossil record with molecular divergence estimates for Placentalia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J. D. Halliday
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- School of Geography, Earth, and Environmental Science, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston B15 2TT, UK
| | - Mario dos Reis
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Asif U. Tamuri
- Research IT Services, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SD, UK
| | - Henry Ferguson-Gow
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Ziheng Yang
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Anjali Goswami
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW9 5DJ, UK
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35
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Mongiardino Koch N, Gauthier JA. Noise and biases in genomic data may underlie radically different hypotheses for the position of Iguania within Squamata. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0202729. [PMID: 30133514 PMCID: PMC6105018 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Squamate reptiles are a major component of vertebrate biodiversity whose crown-clade traces its origin to a narrow window of time in the Mesozoic during which the main subclades diverged in rapid succession. Deciphering phylogenetic relationships among these lineages has proven challenging given the conflicting signals provided by genomic and phenomic data. Most notably, the placement of Iguania has routinely differed between data sources, with morphological evidence supporting a sister relationship to the remaining squamates (Scleroglossa hypothesis) and molecular data favoring a highly nested position alongside snakes and anguimorphs (Toxicofera hypothesis). We provide novel insights by generating an expanded morphological dataset and exploring the presence of phylogenetic signal, noise, and biases in molecular data. Our analyses confirm the presence of strong conflicting signals for the position of Iguania between morphological and molecular datasets. However, we also find that molecular data behave highly erratically when inferring the deepest branches of the squamate tree, a consequence of limited phylogenetic signal to resolve this ancient radiation with confidence. This, in turn, seems to result from a rate of evolution that is too high for historical signals to survive to the present. Finally, we detect significant systematic biases, with iguanians and snakes sharing faster rates of molecular evolution and a similarly biased nucleotide composition. A combination of scant phylogenetic signal, high levels of noise, and the presence of systematic biases could result in the misplacement of Iguania. We regard this explanation to be at least as plausible as the complex scenario of convergence and reversals required for morphological data to be misleading. We further evaluate and discuss the utility of morphological data to resolve ancient radiations, as well as its impact in combined-evidence phylogenomic analyses, with results relevant for the assessment of evidence and conflict across the Tree of Life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolás Mongiardino Koch
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Jacques A. Gauthier
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
- Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
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36
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Padian K. Measuring and Comparing Extinction Events: Reconsidering Diversity Crises and Concepts. Integr Comp Biol 2018; 58:1191-1203. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/icy084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Padian
- Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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37
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Amorim PF, Costa WJEM. Multigene phylogeny supports diversification of four-eyed fishes and one-sided livebearers (Cyprinodontiformes: Anablepidae) related to major South American geological events. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0199201. [PMID: 29912943 PMCID: PMC6005514 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The high diversity of Neotropical fishes has been attributed to major South American palaeogeographic events, such as Andean uplift, rise of the Isthmus of Panama and marine transgressions. However, the unavailability of temporal information about evolution and diversification of some fish groups prevents the establishment of robust hypotheses about correlations between species diversification and proposed palaeogeographical events. One example is the Anablepidae, a family of teleost fishes found mostly in coastal habitats of Central and South America, but also in some inner river basins of South America. Historical aspects of the distribution patterns of the Anablepidae were never analysed and no accurate estimation of time of its origin and diversification is presently available. A multi-gene analysis was performed to estimate Anablepidae phylogenetic position, age and biogeography, comprising seven nuclear genes. The suborder Cyprinodontoidei was recovered in three major clades, one comprising all the Old World Cyprinodontoidei and two comprising New World lineages. Anablepidae was recovered as the sister group of the New World Poeciliidae, with the Amazonian genus Fluviphylax as their sister group. The ages found for the origin and diversification of Cyprinodontiformes were congruent with the pattern recorded for other vertebrate groups, with an origin anterior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) transition and diversification during the Paleogene. The age estimated for the split between the Atlantic and Pacific lineages of Anableps was congruent with the rise of Panamanian Isthmus. The results suggest Miocene marine transgressions as determinant to the current distribution of Jenynsia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro F. Amorim
- Laboratory of Systematics and Evolution of Teleost Fishes, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Wilson J. E. M. Costa
- Laboratory of Systematics and Evolution of Teleost Fishes, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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38
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Kieren S, Sparreboom M, Hochkirch A, Veith M. A biogeographic and ecological perspective to the evolution of reproductive behaviour in the family Salamandridae. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2018; 121:98-109. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Revised: 12/22/2017] [Accepted: 01/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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39
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Abstract
The Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) mass extinction is linked to the rapid emergence of ecologically divergent higher taxa (for example, families and orders) across terrestrial vertebrates, but its impact on the diversification of marine vertebrates is less clear. Spiny-rayed fishes (Acanthomorpha) provide an ideal system for exploring the effects of the K-Pg on fish diversification, yet despite decades of morphological and molecular phylogenetic efforts, resolution of both early diverging lineages and enormously diverse subclades remains problematic. Recent multilocus studies have provided the first resolved phylogenetic backbone for acanthomorphs and suggested novel relationships among major lineages. However, these new relationships and associated timescales have not been interrogated using phylogenomic approaches. Here, we use targeted enrichment of >1,000 ultraconserved elements in conjunction with a divergence time analysis to resolve relationships among 120 major acanthomorph lineages and provide a new timescale for acanthomorph radiation. Our results include a well-supported topology that strongly resolves relationships along the acanthomorph backbone and the recovery of several new relationships within six major percomorph subclades. Divergence time analyses also reveal that crown ages for five of these subclades, and for the bulk of the species diversity in the sixth, coincide with the K-Pg boundary, with divergences between anatomically and ecologically distinctive suprafamilial clades concentrated in the first 10 million years of the Cenozoic.
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40
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Cleary TJ, Benson RBJ, Evans SE, Barrett PM. Lepidosaurian diversity in the Mesozoic-Palaeogene: the potential roles of sampling biases and environmental drivers. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:171830. [PMID: 29657788 PMCID: PMC5882712 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Accepted: 02/13/2018] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Lepidosauria is a speciose clade with a long evolutionary history, but there have been few attempts to explore its taxon richness through time. Here we estimate patterns of terrestrial lepidosaur genus diversity for the Triassic-Palaeogene (252-23 Ma), and compare observed and sampling-corrected richness curves generated using Shareholder Quorum Subsampling and classical rarefaction. Generalized least-squares regression (GLS) is used to investigate the relationships between richness, sampling and environmental proxies. We found low levels of richness from the Triassic until the Late Cretaceous (except in the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian of Europe). High richness is recovered for the Late Cretaceous of North America, which declined across the K-Pg boundary but remained relatively high throughout the Palaeogene. Richness decreased following the Eocene-Oligocene Grande Coupure in North America and Europe, but remained high in North America and very high in Europe compared to the Late Cretaceous; elsewhere data are lacking. GLS analyses indicate that sampling biases (particularly, the number of fossil collections per interval) are the best explanation for long-term face-value genus richness trends. The lepidosaur fossil record presents many problems when attempting to reconstruct past diversity, with geographical sampling biases being of particular concern, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terri J. Cleary
- Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Roger B. J. Benson
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK
| | - Susan E. Evans
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Paul M. Barrett
- Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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41
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McIntyre SRN, Lineweaver CH, Groves CP, Chopra A. Global biogeography since Pangaea. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2017.0716. [PMID: 28592675 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea around 180 Ma has left its imprint on the global distribution of species and resulted in vicariance-driven speciation. Here, we test the idea that the molecular clock dates, for the divergences of species whose geographical ranges were divided, should agree with the palaeomagnetic dates for the continental separations. Our analysis of recently available phylogenetic divergence dates of 42 pairs of vertebrate taxa, selected for their reduced ability to disperse, demonstrates that the divergence dates in phylogenetic trees of continent-bound terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates are consistent with the palaeomagnetic dates of continental separation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah R N McIntyre
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Charles H Lineweaver
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.,Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Colin P Groves
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Aditya Chopra
- Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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42
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DeMar DG, Conrad JL, Head JJ, Varricchio DJ, Wilson GP. A new Late Cretaceous iguanomorph from North America and the origin of New World Pleurodonta (Squamata, Iguania). Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2016.1902. [PMID: 28123087 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.1902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Iguanomorpha (stem + crown Iguania) is a diverse squamate clade with members that predominate many modern American lizard ecosystems. However, the temporal and palaeobiogeographic origins of its constituent crown clades (e.g. Pleurodonta (basilisks, iguanas, and their relatives)) are poorly constrained, mainly due to a meagre Mesozoic-age fossil record. Here, we report on two nearly complete skeletons from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of North America that represent a new and relatively large-bodied and possibly herbivorous iguanomorph that inhabited a semi-arid environment. The new taxon exhibits a mosaic of anatomical features traditionally used in diagnosing Iguania and non-iguanian squamates (i.e. Scleroglossa; e.g. parietal foramen at the frontoparietal suture, astragalocalcaneal notch in the tibia, respectively). Our cladistic analysis of Squamata revealed a phylogenetic link between Campanian-age North American and East Asian stem iguanomorphs (i.e. the new taxon + Temujiniidae). These results and our evaluation of the squamate fossil record suggest that crown pleurodontans were restricted to the low-latitude Neotropics prior to their early Palaeogene first appearances in the mid-latitudes of North America.
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Affiliation(s)
- David G DeMar
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Jack L Conrad
- Department of Anatomy, NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA.,Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Jason J Head
- Department of Zoology and University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
| | - David J Varricchio
- Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Gregory P Wilson
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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43
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Cyriac VP, Kodandaramaiah U. Paleoclimate determines diversification patterns in the fossorial snake family Uropeltidae Cuvier, 1829. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2017; 116:97-107. [PMID: 28867076 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2017] [Revised: 08/17/2017] [Accepted: 08/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Understanding how and why diversification rates vary across evolutionary time is central to understanding how biodiversity is generated and maintained. Recent mathematical models that allow estimation of diversification rates across time from reconstructed phylogenies have enabled us to make inferences on how biodiversity copes with environmental change. Here, we explore patterns of temporal diversification in Uropeltidae, a diverse fossorial snake family. We generate a time-calibrated phylogenetic hypothesis for Uropeltidae and show a significant correlation between diversification rate and paleotemperature during the Cenozoic. We show that the temporal diversification pattern of this group is punctuated by one rate shift event with a decrease in diversification and turnover rate between ca. 11Ma to present, but there is no strong support for mass extinction events. The analysis indicates higher turnover during periods of drastic climatic fluctuations and reduced diversification rates associated with contraction and fragmentation of forest habitats during the late Miocene. Our study highlights the influence of environmental fluctuations on diversification rates in fossorial taxa such as uropeltids, and raises conservation concerns related to present rate of climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek Philip Cyriac
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE) and School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, Maruthamala P.O., Vithura, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695551, India.
| | - Ullasa Kodandaramaiah
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE) and School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, Maruthamala P.O., Vithura, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695551, India
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44
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Feng YJ, Blackburn DC, Liang D, Hillis DM, Wake DB, Cannatella DC, Zhang P. Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:E5864-E5870. [PMID: 28673970 PMCID: PMC5530686 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1704632114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 182] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan-Jie Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, College of Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - David C Blackburn
- Department of Natural History, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
| | - Dan Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, College of Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - David M Hillis
- Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Collections, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
| | - David B Wake
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
| | - David C Cannatella
- Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Collections, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712;
| | - Peng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, College of Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China;
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45
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Codrea VA, Venczel M, Solomon A. A new family of teiioid lizards from the Upper Cretaceous of Romania with notes on the evolutionary history of early teiioids. Zool J Linn Soc 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
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46
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Hofmeyr MD, Vamberger M, Branch W, Schleicher A, Daniels SR. Tortoise (Reptilia, Testudinidae) radiations in Southern Africa from the Eocene to the present. ZOOL SCR 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Margaretha D. Hofmeyr
- Chelonian Biodiversity and Conservation; Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology; University of the Western Cape; Private Bag X17 Bellville 7535 South Africa
| | - Melita Vamberger
- Museum of Zoology; Senckenberg Dresden; A. B. Meyer Building 01109 Dresden Germany
| | - William Branch
- Department of Herpetology; Port Elizabeth Museum; P.O. Box 13147 Humewood 6013 South Africa
- Department of Zoology; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University; P.O. Box 77000 Port Elizabeth 6031 South Africa
| | | | - Savel R. Daniels
- Department of Botany and Zoology; University of Stellenbosch; Private Bag X1 Matieland 7602 South Africa
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47
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Pan AD, Williams KA, Wilson JS. Are diurnal iguanian lizards the evolutionary drivers of New World female velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) Müllerian mimicry rings? Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Aaron D. Pan
- Don Harrington Discovery Center; 1200 Streit Drive Amarillo TX 79106 USA
| | - Kevin A. Williams
- Plant Pest Diagnostics Branch; California Department of Food & Agriculture; 3294 meadowview road Sacramento CA 95832 USA
| | - Joseph S. Wilson
- Department of Biology; Utah State University; 1021 West Vine Street Tooele UT 84074 USA
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48
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Abstract
The vast majority of species that have ever lived went extinct sometime other than during one of the great mass extinction events. In spite of this, mass extinctions are thought to have outsized effects on the evolutionary history of life. While part of this effect is certainly due to the extinction itself, I here consider how the aftermaths of mass extinctions might contribute to the evolutionary importance of such events. Following the mass loss of taxa from the fossil record are prolonged intervals of ecological upheaval that create a selective regime unique to those times. The pacing and duration of ecosystem change during extinction aftermaths suggests strong ties between the biosphere and geosphere, and a previously undescribed macroevolutionary driver - earth system succession. Earth system succession occurs when global environmental or biotic change, as occurs across extinction boundaries, pushes the biosphere and geosphere out of equilibrium. As species and ecosystems re-evolve in the aftermath, they change global biogeochemical cycles - and in turn, species and ecosystems - over timescales typical of the geosphere, often many thousands to millions of years. Earth system succession provides a general explanation for the pattern and timing of ecological and evolutionary change in the fossil record. Importantly, it also suggests that a speed limit might exist for the pace of global biotic change after massive disturbance - a limit set by geosphere-biosphere interactions. For mass extinctions, earth system succession may drive the ever-changing ecological stage on which species evolve, restructuring ecosystems and setting long-term evolutionary trajectories as they do.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pincelli Hull
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA.
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49
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Longrich NR, Scriberas J, Wills MA. Severe extinction and rapid recovery of mammals across the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary, and the effects of rarity on patterns of extinction and recovery. J Evol Biol 2016; 29:1495-512. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2015] [Revised: 04/05/2016] [Accepted: 04/06/2016] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- N. R. Longrich
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry; University of Bath; Bath UK
- Milner Centre for Evolution; University of Bath; Bath UK
| | - J. Scriberas
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry; University of Bath; Bath UK
| | - M. A. Wills
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry; University of Bath; Bath UK
- Milner Centre for Evolution; University of Bath; Bath UK
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50
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Longrich NR, Vinther J, Pyron RA, Pisani D, Gauthier JA. Biogeography of worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) driven by end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:20143034. [PMID: 25833855 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.3034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) are burrowing squamates that live as subterranean predators. Their underground existence should limit dispersal, yet they are widespread throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa. This pattern was traditionally explained by continental drift, but molecular clocks suggest a Cenozoic diversification, long after the break-up of Pangaea, implying dispersal. Here, we describe primitive amphisbaenians from the North American Palaeocene, including the oldest known amphisbaenian, and provide new and older molecular divergence estimates for the clade, showing that worm lizards originated in North America, then radiated and dispersed in the Palaeogene following the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) extinction. This scenario implies at least three trans-oceanic dispersals: from North America to Europe, from North America to Africa and from Africa to South America. Amphisbaenians provide a striking case study in biogeography, suggesting that the role of continental drift in biogeography may be overstated. Instead, these patterns support Darwin and Wallace's hypothesis that the geographical ranges of modern clades result from dispersal, including oceanic rafting. Mass extinctions may facilitate dispersal events by eliminating competitors and predators that would otherwise hinder establishment of dispersing populations, removing biotic barriers to dispersal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas R Longrich
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Jakob Vinther
- School of Biological Sciences and School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK
| | - R Alexander Pyron
- Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Davide Pisani
- School of Biological Sciences and School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK
| | - Jacques A Gauthier
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
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