Ediacaran origin and Ediacaran-Cambrian diversification of Metazoa.

ABSTRACT: The timescale of animal diversification has been a focus of debate over how evolutionary history should be calibrated to geologic time. Molecular clock analyses have invariably estimated a Cryogenian or Tonian origin of animals while unequivocal animal fossils first occur in the Ediacaran. However, redating of key Ediacaran biotas and the discovery of several Ediacaran crown-Metazoa prompt recalibration of molecular clock analyses. We present revised fossil calibrations and use them in molecular clock analyses estimating the timescale of metazoan evolutionary history. Integrating across uncertainties including phylogenetic relationships, clock model, and calibration strategy, we estimate Metazoa to have originated in the early Ediacaran, Eumetazoa in the middle Ediacaran, and Bilateria in

SUBMITTER: Carlisle E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11559618 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature