Biogeographic Insights Into the Late Miocene Diversification of the Giant Deep-Ocean Amphipod Eurythenes.

ABSTRACT: Mechanisms driving the spatial and temporal patterns of species distribution in the Earth's largest habitat, the deep ocean, remain largely enigmatic. The late Miocene to the Pliocene (~23-2.58 Ma) is a period that was marked by significant geological, climatic, and oceanographic changes. This transitional period spurred widespread species diversification, particularly among widely distributed benthic scavengers, such as amphipods. Here, we take step toward understanding the long-term evolutionary processes of amphipod colonization and diversification in the deep ocean by focusing on the model genus Eurythenes S. I. Smith in Scudder, 1882. These large-bodied scavengers play key roles in benthic communities. We constructed a time-calibrated phylogeny using two mitochondrial DNA genes

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11756929 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature