Evidence for a convergent slowdown in primate molecular rates and its implications for the timing of early primate evolution.

ABSTRACT: A long-standing problem in primate evolution is the discord between paleontological and molecular clock estimates for the time of crown primate origins: the earliest crown primate fossils are ~56 million y (Ma) old, whereas molecular estimates for the haplorhine-strepsirrhine split are often deep in the Late Cretaceous. One explanation for this phenomenon is that crown primates existed in the Cretaceous but that their fossil remains have not yet been found. Here we provide strong evidence that this discordance is better-explained by a convergent molecular rate slowdown in early primate evolution. We show that molecular rates in primates are strongly and inversely related to three life-history correlates: body size (BS), absolute endocranial volume (EV), and relative endocranial volume (REV

SUBMITTER: Steiper ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3341044 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature