Flying rocks and flying clocks: disparity in fossil and molecular dates for birds.

ABSTRACT: Major disparities are recognized between molecular divergence dates and fossil ages for critical nodes in the Tree of Life, but broad patterns and underlying drivers remain elusive. We harvested 458 molecular age estimates for the stem and crown divergences of 67 avian clades to explore empirical patterns between these alternate sources of temporal information. These divergence estimates were, on average, over twice the age of the oldest fossil in these clades. Mitochondrial studies yielded older ages than nuclear studies for the vast majority of clades. Unexpectedly, disparity between molecular estimates and the fossil record was higher for divergences within major clades (crown divergences) than divergences between major clades (stem divergences). Comparisons of dates from studies classe

SUBMITTER: Ksepka DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4083789 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature