Two pulses of morphological diversification in Pacific pelagic fishes following the Cretaceous-Palaeogene mass extinction.

ABSTRACT: Molecular phylogenies suggest some major radiations of open-ocean fish clades occurred roughly coincident with the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K/Pg) boundary, however the timing and nature of this diversification is poorly constrained. Here, we investigate evolutionary patterns in ray-finned fishes across the K/Pg mass extinction 66 million years ago (Ma), using microfossils (isolated teeth) preserved in a South Pacific sediment core spanning 72-43 Ma. Our record does not show significant turnover of fish tooth morphotypes at the K/Pg boundary: only two of 48 Cretaceous tooth morphotypes disappear at the event in the South Pacific, a rate no different from background extinction. Capture-mark-recapture analysis finds two pulses of origination in fish tooth morphotypes following the mass extincti

SUBMITTER: Sibert E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6191689 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature