Molecular and morphological clocks for estimating evolutionary divergence times.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Matrices of morphological characters are frequently used for dating species divergence times in systematics. In some studies, morphological and molecular character data from living taxa are combined, whereas others use morphological characters from extinct taxa as well. We investigated whether morphological data produce time estimates that are concordant with molecular data. If true, it will justify the use of morphological characters alongside molecular data in divergence time inference.

Results

We systematically analyzed three empirical datasets from different species groups to test the concordance of species divergence dates inferred using molecular and discrete morphological data from extant taxa as test cases. We found a high correlation between their diverge

SUBMITTER: Barba-Montoya J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8117668 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature