An early burst in brachiopod evolution corresponding with significant climatic shifts during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

ABSTRACT: We employ modified tip-dating methods to date divergence times within the Strophomenoidea, one of the most abundant and species-rich brachiopod clades to radiate during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), to determine if significant environmental changes at this time correlate with the diversification of the clade. Models using origination, extinction and sampling rates to estimate prior probabilities of divergence times strongly support both high rates of anatomical change per million years and rapid divergences shortly before the clade first appears in the fossil record. These divergence times indicate much higher rates of cladogenesis than are typical of brachiopods during this interval. The correspondence of high speciation rates and high anatomical disparity suggests

SUBMITTER: Congreve CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8437024 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature