Cycad diversification and tropical biodiversity

Abstract

The recent unexpected discovery that living Cycadales are not Jurassic-Cretaceous (200-65 Mya) relicts, as all their extant genera began to diversify during the Late Miocene (12 Mya), has challenged a classical evolutionary myth. This brief note shows how this finding may also provide new clues on the shaping of the high tropical biodiversity.